|
July 12, 2002
Navy vessels to dock in
Nunavut this month
Arctic mission is the
first time military ships have travelled so far north in 14 years
Nunatsiaq News
Two Canadian Navy ships
will be stopping over in Nunavut for a brief visit later this month.
The HMCS Summerside and
the HMCS Goose Bay will arrive in Iqaluit on July 31. It will be the first time
in 14 years that Canadian Navy vessels have travelled so far north.
Each vessel will be carrying
40 or 45 reservists, part-time personnel who are required to put in a minimum
of two weeks with the military and also hold full-time jobs as teachers or plumbers,
said Lieutenant-Commander Denise Laviolette.
From Goose Bay, Labrador,
they will travel to Iqaluit, where they will stay overnight. On Aug. 1, the
Summerside will visit Kimmirut for the day. The ships will meet up again to
travel to Resolution Island before heading to Newfoundland and then Halifax.
While in the North, personnel
will be performing a range of low-risk training exercises, including coastal
surveillance and patrol, ocean-floor mapping and bottom-object inspection.
During the stop in Iqaluit,
a troop of Canadian Rangers will board the ships to participate in the training
exercises and travel with the reservists to Resolution Island.
The ships will be open
to the public, with details to be announced later this month.
The HMCS Goose Bay is named
for the town in Labrador, a Navy information pamphlet says. "The ships
badge shows a Canada goose flying above the water representing birds stopping
in the area during migration," it says.
The HMCS Summerside is
named for Summerside, Prince Edward Island. It is the second ship to bear that
name. The first was a Second World War Flower Class corvette.
Both vessels are relatively
new. Goose Bay was launched in September 1997 and commissioned as a war ship
in July 1998. Summerside was launched in September 1998 and commissioned by
the Navy in July 1999.
|