By Scott Taylor
From 19 -23 May the residents of Quebec City were treated to a rare sight. Docked below the majestic Frontenac hotel were two warships of the French navy with the Tricolour fluttering from their mast tops. The Light Stealth frigate Surcouf was dwarfed by the massive helicopter carrier Mistral which was docked alongside. This impressive sight of naval might by the French military could have been flying the Canadian maple leaf were it not for a lack of will at the political level. Back in 2012 the Royal Canadian Navy had shown great interest in acquiring two of the Mistral class ships with an option to purchase a third. These ships were to be constructed in Canada with a total project cost of $2.6 billion.
In hindsight the Harper Conservatives thought that this was too steep a price tag to invest in a capability that the RCN wished to acquire. Two years later, the deal was made even sweeter. Russia had ordered two Mistral class ships that were being built by France. Following Russia's 2014 annexation of the Crimea, NATO imposed an arms embargo against Russia thereby putting these two Mistral class ships into limbo. Given Canada's earlier interest in these ships, it was only natural that France would look to us to unload these two nearly completed warships. In June 2015, Defence Minister Jason Kenny held face-to-face discussions with French officials at a NATO summit. Once again, the Harper Conservatives declined the offer due to budgetary concerns and the fact that such a bargain deal would not create any Canadian jobs in shipyards.
The Russians demanded a return of their deposit on the two Mistral Class ships once France ruled out any possibility of their delivery. In the end it was Eygpt that acquired the two warships at a cost of just $1.5 billion (CDN) which included a training package for their helicopter crews. Canada could have made that same deal and had these ships in service as early as 2016.
Here is a detailed run down on what we passed up: The Mistral class is a class of five helicopter carriers, which since 2019, have been referred to as "projection and command ships". A Mistral-class ship is capable of transporting and deploying 16 heavy lift helicopters or 32 lighter helicopters. In addition the Mistrals carry; four landing craft in an internal well-deck, up to 70 assorted vehicles including 13 Main Battle Tanks tanks, or a 40-strong main battle tank battalion, along with 450 combat soldiers. The Mistral displaces 21,500 tons and is exactly 199 metres long. The reason being that at 200 metre in length ships are bumped into a higher toll bracket when transitting key canals like the Suez and Panama.
The ships are equipped with a 69-bed hospital, and are capable of serving as part of a NATO Response Force, or with United Nations or European Union peace-keeping forces. In other words, these warships are truly multi-purpose, combined arms assets. A navy vessel transporting Army personnel and vehicles with an inherent air support unit. Such an acquisition back in 2015 would have changed Canadian military doctrine and opened up a wide range of combined arms integration. All at a cost of just over $750 million a ship. For the record Canada just announced a contract worth $23 Billion to construct the first 3 River Class Destroyers. That is over $7 billion per 7,000 ton anti-submarine destroyer.
On the occasion of the Quebec City port call, the French soldiers and vehicles aboard Mistral conducted an exercise with the 3rd battalion of Canada’s famed R22er (Vandoo) Regiment. That exercise involved an amphibious assault on the sleepy Quebec town of Sept-Isles. With ample spare berths aboard the Mistral was carrying some 125 Midshipmen or officers- in-training. Given the current crippling shortfall of trained personnel in the RCN, having such an asset to get on the job training while actually at sea would be a godsend. Unfortunately it was not meant to be. As our successive governments routiunely state 'nothing is too good for our military' and therefore 'nothing' is what they get.
