Canada's naval strategy?


The commander of the Royal Canadian Navy is floating the idea of an ice-capable amphibious landing ship to move troops and equipment around the country’s Arctic — and perhaps elsewhere.

But Vice-Admiral Angus Topshee is quick not to get his hopes up — and has even, occasionally, taken pains to downplay it.

At various times, Topshee has described the notion as “a conceptual thing" and even told a podcaster last fall that it is “a thought exercise” — part of the imagining that’s going on as the navy and the defence establishment writ large wraps their heads around an era of bigger ambitions and bigger budgets.

However, it is a conceptual thing that’s been the subject of preliminary conversations between naval planners and two of the country’s shipyards: Davie Shipyard in Lévis, Que., and Seaspan in Vancouver. Both are already building the Canadian Coast Guard’s new icebreaker fleet.

Each of the companies have notional ideas — even proposals — that could be modified to create an all-Canadian designed-and-built landing ship for Far North operations.

“We talked to a couple of our shipbuilders, and they've said that theoretically a Polar Class 2 amphibious ship would be possible,” Topshee said in a year-end interview with CBC News. “The key value proposition of an amphibious ship is it can deliver capability from sea to shore without prepared port infrastructure, and that describes our North perfectly."

In theory, that means one big ice-capable ship that carries both smaller landing craft (likely hovercraft) and helicopters. A number of Canada’s allies operate such ships. The difference is almost none of them are built for northern operations.

But it is the notion of an ice-capable landing ship that could prove to be the most ambitious, yet also potentially the most useful as the country tries to demonstrate its sovereignty in the Far North to both friends and foes alike.

“We've done a study of the North, [and] one of the things that becomes clear is that in North America, there's only one year-round ice-free port, and that's in Nuuk, Greenland,” Topshee said.

“As we went through that analysis, we examined what would happen if we had a small [Canadian] community in distress in the High Arctic in February. How could we get capability there?"

Being able to move troops and equipment and sustain them — either in the Arctic or elsewhere — has been a major preoccupation for the military for decades. Canada has often relied on allies or rented the capability it needs.

“To sustain an operation up in the North, we sort of realized that some form of Arctic mobile base probably made a lot of sense, and that is effectively what an amphibious ship is," Topshee said.
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Some very interesting points coming from Admiral Topshee regarding the potential for Canada to procure a/multiple ice strengthened amphibious vessels for the RCN.

It is important to recall that both the Liberals and Conservatives directly mentioned purchasing heavy icebreakers for the Navy back on the 2025 campaign trail, and Topshee has addressed this in the past. I would not be surprised if Topshee is trying to get out ahead of a government mandated prestige project of "military heavy icebreakers" by transforming them into something much more useful. If the Feds are going to force the hands of the Navy, it makes much more sense to procure some kind of ice strengthened joint support ship versus procuring militarized heavy icebreakers.

Effectively making the best out of a worst case scenario.

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GsPovFXWoAAWYD0


Davie is already ahead of the game with their G-LAAM concept they've had around for a few years, basically amounting to the same concept as the Dutch Karel Doorman JSS except it is ice strengthened to operate in the Arctic. It would be a vessel that can substitute in for the Protecteur's when required for supplying warships with fuel, supplies and munitions while also able to respond to humanitarian disasters at home/abroad and being able to do some limited sealift. Obviously it is a compromise which will make the vessel worse in theatres outside of the Arctic and North Atlantic however, having even a single Arctic capable joint support ship would be an exceptional capability for both ourselves and our NATO allies.

Polar Class 2 is rather ridiculous however, I think Davie has claimed they can make G-LAAM PC3 if required. That will require further tradeoffs which will lessen its capability/ability to operate elsewhere.

A rating of PC-4 allows you to operate in the populated sections of the Arctic Archipelago for most of, if not all the year in many cases. Even PC-3 is arguable overspecialization, while PC-2 is frankly ridiculous and would make the vessel effectively useless outside of the high Arctic. It would be exceptionally more costly and complex for little gain outside of prestige, while sacrificing the versatility for the vessel to operate abroad.

PC-4 is the same as the highest strength areas of the AOPS, alongside the upcoming Multi-Purpose Icebreakers for the CCG. It would be capable of doing 90% of the work in the Arctic required, that additional 10% is of dubious value and will cost the design quite a lot to get.
 
“As we went through that analysis, we examined what would happen if we had a small [Canadian] community in distress in the High Arctic in February. How could we get capability there?"
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LCACs, if you can get them close enough. Or by air.

Both of which are screamingly expensive.
 
whatismoo said:
Sounds like a job for more gooney birds! I know that there's at ~35 of the old girls registered currently with the Canadian Civil Aviation Authority (for some reason they count BT-67s as DC-3s, R4Ds or C-47s)
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Because IIRC the BT67 is an STC, not a type certificate. So they're "DC-3s[etc] with the BT-67 upgrade" legally speaking.
 
