Royal Canadian Navy’s frigate HMCS St. John’s officially became part of NATO’s standing maritime group two on January 11.
The frigate is on her way to the Mediterranean Sea where she will represent Canada’s support to NATO assurance and deterrence measures in Central and Eastern Europe.
HMCS St. John’s is replacing HMCS Charlottetown, which arrives in its home port of Halifax on January 13 after a successful six-month operation Reassurance deployment.
The Halifax-class frigate has a crew of approximately 240 personnel of all ranks, including an enhanced naval boarding party and a CH-124 Sea King helicopter air detachment.
Sister ship HMCS Charlottetown conducted maritime security operations and joint NATO training exercises in the North Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean, Aegean, Black and Baltic Seas as part of NATO since June 2016.
During her six-month deployment, HMCS Charlottetown travelled 35 907 nm, developed her interoperability with 14 NATO navies and visited 17 ports in 10 countries.
“I am confident that HMCS St. John’s will continue to build upon HMCS Charlottetown’s accomplishments by providing a highly versatile and robust ship capable of full spectrum operations,” HMCS St. John’s commander, Commander Sheldon Gillis said. “Our highly skilled and professional ship’s company are ready and eager to work with our NATO allies to strengthen international and regional stability.”