Uncle Clarence In 1969 the Canadian military was looking to cut spending. As part of this, the Majestic class aircraft carrier HMCS Bonaventure was deemed surplus and scheduled for disposal. It would soon be decommissioned at HMC Dockyard in Halifax on 3 July 1970. This was just part of the new Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau’s efforts to change the Canadian Military. More significant was the Prime Minister’s views on NATO and Canadian involvement in this alliance. Trudeau made it very clear that he believed Canada should pull out of NATO, arguing that the principle of mutual assured destruction (MAD) caused by a Soviet-American nuclear exchange made it highly unlikely that the Soviet Union would ever invade West Germany, thereby making NATO into an expensive irrelevance in his view.
The NATO question sharply divided the Government and ministers divided into pro-NATO and anti-NATO camps, and Trudeau's own feelings were with the latter. Defence Minister Léo Cadieux threatened to resign in protest if Canada left NATO. Eventually Trudeau and Cadieux and their respective camps agreed that Canada would stay in NATO, but drastically cut back its contributions, including cutting back Canada's forces within Europe by 50%. This caused much tension with other NATO allies, with the British government of Prime Minister Harold Wilson publicly protesting the cuts.
A year later, in May 1970, Prime Minister Trudeau undertook an official visit to Australia. In part this was a reciprocal visit following the Australian Prime Minister John Gorton’s visit to Canada the year prior and represented the first-ever visit by a sitting Canadian prime minister to the country. On the return trip though tragedy struck with the Boeing 707 going missing mid-way across the Pacific. Days later some wreckage was found floating but the aircraft itself and its passengers and crew were never seen again.
In the aftermath of this tragedy, and after a short period of mourning, the Liberal Party, and indeed the country as a whole, found itself in need of a new leader. A number of candidates threw their hats into the ring. Eventually, the choice came down to the Minister of Justice, John Turner and the Minister of National Defence, Léo Cadieux. Eventually Turner, who was viewed as a hard-working, well-informed minister with warm relationship with his peers won out, becoming the 15th Prime Minister of Canada.
As prime minister, Turner contrasted with the more isolationist or withdrawal-heavy stances proposed by some in the party and indeed supported collective security and Canada’s foundational role in NATO. He was also very keenly aware of the tensions his predecessor’s actions to cut back Canadian NATO commitments and investments had caused, both in Europe and with the USA. Simply reversing things though was not seen as a smart move and risked alienating many voters. As a result, he tasked his new Minister of National Defence, Donald Macdonald, to prepare a report listing a number of options for increased NATO/Defence investment. The resulting Macdonald Report as it became known presented three key options:
- Simply return to the previous commitments with Canadian forces returning to Europe in the same numbers and composition as before.
- Increase Defence commitments but keep them within Canada – this would primarily result in increased commitments to the Air Defence Command and NORAD and envisioned new investments in fighter aircraft and Airborne Early Warning Aircraft (a combination of the new Grumman F-14 and Grumman E-2 was mentioned).
- A greater naval commitment with a focus on providing more forces to NATO's Standing Naval Force Atlantic (STANAVFORLANT) – basically provide forces that could offer real capability to NATO and support of the European countries but without the need to have forces stationed overseas.
This third option soon became the preferred one offering a mid-way solution that could be portrayed as both strengthening Canada’s commitment to NATO and their European and US allies while also keeping forces largely at home. A focus on forces that could strengthen escort and anti-submarine capabilities was favoured as this was an area that would be heavily needed as part of NATO plans to reinforce Europe in time of conflict. It was also something that the government could use the history of Canadian forces escorting convoys during World War 2 to help sell the investments.
In terms of platforms, the new policy would involve the increase in the number Iroquois-class destroyers to 7 above the currently planned 4. The additional ships would eventually become the HMCS Mohawk, HMCS Cree and HMCS Naskapi. The additional ships also provided economic benefits given they would be constructed in Canada. They would only be part of the planned investments though.
A more significant recommendation within the Macdonald Report was for a larger ship to accompany the destroyers during escort/ASW missions. Something able to carry a greater compliment of helicopters was ideally sought with an expectation that such a ship could provide the centre of a taskforce. In this regard, the Canadian Maritime Command (MARCOM) staff were closely watching the Royal Navy’s Naval Staff Requirement for an 18,750-ton Through-Deck Command Cruiser (TDCC).
In 1972 it was formally announced that Canada and the United Kingdom would jointly design and acquire a fleet of such ships – 3 being sought by the Royal Navy and a single by MARCOM. They were soon joined by Australia which had been seeking a replacement for its aging HMAS Melbourne for some time. In the next few years both Spain and Italy, which also had similar requirements would also join in. The United States Navy also took an observer role as the design also potentially fulfilled its planned Sea Control Ship (SCS). All of this was greatly welcomed by the British government as it helped share the development costs, not to mention create jobs.
The eventual Invincible class, as the new type was known, would have a displacement of 22,000 tonnes and be 209 m long. As originally planned the ships would carry 15 – 20 helicopters, primarily ASW types such as the Sea King. In parallel to the ship construction though, the Royal Navy had contracted Hawker Siddeley to develop a navalised variant of their Harrier GR.1 VTOL fighter. This would become the Sea Harrier and would primarily be used to defend against Soviet reconnaissance aircraft.
