Bill's Bulletin Board
By Bill Rea

Although I am not much of a militarist, I've always had a fascination with navies and naval warfare. In fact, ships have always interested me. As a kid who liked to assemble models, I passed over aircraft and race cars, opting for warships. And there was usually a brief history of the ship in question on the back of the instructions, which I usually read before reaching for the glue. It was when I was putting together the German battleship Bismarck that my interest was really born, and while it has been usurped over the years by other interests, like keeping myself gainfully employed and happily married, it has never disappeared. I'll bet I can name more ships involved in pursuing Bismarck than you can. So it should stand to reason that I was looking forward to this passed Friday. Schomberg resident Lt.Cmdr. Bob Gwalchmai called me up a couple of weeks ago, asking if I would be interested in spending a day cruising Lake Ontario aboard HMCS Fredericton. Needless to say, I lost very little time telling him I would. The day turned out to be extremely informative, putting to rest a lot of ideas that I had formed about life aboard ship (it is obvious that I have been watching too many movies set prior to 1945). Now I know there have been a lot of changes in the way ships are run over the years. Press gangs are a thing of the past, although my wife had expressed a bit of concern that some military action could heat up on the other side of the world, and Fredericton might be sent hightailing away with a bunch of civilians aboard (that actually did happen in the operation to hunt Bismarck). I told her not to worry, although she did wonder what she should do if the next phone call from me came from another continent. "Accept the charges" was the best advice I could give. Like I already stated, there was lots to learn. Gwalchmai told me part of the deal that ended the War of 1812 was an agreement that neither Canada or the United States could deploy warships in the Great Lakes, although visits are okay, which explains what Fredericton is doing in the area. It's also on the lake as part of Operation Connection, which is, for want of a better term, a recruiting drive to facilitate expansion of the Canadian Armed Forces. No matter what Fredericton is doing in the area, the indisputable observation of this landlubber is it's quite a hunk of warship. "Stalker of the seas," is the motto of this frigate, the eighth ship in the Halifax class. There are now 12 of these ships, each named after a prominent Canadian city with each of the 10 provinces being represented at least once.

A little bit of Googling tells me the ship has a displacement of 4,750 tonnes. It's overall length is about 442.8 feet and its beam (width) is 54.5 feet. It can travel in excess of 30 knots, which works out to about 54 km-h, which means it should stay out of school zones.

Sub-Lieut. Carmella Harrity is seen with Fredericton's Bullring, painted to commemorate the crossing of the equator at the prime meridian and Arctic Circle within 12 months.

The ship has accommodations for one Sea King helicopter, which was not with the ship. That meant I and the other landlubbers taking the cruise (at least 100, if not more) spent a lot of time on the flight deck, which is toward the stern.

But we did get to see a lot more, and I was guided on an extensive tour by Gwalchmai and Sub-Lieut. Carmella Harrity, a very pleasant officer who spent the bulk of the day explaining various nuances of the ship's operations.

Like I said, I've been watching too many war movies, because shipboard life is a lot different from what I had envisioned.

I knew, for example, what a Ward Room is. It's a place where officers eat, meet and relax. And as Gwalchmai explained, since it is something of a living area for the officers, people are expected to remove their hats upon entering. What I didn't know was the chiefs and petty officers have an equivalent area to a Ward Room for themselves, called a Mess. The same rules of headgear etiquette apply, as well as in the Mess for the junior ranks, which Harrity told me is known as Main Cave. So everyone on the ship has a designated area to eat and relax, and those of other ranks, be they higher or lower, only set foot inside on invitation. So Harrity, as an officer, was able to walk right into the Ward Room. But when she took me to the Messes, she was obliged to knock, and then ask for an invitation to enter. Even the ship's captain, Commander Gilles Couturier, is expected to knock and await an invitation before entering the Ward Room or a Mess. Don't feel sorry for the guy. He does get a nice little suite of rooms for himself, located very close to the bridge in case he's needed in a hurry.

Gwalchmai also assured me that in an emergency, common sense takes priority over protocol when it comes to a Mess or Ward Room.

"I don't know why it works out, but the chiefs' and POs' mess is always the nicest on the ship," Harrity remarked.

I guess what this all boils down to is I've had some false perceptions about naval and military life, and a couple of them were straightened out Friday. But I've spent my life with just about the same access to details of this way of life as most of you, so if I've had some false notions, it stands to reason a lot of you have them too.

Fredericton is a relatively new ship (commissioned 12 years ago last Sunday), but it has made some contributions to naval tradition. Harrity was not shy about boasting that it had crossed the equator at the prime meridian (Greenwich) in April. Earlier, the ship crossed the Arctic Circle, meaning Fredericton was the first Canadian ship to mark both milestones in the same 12-month period. In commemoration, the Bullring (at the very front of the ship) has been painted blue for a year (for crossing the Arctic circle), with King Neptune's trident on there too, 1n honour crossing the equator where they did.

Military life may not be for everyone, but from what I observed Friday, it's not as oppressive as some of us might think. I saw a lot of naval personnel doing a very professional job at what they do. And as I know from experience, you do your best work when you're doing what you really want to do.