Killing them softly. The Conservatives are starving the Canadian Navy

The latest news regarding the Conservative government's dealing with the Canadian Navy leaves one wondering about those lofty promises to support and rebuild the armed forces.

The Canadian Forces plans to get rid of its two refuelling and supply ships, one of which is based at CFB Esquimalt, a move that will leave thenavy unable to refuel vessels at sea for at least two years until replacements are built. The recommendation is part of a military plan to pare down its ships, surveillance aircraft and helicopters to help pay for new equipment in the future. The cuts include six Aurora maritime patrol aircraft and one Iroquois-class destroyer

What that means, in shortened terms is that the Canadian Navy will no longer possess extended deployment capability. In order to manage long range, non-stop patrols, it will be required to rely on allied navies for underway replenishment. Even shorter: it's hitching a ride.

Funny. Isn't that one of the things Harper complained about?

The plan, which is contained in the Conservatives' "Canada First" defence strategy, calls for the military to phase out the destroyer and the two supply ships -- Esquimalt-based HMCS Protecteur and Halifax-based HMCS Preserver -- over the next three to four years.

The defence strategy acknowledges that the Joint Support Ship, the replacement for the existing refuelling vessels will not be in the water until at least 2012. But it says thenavy will somehow "manage the risk" of operating without refueling and supply ships for a two-year period.

So, before anyone runs off at the mouth and suggests this is the navy making recommendations to the government, understand that it is the inverse. Everyone at the upper levels of the navy knows what this really means. In the past 50 years, when a ship has been taken out of service without a floating replacement, the fleet has suffered a reduction and the asset lost was never replaced. This is a plan out of the Conservative government.

In the document, Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor acknowledges that the military must make "difficult decisions," but argues it must "consider the pressing needs of the military against other government priorities."

Everyone in the service knows about government priorities. Everyone has also heard the "difficult decision" line, particularly from Conservative governments.

There is another serious issue at play here. While O'Connor whittles away at the navy's capability, suggesting that it will only be two years before replacement combat support ships are operational, it demonstrates a complete lack of competence and knowledge of naval capability. For two years the navy will be unable to manage self-contained task group operations. It will be unable to manage medium to heavy lift of supplies and it will be unable to support ground operations from any coast. But there's something even more significant.

Underway replenishment of warships is a specialized skill. It requires crews which have been specifically trained and worked-up to perform the task. While most people would view it as little more than pulling into a gas station, it goes far beyond that.

Imagine refueling your vehicle from a gas station moving along the highway with you at 50 kilometers per hour. No stopping; engine still running with a tensioned line pulling your vehicle towards the gas pump. You are required to stay within a few feet of the fueling hose which is pumping at as fast a rate as possible to get you refueled. From another tensioned wire you are receiving food, ammunition, toilet paper and chemicals, all of which has to be coordinated from a supermarket system requiring heavy lift elevators, fork-lifts, hydraulics and heavy duty equipment normally only encountered on a heavy construction site.

All of this happens while the ship supplying the fuel maintains a precise speed and impeccable steering, pumping tons of fuel while monitoring the stability and trim of the ship ensuring that absolute safety is maintained. The receiving ships have to constantly adjust to maintain station on the supply vessel. The fueling and storing rigs are large enough to crush a human and, in rough seas, often represent an incredible hazard to the special crews who have to make the connections and connect the spanwires. Add rough seas and the entire operation is incredibly dangerous, requiring unbelievable focus, precision and a massive amount of practice.

While all this happening the frigate or destroyer alongside is required to maintain a combat posture, able to respond to any air, surface or subsurface threat. To complicate the whole evolution, replenishment at sea usually involves this occurring on both sides of the supply ship simultaneously. One moment of error can result in a collision of horrendous proportions as two or three floating bombs slam into each other.

O'Connor is proposing a two year gap in the Canadian Navy's at-sea refueling and restoring capability. Until the new ships come into service.

What new ships? The keels have not been laid yet! There are no new ships.

And, even if there were, where does the Conservative government propose to find the crews to carry out the job? Once they're gone; they're gone. Even if a new support ship was floating within two years of decommissioning the existing supply ships it would take several more years to put them into regular service. And it will take years to train crews to recover the lost skill set.

Naval underway replenishment is not politics - not just anybody can do it.

So much for Harper and his pro-military government. His defence plan isn't worth the paper it was printed on. What we're seeing now is just a Conservative form of crisis management. They can't deliver so they're making up a new and unworkable future.

As for those who pound the "support the troops" tambourine, they might want to change their narrow view. The Canadian Forces is comprised of a lot more troops than a battalion group in Afghanistan. It's about time you started supporting all of them, in all their roles.

Or is that just too hard to gather in?