Robert W. Mackay

The Road to Hong Kong in 1941

by

The ships that carried the Winnipeg Grenadiers and the Royal Rifles of Canada to Hong Kong

Here is Awatea, the New Zealand steamship pressed into service as an RN troopship for the Second War. She delivered Canadian troops to Hong Kong in November, 1941. She was sunk in 1942, performing a similar task for the invasion of Vichy French North Africa.

 

Canadian National Steamship Prince Robert, pictured in Vancouver before her conversion to armed merchant cruiser.

 

 

 

HMCS PRINCE ROBERT, at one time Canada’s largest warship, about the size of a cruiser.

Covering the Bases

by

This photo has haunted me for years. The three young men here are first cousins. They are all Mackays. Their fathers were brothers, each of whom served in World War I’s Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians). From left to right they are Thomas Colson Mackay, William Bruce Mackay, and James Birch Mackay.

As near as I can make out, the photo was probably taken in or close to 1937, perhaps at Lac du Bonnet, Manitoba, where at least one of the older generation had recreational property.

The boys were all 16 or 17 years old. My guess is that the photo may have been snapped on a Friday, late in the day, after driving from Winnipeg. Quite the sharp dressers: Tom appears to sport two-toned shoes in the full-length photo, Bruce with his tie. Or, who knows, perhaps they were off to attend a local dance.

Tom, who was my half-brother, joined the RCN; Bruce (as he was known) the RCAF; and Jim the Canadian Army, so between them they covered all the bases.

It’s my intention to go deeper into the careers of each of them in future blogs and editions of Forces With History; I hope you’ll come along for the ride.

HMCS OKANAGAN, HMCS RAINBOW–50 and counting!

by

It’s been 50 years since HMCS OKANAGAN, the third of Canada’s O-boats, sailed from Gosport for workups. And in November this year, the Submarine Association of Canada (West) will celebrate the anniversary of her commissioning in the Chatham Dockyard.

The occasion, November 2-4, will also mark HMCS RAINBOW’S 50th. More about her in a later post.

OKANAGAN went on to an illustrious career in the RCN, most of her operations taking place in the Atlantic out of Halifax. Along with her sister boats, OJIBWA and ONONDAGA, her life was extended by a major update of periscopes, sonar, torpedo tubes, etc in the late 1980s that kept her operating until the late ’90s.

One of OKANAGAN’S last tasks was the search for and locating of the flight recorders of Swissair 111 which sadly crashed off Peggy’s Cove in 1998.

Many of her crew, now known as “The Crunch Bunch,” will no doubt reminisce about an unhappy day in 1973 when the OKANAGAN had a run-in with the propellers of Royal Fleet Auxiliary Grey Rover.

HMCS OKANAGAN was paid off in 1998, and sold for scrap. Both her sister O-boats, though, are museum pieces in Ontario and Quebec. They can be toured by the public, and will give an idea of life in what some have called “the last and best” of the O-boats.

Write What You Know… “Terror on the ALERT”

by

Terror on the ALERT comes from my time in British and Canadian submarines. A mere dog watch, compared to many of my former shipmates. I 11 B Okan BlockHouse 1968was extremely lucky to find myself, in 1968, as ‘fourth hand’ as the Brits would say; in Canadian parlance, Operations Officer in Her Majesty’s Canadian Submarine OKANAGAN. The OK was the third and last of Canada’s Oberon class submarines, top-flight boats that served Canada well for more than thirty years. Regarding OKANAGAN, I can’t put it better than has Don “Buster” Brown, outside wrecker on commissioning, and later in his career Maritime Command Chief Petty Officer:

“HMCS/m Okanagan was the most glamourous and up-to-date O-boat ever built in her time and was, sadly, the last submarine (and vessel) to be built in Chatham dockyard’s long history of submarine construction.”

OKANAGAN commissioned on June 22nd, 1968, and less than a week later sailed for work-ups in Faslane, Scotland.

 

Completing the Submarine Circle

by

USS RASHER Feb 1964 (004 small)In late 2015 I was hired as technical adviser for an episode of “Supernatural”, the episode itself directed by legendary Hollywood director John Badham. The episode, entitled “The Vessel”, is due to be shown on Wednesday, February 17th on the CW network locally.

The action takes place partially in a World War II United States navy submarine, BLUEFIN, and hence the need for a submariner as adviser.

It was a fascinating experience, as I’d never hung around a working set and shoot before. What made it especially interesting for me was that way back in 1964, as a green-around-the-gills sublieutenant in the Royal Canadian Navy, I had spent two weeks at sea in a US Navy submarine, USS RASHER (AGSS 269)–BLUEFIN’s real-life counterpart. RASHER’s Commanding Officer commented in a letter that I had “participated actively in the conduct of our exercises as assistant to the ship’s conning officer”. I guess that’s what I was doing when the photo of me on the periscope was snapped, although I look like I was reacting to a joke from one of the very professional but–being submariners–informal American crew.

Naval Procurement Decoded

by

In a recent “Forces With History” newsletter, which I reproduced as a blog post (November 2nd), several acronyms crept into the discussion. Some of these stumped me, I have to admit. Here’s a cheat sheet:
RCN–starting out easy, right? Royal Canadian Navy
JSS–Joint Support Ship, supposed replacements for HMCS Protecteur and Preserver.
AOR–Auxiliary Oil Replenishment; again, think Protecteur and Preserver.
AOPS–Arctic Offshore Patrol Ships
ASW–antisubmarine warfare
CSC–Canadian Surface Combatant (replacements for frigates and destroyers)
DND–Department of National Defence
PWGSC–Public Works and Government Services Canada
RFP–Request for Proposal
PD–Preliminary Definition(?)

Hope that helps!

Interested in my newsletter? Email me at bob.mackay@hotmail.com

About

From saddles and spurs to periscopes and north-seekers, Robert W. Mackay is an avid military, naval and wartime writer.

Social Media

Contact

T: 604-541-9098
E: robert@robertwmackay.ca