Canada's navalfleet capacity set to shrink

Canada's naval capabilities will start diminishing in the next several years and be severely reduced after the turn of the decade, limiting the military's ability to conduct maritime operations at home and abroad.

The capacity of the fleet will likely be reduced by half as the service modernizes its ageing frigates, docking some while upgrades are underway, and mothballing its 40-year-old Iroquois-class destroyers, according to a 2008 strategic assessment prepared by Vice-Admiral Drew Robertson, the head of the navy.

That, in turn, will create a period starting around 2013 and ending 2018 when there will be an overlap between taking old ships out of the water and not having new vessels to replace them. During that period, the navy will be limited in what it will be able to do, according to the assessment leaked to the Ottawa Citizen.

Read more