INTERNATIONAL FLEET REVIEW
The Canadian Naval Centennial Pacific Fleet Review will be attended by 13 visiting ships June 9 to 14. Navy ships from Australia, France, Japan, New Zealand and the United States will bring an estimated 8,000 foreign sailors to Victoria. The navy ships will be joined by ships of the United States and Canadian Coast Guards.
A fleet review is a Royal Navy tradition that was originally a means of demonstrating the strength of the fleet to a potential enemy in anticipation of going to war. The first recorded fleet review was gathered by King Henry V at Southampton in 1415 in preparation to sail on his first French campaign that ended in the victory at Agincourt.
Fleet reviews are rare. The Royal Navy, which is one of the oldest national maritime forces in the world, has held less than 50 fleet reviews in two centuries. Modern day fleet reviews are usually international in character and mark events such as coronations, royal jubilees, and naval anniversaries such as the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar in 2005 or more recently the 60th anniversary of the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) Navy in 2009 that attracted 21 ships from 14 nations including Canada.
The first fleet review held in Canadian waters was on the occasion of the British Columbia Centenary in July 1958. Thirty-two ships took up the anchorages in Royal Roads. Her Royal Highness Princess Margaret in HMCS Crescent was the reviewing officer. A similar fleet review marking the Navy’s 75th anniversary in 1985 attracted 17 ships from just three countries.
On Saturday, June 12, the Canadian Fleet Pacific Flag Ship, HMCS Algonquin with Her Excellency, The Governor General and Commander in Chief of Canada embarked as the reviewing officer, will sail through the lines of ships at anchor in the approaches to Esquimalt Harbour. The review will be followed by a Canadian Forces SkyHawks parachute demonstration, a flypast of maritime and search and rescue aircraft and a performance by the Canadian Forces 431 Squadron Air Demonstration Team, “The Snowbirds.”
The Canadian Naval Centennial celebration has attracted delegates from nearly every navy on the Pacific Rim. In addition to the nations attending the International Fleet Review, Maritime Forces Pacific hosted dozens of senior officers from throughout the Pacific region at the Canadian Naval Centennial Maritime Security Conference at the end of April.
http://www.navy.forces.gc.ca/marpac/13/13-w_eng.asp
