HMCS Vancouver had a busy three weeks between October 12 and November 1, 2024, as they conducted Exercise SAMA SAMA in the Philippines and Exercise KEEN SWORD in Japan as a part of Operation HORIZON.
Exercise SAMA SAMA was a two-week maritime engagement hosted by the Philippines designed to enhance interoperability and strengthen security ties among regional partners. This year marked the eighth iteration of the exercise, and HMCS Vancouver was proud to represent Canada in this year’s activities.
“It was a privilege for us to be able to demonstrate what the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) has to offer our partners and allies in the region,” says Lieutenant-Commander Malorie Aubrey, HMCS Vancouver’s Executive Officer. “Not only were we able to demonstrate the RCN’s abilities and professionalism; we were able to do so while helping work towards a more stable, free, and open Indo-Pacific.”
Over the span of 10 days, HMCS Vancouver trained in multiple operational skills, including communications, Officer of the Watch maneuvers, weapons firing, and anti-submarine warfare.
But there was little time for rest before HMCS Vancouver was under steam to their next destination, Japan, sailing just shy of a thousand nautical miles.
East of the Okinawa Islands, HMCS Vancouver took part in Exercise KEEN SWORD, a biennial, joint and bilateral exercise involving U.S. military and Japan Self-Defense Force personnel, designed to increase readiness and interoperability while strengthening the U.S.-Japan alliance. This year, Canada joined the maritime aspect of the exercise, as part of a Task Group training in anti-submarine warfare.
Tasked with sanitization, a maneuver in which a ship follows a search pattern through a grid laid out on the surface of the ocean with the intention of finding submarines through a process of elimination, the Vancouver crew worked around the clock to outwit their temporary foes.
“HMCS Vancouver was one of multiple units tasked with protecting High Value Units, such as tankers and aircraft carriers, during the exercise,” says Lieutenant(N) Warner Moczulski, HMCS Vancouver’s Under Water Warfare Officer. “My team’s job was to search for indications of submarines and report it up so that the Task Group could dispatch Search and Attack units, such as our CH-148 Helicopter, to find and destroy the threat.”
HMCS Vancouver has now participated in five major maritime exercises since leaving for Operation HORIZON, Canada’s forward-presence mission to the Indo-Pacific region promoting peace, stability, and the rules-based international order. HMCS Vancouver is expected to return to its homeport of Esquimalt, B.C. in early December.