HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1985-11-27, Page 13The navy is changing •
SPECIAL
.ZPORT..
Part two of two
By James Friel
Les Springer was suspicious of the
reason for the interview on the Navy. In
fact, he said to himself he wasn't going
to do it at first but then he thought, he'd
check it out.
And that attitude helped get him into
the. navy. When he joined at 17 he was
"wet behind the ears""and hadn't seen
too much of the world. But he wanted to
travel and now he's seen 12 European
countries, the Azores, the West Indies,
Bermuda, Venezuala, Peurto Rico in his
travels: and got to know the eastern.
seaboard of Canada and the U.S.
On top of that, he feels' the 'navy
helpedhim to grow up and, know, the
world and the way it operates.
"The navy is an excellent place to be
as long as you're single. There's a lot of
sailing to do - you sail for nine or. 10
months of the year. If you're married
you're away for most of the year," he
said.
He joined the Canadian navy when he
was 17. He didn't finish. school and
coun'
ldt find a part-time job to maintain
the car he had.
He wanted to leave immediately and
therefore signed up for 'the first trade
opening up, weapons and' underwater.
"I went to see them on Thursday,
signed the papers on Monday and I was
in Cornwallis on Wednesday;" he said
of the process.
While he was in the navy he served
on two shipsout of Halifax. He liked the
HMCS Ottawa, 'the ship he was posted
to longest, but it is 33 years old and
hopelessly out of date. It's role in the
Canadian navy, and in the overall North
Atlantic Treaty :Organization ' (NATO)
strategy, is as an anti-submarine unit.
In fact, the entire Canadian navy
specializes in anti-submarine' warfare
and Les 'says with pride that of all the'
countries' in the World, any other
nation with any anti-submarine capabil-
ities can't compete with our crews.
The ships are . another matter,.
though. The best the navy has at this
point are •.the four Tribal class destroy-
ers built in 1972. /
"They're pretty good," said Les but
he said that even these were getting out
of date with the. incredibly rapid pace
kept by current .arms technology. The
updating the four are undergoing
should alleviate present problems.
Six more ships have been commis-
sioned by the government. These will
be about the best in the world in their
class andLes is pretty excited about"
them.
They're based on a Norwegian design
but will incorporate Canadian hardware
developed with the country's NATO role
in mind.
Where many Canadians are at .best
indifferent about the armed forces, Les
is, not surprisingly, .intensely interest-
ed. His time in the navy has also made
him ,extremely patriotic.
Les said that if there was a war, "You
couldn't, hold me back. It's the' same
with all navy men." He• claims the men
in the Canadian navy are the most
patriotic of all the sailors he met during
his extensive travels.
So why did he leave?
It was the change over the ' navy is
currently undergoing that .drove him
out. In his job as weapons underwater
he primarily had responsibiliy for one
area of . the ship's~ .capability.., The
realignment taking place would have
made Les a weapons tech with duties
involving both weapons under and
weapons surface. He didn't like the
idea. /
"More guys did like it than didn't."
He also thought he'd had enough of
the lifeso he thought he'd return.
"I got tired of sailing. It was great
when I first started but that was' five
years ago.' Times change, equipment
.'changes, people change."
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ANNOUNCEMENT
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We wish to thank our faithful customers for their patronage
during the past years.
Karen &'Win Allen
NOTICE.
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Lucknow Sentinel
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EVERYONE W ELCOME •
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DECEMBER SERVICES
DECEMBER 1ST
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''.Service of Thanksgiving"
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"Service of Thanksgiving"
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, Wednesday, November 27, 1985—Page 13
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REV,, ALLISON/. RAMSAY, MINISTER
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COMMUNITY CENTRE ..
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INVENTORY
REDUCTION SALE
AT THE
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SELECT FROM A SPLENDID STOCK OF
living Room •Bedroom •Din Ate Suites
also
/r
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