RCN ships leave Bermuda for Nato service in Baltic hotspot

Jonathan Bell

Created: Mar 29, 2022 07:47 AM (Updated: Mar 29, 2022 03:15 PM)

Canadian frigate HMCS Halifax, makes a pit stop in Dockyard (Photograph by Blaire Simmons)

Canadian navy ships en route to support Nato forces in Europe docked in Bermuda over the weekend.

The two vessels, supply ship MV Asterix and the frigate HMCS Halifax, arrived on Saturday at King’s Wharf and Heritage Wharf in Dockyard.

They are scheduled to put back out to sea at 10am today.

A Canadian supply vessel, the MV Asterix, moored in Dockyard (Photograph by Blaire Simmons)

The Canadian publication SaltWire said the two ships were headed for the Baltic Sea, bordered by Russia, which invaded Ukraine last month, and other nations.

The mission to Europe came as Russia’s attack on Ukraine ground into its second month.

The invasion has heightened tensions with Nato and antagonised Baltic states such as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, former Soviet Union satellites who fear Russian territorial ambitions.

The Asterix is a civilian supply ship leased to the Royal Canadian Navy and is used to to support warships with fuel, ammunition, spare parts and medical services.

Halifax, which left Nova Scotia on March 19, is a 440ft warship with anti-submarine capabilities as well as surface ship and air defences.