A Trend Analysis of Sea Day Measures
Abstract
In October 2013 the MARLANT N02OR team of DRDC, Centre for Operational Research andAnalysis (CORA) was asked by Commander Canadian Fleet Atlantic (COMCANFLTLANT) to collaborate with the Commanding Officer (CO) and Weapons Officer (WpnsO) from HMCS Charlottetown on a high-level analysis of the change if any in the scope and complexity of the fleets operations over time. More concisely, they were asked to assess whether Canadian Fleet Atlantic is conducting the same intensity of effort at sea today compared to historical levels. A fundamental issue is that the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) uses the number of days at sea as the common metric to help quantify a ships progression towards a particular level of readiness (see Ref. A), but counting these sea days alone may not relay enough information. For example, one day at sea for a Halifax-class frigate conducting a fisheries patrol (FISHPAT) is not equivalent to a day at sea conducting anti-submarine warfare (ASW) while in theatre; the latter requires more training, has higher inter-ship communication demands and typically involves co-ordination with assets other than the frigate itself (e.g., other ships and maritime helicopters). Thus, part of the analysis was to find ways to measure the intensity of sea days, coined as the sea days complexity by COMCANFLTLANT. Particularly as the number of ships at sea is being reduced while the Halifax-class ships are going through mid-life refit, there is an interest in validating whether the fleet is still doing the same level of core RCN activities at sea as it has in the past.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 30, 2014
- Accession Number
- AD1016950
Entities
People
- Adrienne Turnbull
- Andrew P. Billyard
- Arron Butler
- Matthew R. Macleod
- Rod Druggett
Organizations
- Defence Research and Development Canada