HMCS Winnipeg (FFH 338)Halifax-class Canadian frigate
HMCS Winnipeg (FFH 338)Halifax-class Canadian frigate
HMCS Winnipeg (FFH 338)Halifax-class Canadian frigate
HMCS Winnipeg (FFH 338)Halifax-class Canadian frigate
HMCS Winnipeg (FFH 338)Halifax-class Canadian frigate
HMCS Winnipeg (FFH 338)Halifax-class Canadian frigate
Photos by combatcameraforces.gc.ca
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- HMCS Winnipeg (FFH 338) is a Halifax-class frigate that has served in the Canadian Forces since 1996.
- Winnipeg is the ninth ship in her class which is based on the Canadian Patrol Frigate Project. She is the second vessel to carry the designation HMCS Winnipeg.
- Winnipeg was laid down on 20 March 1993 at Saint John Shipbuilding Ltd., Saint John and launched on 25 June 1994. She was officially commissioned into the CF on 23 June 1996 and carries the pennant number 338.
- She is assigned to Maritime Forces Pacific (MARPAC) and is homeported at CFB Esquimalt.
- A big red stop sign and the stern look of a Canadian machine gun scared off suspected pirates targeting a merchant tanker in the Arabian Sea this weekend.
- HMCS Winnipeg is only four days into its new NATO mission to deter a rash of piracy along shipping channels in the area, and already two boatloads of civilians are grateful for its presence.
- On Saturday morning, as part of Operation Allied Protector, the warship received a distress call from the Pacific Opal. The tanker captain said the ship was being tailed by three unknown skiffs - the typical practice of pirates, many of whom are former Somali fishermen. HMCS Winnipeg sent its Sea King helicopter to assess the situation, and found the skiffs closing in on the tanker, which was headed west in the Gulf of Aden to the Suez Canal.
- The helicopter hovered above the boats and lowered its stop sign (See Image Below) - written in Somali and measuring three metres by one metre - beside its machine gun. The boats came to an immediate halt, and stayed there until the Pacific Opal was a safe distance away.
- "The pirates know exactly what they are dealing with," said Commander Craig Baines in a telephone interview from HMCS Winnipeg. "Because they now knew for sure that we were in the vicinity, it isn't likely they would carry out another attack."
- But the weekend work of the warship wasn't over: Yesterday morning, while its helicopter was on a routine patrol, the pilot spotted an eight-metre open motorboat loaded with people.
- A boarding party was sent over to check on the condition of its passengers and the seaworthiness of the boat, which was headed to Yemen from Somalia. They found a group of 51 refugees - mostly mothers and their children, including a baby - who had been at sea for two days without food or water, hoping to make the dangerous crossing to a better life.
- "They were quite hungry," Cdr. Baines said. "There was no room on the boat for food."
- The Canadian sailors, determining that the boat was sound and that this was not a case of human smuggling, gave them food and water for the rest of their journey.
- "We made sure everyone who was there wanted to be there," Cdr. Baines said. "But short of there being a safety or legal concern, there is nothing we can do."
- HMCS Winnipeg, which has been at sea for 22 days and has nearly 15 more days to go before it heads to port, was the second North Atlantic Treaty Organization ship to assist a boatload of refugees in two days.
A Sea King Helicopter from Canadian Warship HMCS Winnipeg with a stop signwritten in Somali alongside a Manned Machine gun used to deter Somali Pirates
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