HMCS Ottawa to enter harbour

At Esqimalt.

Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship Ottawa will return to her home port of Esquimalt at 9 a.m. Saturday after a six-month, 48,000-nautical mile journey to the Persian Gulf for Operation Altair. With a CH-124 Sea King detachment from 443 Maritime Helicopter Squadron (Pat Bay), the ship left Esquimalt September 10 to join a US Navy Expeditionary Strike Group and work with other naval forces in the campaign against terrorism.

Ottawa’s return will feature the winners of the ship-wide “first kiss” lottery, in which crew members and their partners ashore competed for the honour of being the first to reunite on the jetty when the ship returns. While there were only two contest “winners” (Master Seaman Darren Funston and Danielle Billings), the Ship’s Family Trust Account was the true beneficiary of this initiative, having had $800.00 added to its coffers thanks to the contest.

During her deployment in the Persian Gulf, Ottawa contacted nearly 750 ships and the ship’s boarding team visited 200 of them, four of which carried suspect documentation that triggered further inspection of cargo. The ship also represented Canada in 11 foreign ports including Goa, India, while participating in a multi-national exercise involving the Indian Navy [more on exercise here].

Ottawa’s deployment to the Persian Gulf region is the 33rd by Canadian warships since the first Gulf War. The deployment underscores Canada’s enduring interest in the region and furthers Canada’s relationships with the coastal states of the region with the aim of enhancing maritime security cooperation with our coalition partners.

More, from a MARPAC e-mail:

NOTE TO EDITORS/NEWS DIRECTORS: Media interesting in covering the arrival
should contact Navy Public Affairs (250) 363-5789 and be at the gate to HMC
Dockyard at the end of Esquimalt Road no later than 8:45 a.m. Saturday.
Rear-Admiral Roger Girouard (Commander of Maritime Forces Pacific), Cmdr.
Darren Hawco (HMCS Ottawa's Commanding Officer) and His Worship Larry
O'Brien (Mayor of Ottawa) will be available to media [emphasis added].

See: "From Ottawa to Ottawa".

Here is video of the vessel in the Persian Gulf.