Scott Kenny said:
...Yes, if they want to take a completely MOTS sub they'll keep the VLS.
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This new brief YouTube video sponsored by the South Korean government mentions that their navy's 3300-ton torpedo- and missile-armed submarine Dosan Ahn Chang-ho departed yesterday on a voyage across the Pacific that will wind up in CFB Esquimalt, British Columbia, for planned exercises with Royal Canadian Navy units. The long voyage is part of a strong push from the Koreans to sway Canada to choose them instead of Germany to build the proposed 12-boat Canadian Patrol Submarine Project, replacements for the four aging British-built Victoria-class subs. The video is of course weighted towards Korea, but is interesting. Let's see what the Germans do in response, if they're indeed just as hungry.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoXkfXO0hqU
 
Owens Z said:
This new brief YouTube video sponsored by the South Korean government mentions that their navy's 3300-ton torpedo- and missile-armed submarine Dosan Ahn Chang-ho departed yesterday on a voyage across the Pacific that will wind up in CFB Esquimalt, British Columbia, for planned exercises with Royal Canadian Navy units. The long voyage is part of a strong push from the Koreans to sway Canada to choose them instead of Germany to build the proposed 12-boat Canadian Patrol Submarine Project, replacements for the four aging British-built Victoria-class subs. The video is of course weighted towards Korea, but is interesting. Let's see what the Germans do in response, if they're indeed just as hungry.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoXkfXO0hqU
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It was recently mentioned by PM Carney that the decision around the CPSP would be made by the end of Q2 2026, so we should see a decision by May or June announced. CANSEC 2026 in the end of May might be a natural place to announce such a substantial purchase.
 
Rainbow1910 said:
It was recently mentioned by PM Carney that the decision around the CPSP would be made by the end of Q2 2026, so we should see a decision by May or June announced. CANSEC 2026 in the end of May might be a natural place to announce such a substantial purchase.
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Thanks, Rainbow1910. That would be an aggressive schedule. I see the CANSEC defence tradeshow in Ottawa you mention will be 27-28 May 2026. I've never been a prime minister, but it seems reasonable that if a final decision on this complex submarine program will be announced in only a few weeks, then a preferred winner must be in mind now. If so, could the submitted reports of the Canadian officers that Korean submarine Dosan Ahn Chang-ho picked up in Pearl Harbor, and the results of the sub's pending exercises with RCN units off CFB Esquimalt, truly matter? And no time for whatever the Germans are planning as their riposte to the Korean move.
 
This year the annual Fleet Week in New York City has been pushed back from its usual late-May schedule to instead be part of the United States of America's Semiquincentennial around Independence Day (4 July 2026). The events will include a parade of tall ships, perhaps in the most numbers ever. Humble ketch HMCS Oriole, which I had visited in 2019 and which Rainbow1910 panned in post #19 above as "widely disliked within the RCN as a pathetic little waste of money with very little actual value", will again represent Canada, according to preliminary reports. If so, then she and her crew will be welcome.

(Mexican Navy barque Cuauhtémoc, involved in a fatal collision with the Brooklyn Bridge on 17 May 2025, has been repaired and is also scheduled to return to NY.)
 
Rainbow1910 said:
...It is important to recall that both the Liberals and Conservatives directly mentioned purchasing heavy icebreakers for the Navy back on the 2025 campaign trail, and Topshee has addressed this in the past. I would not be surprised if Topshee is trying to get out ahead of a government mandated prestige project of "military heavy icebreakers" by transforming them into something much more useful. If the Feds are going to force the hands of the Navy, it makes much more sense to procure some kind of ice strengthened joint support ship versus procuring militarized heavy icebreakers... Polar Class 2 is rather ridiculous however, I think Davie has claimed they can make G-LAAM PC3 if required. That will require further tradeoffs which will lessen its capability/ability to operate elsewhere. A rating of PC-4 allows you to operate in the populated sections of the Arctic Archipelago for most of, if not all the year in many cases. Even PC-3 is arguable overspecialization, while PC-2 is frankly ridiculous and would make the vessel effectively useless outside of the high Arctic. It would be exceptionally more costly and complex for little gain outside of prestige, while sacrificing the versatility for the vessel to operate abroad. PC-4 is the same as the highest strength areas of the AOPS, alongside the upcoming Multi-Purpose Icebreakers for the CCG. It would be capable of doing 90% of the work in the Arctic required, that additional 10% is of dubious value and will cost the design quite a lot to get.
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An interesting short article regarding contemporary Arctic Ocean icebreaking in general and a recent Ukrainian hit on new 8400-ton armed icebreaker Ivan Papanin in particular may be found at < https://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htsurf/articles/2026041543115.aspx >.
 

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