Questions about HMCS Regina and Halifax Class ships in general

[india four two]

I've just had a tour of HMCS Regina, while she is visiting Ho Chi Minh City. Very appropriate since we are celebrating Canada Day  today - 6th June. (Yes, I know it's early, but by the time the real day rolls around, most of the ex-pat families with kids have left for vacation, so Canadians and Americans celebrate their national days early in this part of the world).

I have some questions that I couldn't get answers to.

1. What's this signal (CHARLIE GOLF ALFA ECHO) on the side of the superstructure aft of the bridge? I know it could mean "Affirmative. I require a pilot. I have a diver down. I am altering course to starboard.", but I doubt it 

2. My question "Where's your Sea King?" got a very evasive answer. Don't we have enough left to embark on all our ships now?

3. The bridge deck seems very low for a warship, particularly in relation to the height of the rest of the superstructure. What's the reason for this? Is it a stability issue?

4. Why do the Harpoon launchers face inwards? They could just have easily been pointed outwards. (Edit: Looking at my photos, I realize it is probably to allow the exhaust to vent overboard.)

I enjoyed the tour and enjoyed chatting to the crew members I met. Nice to be back on a little piece of Canada. Disappointed that I wasn't offered a mug of Timmy's but then on the other hand, it was over 30 C.

And I loved this humourous touch on the flight deck:

Regards,
I42

 

[h3tacco]

"Where's your Sea King?"

In an ideal world whenever a Canadian Warship deployed it would have a Sea King embarked. However, due to constraints in personnel and equipment this is not always possible. Over the last number of years there have been more and more ship deployments without helos. Part of this is a result of the draw down of Helicopter Air Detachments in order to support the transition to the CH148 Cyclone. Part of it is that there are a number of other Sea King Dets right now deployed in support of operations. Finally, part of it is due to an overall shortage of trained personnel in Air Force and CF as a large. Generally speaking, the number of aircraft is not the limiting factor.

To put this in perspective, however, many other navies are facing similar problems. Most USN escorts (frigates, destroyers, and cruisers) can carry two helos and they generally only deploy with one or no helo. The German, French, Royal, and Dutch navies are facing similar shortages.

 

[navymich]

1. What's this signal (CHARLIE GOLF ALFA ECHO) on the side of the superstructure aft of the bridge? I know it could mean "Affirmative. I require a pilot. I have a diver down. I am altering course to starboard.", but I doubt it 

That is the ship's International Callsign.  All Canadian Ships begin with "C".  There is a book (can't remember the short name of it anymore, been too long since I've used it) that lists all callsigns so that if you come across a ship and don't know the name of it, you can look up their c/s to figure it out, and vice versa.  Anyone without this pub can simply contact you by using your c/s.

 

[Ex-Dragoon]

3. The bridge deck seems very low for a warship, particularly in relation to the height of the rest of the superstructure. What's the reason for this? Is it a stability issue?

Well the only areas that are higher then the bridge is the hangar, the mast and the funnels. that tends to be standard throughout the world.

Makes for a smaller radar cross section for radar guided missiles.

 

[aesop081]

Here is HMCS Regina as she was in transit towards Asia

 

[dwalter]

Here is HMCS Regina as she was in transit towards Asia

Looks pretty choppy out there. Let's hope everyone already has their sea legs.

 

[Blackadder1916]

1. What's this signal (CHARLIE GOLF ALFA ECHO) on the side of the superstructure aft of the bridge?

To add to airmich's explanation, have a look at this site.  RADIO CALL SIGNS OF THE RCN

 

[navymich]

To add to airmich's explanation, have a look at this site.  RADIO CALL SIGNS OF THE RCN

And further to my previous post, I remembered the pub that the callsigns are located in and found a link as well: ACP 113 (AG) Callsign Book For Ships November 2007.  Decoding of Callsigns is in Section 1, and then Encode in the further sections divided by country (Canada is in Section 7).

 

[Ex-Dragoon]

Looks pretty choppy out there. Let's hope everyone already has their sea legs.

Thats not choppy, from the pics it does not look bad at all....it can and does get much worse.

 

[Harley Sailor]

Looks like only a 20 Knt wind in a 3 state sea.  That's just a nice ride on a CPF.

 

[dwalter]

Let's just say I'm no sailor haha. I could barely handle an Alaskan cruise when the ship went out beyond sheltered waters... I do however find sailing in small boats to be just fine. They move rock and bounce around faster so it doesn't bother me as much as a ship making its long gradual rolls.

 

[RickDevlieger]

I've just had a tour of HMCS Regina, while she is visiting Ho Chi Minh City. Very appropriate since we are celebrating Canada Day  today - 6th June. (Yes, I know it's early, but by the time the real day rolls around, most of the ex-pat families with kids have left for vacation, so Canadians and Americans celebrate their national days early in this part of the world).

I have some questions that I couldn't get answers to.

1. What's this signal (CHARLIE GOLF ALFA ECHO) on the side of the superstructure aft of the bridge? I know it could mean "Affirmative. I require a pilot. I have a diver down. I am altering course to starboard.", but I doubt it 

2. My question "Where's your Sea King?" got a very evasive answer. Don't we have enough left to embark on all our ships now?

3. The bridge deck seems very low for a warship, particularly in relation to the height of the rest of the superstructure. What's the reason for this? Is it a stability issue?

4. Why do the Harpoon launchers face inwards? They could just have easily been pointed outwards. (Edit: Looking at my photos, I realize it is probably to allow the exhaust to vent overboard.)

I enjoyed the tour and enjoyed chatting to the crew members I met. Nice to be back on a little piece of Canada. Disappointed that I wasn't offered a mug of Timmy's but then on the other hand, it was over 30 C.

And I loved this humourous touch on the flight deck:


Regards,
I42

1. Ships Radio Call sign

2. Answered very well above

3. A couple of reasons. The bridge appears lower than it actually is becasue the ships "freeboard is higher than most other warships" It might have been higher until it was discovered during the Falklands war that alluminum supersturcture burns. Most older ships with the really high bridges have superstructure made of aluminum to reduce weight. REGINA's superstructure is all steel.

4. Exactly

 

[india four two]

Thanks everyone for your answers.

I42

 

[yak]

Further to #4, as you surmised, the Harpoon exhausts are positioned so most of the blast goes overboard.  This is for two reasons that I can think of:

- the heat of the exhaust can damage the hull - especially in the event of a restrained firing.  We normally post a sentry below decks to verify that there has been no heat damage after a Harpoon launch, even when the missile exhaust is only in contact with the deck for a few moments, you might have noticed the launchers bottom end was still pointed at the edge of the deck.
- the missile exhaust products are toxic, so better to get it away from the ship's structure rather than have it lingering around ventilation openings in the vicinity of the fwd hangar face.  Ventilation is normally shut down for a launch, but why risk it?

 

[navy-nesop]

Here is a video of an Harpoon Shoot that REGINA and OTTAWA did during RIMPAC 2008.

Bulldogs Away!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpmYTpM0Oqc

 

[Klinkaroo]

Really nice video thanks for sharing, love the slow motion, I always thought the missile pushed the cover off but by the looks of the video it seems there is a small explosive charge that blows it off right before launch.

Cheers
Klink

 

[navy-nesop]

It's not really an explosion per say.  It's the air pressure created from the ingnition of the booster.  That was a surprise for pretty much everyone.  Not many people in the Canadian military had the chance to see an Harpoon shoot.