Returning to the Canadian requirement, the second of the Invincible class was launched in 1978. In service it would be commissioned as the HMCS Clarence King, being named after the highly decorated Canadian naval hero and U-boat hunter from WW2. Of particular note, the fact that he had not only led in the protection of WW2 convoys and took on U-boats but had famously also stopped to rescue the crew of a u-boat his ship had sunk. This latter aspect went towards the messaging of Canada supporting their NATO allies, particularly West Germany. In June 1982 the new HMCS Clarence King was commissioned. Following the Royal Navy lead, MARCOM had decided to operate the ship with a mix of Sea King ASW helicopters and Sea Harriers. 16 single seat Sea Harrier Mk.52 (designated CF-152A Sea Harrier in service) along with 4 two seat T.61s (CF-152D). In service the ship quickly received the nick name “Uncle Clarence”, a nick name that King himself was often referred to as.
The commissioning followed closely the Falklands conflict where it’s sister ship HMS Invincible and its aircraft made such an impact. Indeed, during this war, Canada also offered to send the yet to be commissioned Clarence King to support the Royal Navy should the British request it. As it was, this offer was not taken up, primarily due to concerns that the additional ship and aircraft would stretch logistics demands. That said, some of the spare parts (for both the ship and aircraft) allocated for the Canadians were taken. The success of the Falklands operation and the pivotal role played by the Invincible and its airwing reflected well on the Canadian acquisition decisions and the Government played this up.
Once in service, the Clarence King joined the Canadian Maritime Forces Atlantic (MARLANT). As part of this it became a key part of NATO’s plans to both reinforce Europe in time of conflict and also to conduct anti-submarine operations in the North Atlantic. A key part of this was its regular participation in exercises such as Ocean Safari, Spring Train and Reforger. These largely came to an end in 1990 with the fall of the Berlin Wall and associated changes in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.
The ending of the Cold War did not result in a reduced role for the Clarence King. In fact, in the years following the ship and its airwing were busier than ever. Starting in 1991 with Operation Friction, the Canadian military operation to the 1991 Gulf War, the Clarence King deployed, along with the destroyers HMCS Terra Nova and HMCS Athabaskan and auxiliary oil replenishment ship, HMCS Protecteur, deployed to the Persian Gulf as part of the Allied Naval Task Group, performing reconnaissance, mine search and destroy, air-to-ship naval interdiction. During the war a Canadian Sea Harrier was credited with partially destroying an Iraqi patrol boat in the Persian Gulf.
A year later the Clarence King was once again deployed, this time to the waters off former Yugoslavia as part of NATO’s Operation Maritime Monitor Naval blockade aimed at enforcing sanctions stipulated in UN Security Council Resolutions. This would be followed in 1995 by a further contribution to the follow on NATO Operation Sharp Guard. Concurrent with this, the ships Sea Harriers also briefly contributed to the Operation Deliberate Force attacks on the Army of Republika Srpska whose presence in Bosnia posed a danger to United Nations "safe areas". In these operations the Clarence King operated alongside its classmates, the HMS Invincible and HMS Illustrious and Spanish Príncipe de Asturias.
Between these two deployments to the Adriatic, the Clarance King also underwent a major refit and upgrade. This included increasing the angle of the ship's ski-jump from 7 to 12 degrees, bring in it in line with later ships of its class. Her hangar was also modified to allow more aircraft (nine Sea Harriers and twelve Sea Kings) to be accommodated below. The ship's magazines were also enlarged. The Sea Dart launcher was removed and the ship's flight deck was enlarged. Finally, the air-sea search radar and sonar were upgraded. Concurrent to the ship modifications, the Sea Harriers were also upgraded to a similar configuration as the Royal Navy’s Sea Harrier FA.2s - instead of the Blue Vixen radar though, the AN/APG-73 radar was selected so as to give commonality with the Air Command (AIRCOM) CF-18 upgrade also underway. The new versions were designated Sea Harrier FA.2 Mk.54s (or CF-152B in service). The T.61s were also upgraded to similar T.8 configuration as the Royal Navy versions and designated as T.64s (CF-152M).
The ship would once again return to the Persian Gulf in February 1997 leading Canada’s support of multinational Maritime Interception Force in the Persian Gulf under Operation Prevention. This involved the monitoring and enforcement of various UN Security Council resolutions concerning the import and export of Iraqi commodities, especially oil. This would see the Clarance King along with the destroyer HMCS Mohawk and frigate HMCS Toronto deploy along with the auxiliary oil replenishment ship, HMCS Preserver.
In and around these deployments, the Clarance King was a regular part of Standing NATO Maritime Group One (SNMG1), keeping in line with its original intent and core mission. It would from time to time also participate in Operation Caribbe, the Canadian contribution to the elimination of illegal trafficking in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean by organized crime.
Eventually in 2016, the ship was finally retired, after some 34+ years of operations, Uncle Clarence was finally allowed to retire. It was preserved as a floating museum at Halifax. Although there were calls to replace the ship with a new carrier with many favouring a Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier, this was not to be. Thus ended Canadian fixed wing naval operations…again.
Above: HMCS Clarence King underway with Sea Kings and Sea Harriers Top: A BAe CF-152A Sea Harrier of No. 871 Squadron, CAF, [1] while home-based at CFB Shearwater, NS. This aircraft is carrying CRV7 70mm rocket pods for some refresher armaments training against floating target platforms off on the Scotian Shelf.
Bottom: An updated CF-152B Sea Harrier of No. 870 Squadron, CAF, while embarked aboard the Invincible class aircraft carrier, the HMCS Clarence King. This aircraft is fitted out with belly pylons with LAU-116 launchers for AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles. The outboard pylons carry LAU-7 launchers for AIM-9M Sidewinders for self-defence.
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[1] The squadron numbers were taken from the old RCN Banshee jet fighter operating units - 870 NAS/VF-870 which flew from HMCS Bonaventure until disbanded in 1962 and RCN 871 NAS/VF-871 which was absorbed into VF-871 in March 1959.
