Budget crunch shrinking Navy

Earlier:

Crunching the CF's budget: Only to be expected

Now the words from the MND's spokesman seem as hollow as the cupboard is becoming bare:

Cash-strapped navy forced to dock ships
Fleet now has 'very limited' capability,' expert says [ah, the irony of the timing]

Money woes are forcing the navy to cut back on the number of ships it sends to sea, reducing the fleet to what analysts say is a shadow of its former self.

The fleet of Kingston-class maritime coastal defence vessels will be reduced from 12 to six ships. In addition, three frigates, HMCS Montreal, St John's and Vancouver, will be conducting domestic and continental missions to a "limited degree," according to a letter sent to naval formations by the service's commander Vice Admiral Dean McFadden.

Combat systems on HMCS Toronto and HMCS Ottawa will be "minimally supported to enable safe to navigate sensors and communications only," states the letter written April 23 and released to the Citizen on Wednesday. The same will happen to the destroyer HMCS Athabaskan, it added.

A key weapon system on board the Protecteur-class supply ships designed to destroy incoming missiles "will not be supported," it added. Some anti-submarine warfare capabilities for the navy's destroyer fleet will also not be supported.

"I have had to make difficult choices that will directly impact fleet capability and availability this year and possibly for the medium term," wrote McFadden.

Funding issues are behind the moves and even though the navy and Defence Department successfully argued for additional money, "a shortfall still remains," he added.

McFadden noted that the reductions are being done to ensure that the navy's top priorities, the Victoria-class submarines [talk about a mis-placed priority--my view, another here] as well as the modernization of the Halifax-class frigates, are supported as fully as possible...

Defence Minister Peter MacKay's spokesman, Dan Dugas, sent an e-mail that stated the government's Canada First Defence Strategy is providing the Canadian Forces with stable and predictable funding.

"We are confident that the Navy will manage its funds responsibly while carrying out its duties to safeguard Canadians on all three coasts," the e-mail stated. "The government is committed to modernizing our frigates and refitting our submarines."

MacKay, the e-mail stated, reiterated this week that the government is to invest billions in new vessels for the navy. "Resources are being allocated to the navy that put it on the threshold of one of the most intensive modernizations of its fleet ever," it noted [that "threshold" has been for some time receding into never never land, more here]...

A related topic thread at Milnet.ca:

6 Maritime Coastal Defence Vessels being Moftballed

Predate: The Navy's capability squeeze (seems rather worse than the other two services) has been building for some time--from just over two years ago:

Long-term Navy woes