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Canadian navy throws centennial party in Victoria

June 12, 2010

The event, held in the western port of Victoria, involves 12 warships more than 8,000 visiting troops from other navies.

It was sunny and locals witnessed all the pomp and ceremony associated with maritime forces worldwide in a full-uniform parade, the unveiling of a Centennial statue called “Homecoming” depicting the reunion of a child and her naval officer father, and a flyover by the famed “Snowbirds” squad from the Canadian Airforce.

With participation of visiting warships from Australia, France, Japan, New Zealand and the United States, Canadian navy chief Dean McFadden said an international fleet review has “always been a circumstance of very great pageantry” and there were few symbols “more powerful than a range of warships at anchor with a reviewing officer going down those ranks.”

Following the fleet review which is running for five days through Monday, another ceremony will be held on the Atlantic coast next month representing the vast territory covered by the Canadian navy.

“The ships that are assembling in Royal Roads ( a Canadian naval training center outside Victoria) now, they are not ceremonial units. They are warships representing the power and commitment of their own nations,” said McFadden who has split his naval career evenly between the Pacific and Atlantic fleets.

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