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This is what could (should) have been, had the Canadian Forces not been gutted by the leftist moron Trudeau.

HMCS Defender, the former USS Franklin D. Roosevelt, became the new flagship of the Canadian Forces on September 20, 1978. The largest vessel to ever serve Canada (and would for most of its life be the biggest non-US NATO carrier), Defender was bought for peanuts from the United States Navy, which was keen to get rid of her, in May 1977. In what at the time was the biggest acquisition in Canadian history, the vessel's purchase included upgrades to its engines and much of the upgrades doen to Midway under the SCB 101.66 rebuild program. Done largely at Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Oakland, California, the huge carrier, plus a leased contingent of F-4 Phantom fighters, cost the Canadian Forces a stunning $280 million USD.

The carrier, which was a replacement for scrapped light carrier HMCS Bonaventure (CVL-22), was seen as a major morale boost to the Maritime Command, which had been continuously angry over the 1970 unification of the forces. The unification had in many eyes reduced the statue of Canada's military forces, and the purchase was in part justified as being a way to increase Canada's prestige in the world, which had slid badly by the 1970s.

Whatever the reason was, the massive carrier was almost instantly seen as a major growth in the prestige of a country which was clearly wanting for it by 1978. Canada's naval aviators trained on USS Coral Sea while Defender was being fitted out, and so when Defender commissioned in Vancouver on September 20, 1978, it was a media sensation and a massive boost to pride.

The Canadian Navy had for decades, and all through World War II, largely seen itself as being the smaller brother of Britain's Royal Navy. But as Canada had just brought Defender into service as the last of Britain's fleet carriers, HMS Ark Royal, was in its final days, it seemed that times had indeed changed. The Royal Navy retired Ark Royal in 1979, and it left Defender and France's Clemenceau and Foch as the last non-US fleet aircraft carriers. The United Kingdom had chosen to build three Invincible-class light carriers instead, and even to that end one of these carriers would be sold to Australia in October 1981. One good thing about the end of the RN's fleet carriers was that their Spey-engined Phantoms soon were sold (again, for pennies on the dollar) to Canada.

These decisions led to the first combat assignment for Defender. When Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands on April 1, 1982, the Royal Navy was ordered to respond by British PM Thatcher. It was soon realized however that the Argentine Navy may just be too much for the smaller RN to handle. It's submarines would be able to destroy many Argentine ships, but the RN did not have the aircraft capacity to take on the Argentine Air Force.

This led to Britain asking Canada and Australia to assist. With Canada's 1982 Constitution repatriation known, the Canadian public easily approved of the idea. Trudeau, now in his last couple years as PM, sent Defender and a bunch of escorts to go join the RN. HMAS Australia, which had been taken delivery by Australia on March 19, 1982, also joined the fight.

Knowledge that the "full-size" carrier was coming soon panicked the Argentines. The fleet arrived near the Falklands on May 6, 1982, just after HMS Sheffield had been severly damaged by an Argentine Exocet anti-ship missile. The Canadian Phantoms allowed an easy answer back. But seeing that Australia and the British Invincible class carriers with their Sea Harriers were having no issue pounding the Argentines, the Canadian carrier went out on a bolder mission - take out the Argentine command.

On May 27, 1982, twelve Canadian F-4s roared off of Defender's deck and struck at Argentina's Naval Command. The attack killed the lead Admiral of the Argentine Navy. After that, the Air Force's A-4 skyhawks went after the Canadian Phantoms, but the usage of a E-2C Hawkeye (loaned from the USN) allowed the Phantoms to easily blast the Argentine Skyhawks, adding to already ugly Argentine losses. The Argentines lost 18 Skyhawks with absolutely nothing to show for it.

When Argentina surrended on June 14, Defender and Australia rode home, victorious. Canada, now very proud of its major role in shutting down Argentine aggression, saw a major growth in its abilities. Defender, the purchase of which had been criticized before the Falklands, was now a proud ship of a newly very proud nation.

What's more, Trudeau's retirement and the loss of his successor to Conservative Brian Mulroney in September 1984 led to a far more friendly government to the military. Mulroney announced in January 1985 a comprehensive upgrade of the Canadian forces, including new fighters for both the Air Force and Navy, new Navy vessels (including four nuclear submarines) and many new ground vehicles, was not only accepted, but applauded.

The bidding process began for the biggest defense purchase in Canadian history. Canada ultimately selected mostly American aircraft - F-15 Eagles for the Air Force, F/A-18 Hornets for the Navy, and airborne radar aircraft. Four E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft were built for the Air Command, while E-2Cs were ordered for Defender.

New Navy ships included major refits to the Iroquois class destroyers, and the new Halifax-class patrol frigates. Canada also bought two Ticonderoga-class cruisers from the US Navy as air warfare vessels, Ontario and Quebec, which were delivered in early 1989. The submarines were the 688I "improved" Los Angeles-class, and all four were delivered in 1990-91. In both cases, the USN gave the Canadians the latest of everything.

In 1987, "Canada's carrier" went out on its first deterence patrol, working with the US Navy. That Western Pacific tour, the flagship of an Armada that also included American battleship USS Missouri, gave the Americans an immense respect again for the Canadians. RIMPAC '87, which Defender participated in, saw the carrier able to do just about anything that US carriers Nimitz and Enterprise could do, including night launches and recoveries. The new F/A-18s were easily superior to the old Phantoms, though the Canadians noted that they were outrun and outgunned by US Navy F-14 Tomcats. That didn't bother them much, though.

Defender would see lots of usage in the latter of the 1980s, including a number of SinkEx exercises with the USN and RN. 1989 was spent working with Canada's two new Ticonderoga-class cruisers, whose air warfare systems were just as good as Canada had figured they were. The first sub, HMCS Toronto (SSN 876) arrived in April 1990. The first of the Halifax-class frigates, HMCS Halifax (FFH 330) arrived in May 1990.

The Gulf War was the second war for Defender. Sent with Ontario, Huron, Vancouver, Skeena and Algonquin, the Canadian Force was a thing the allied force was glad to have. Fellow Commonwealth carrier HMAS Australia again would be Defender's brother in Arms. Australia now had AV-8B Harrier fighters instead of the borrowed Sea Harriers it had in 1982, but the Sea Harriers wound up doing CAP for the Defender/Australia battle group most of the time. The differences in performance were enough however, that post-Gulf War Australia began seriously talking about buying USS Coral Sea.

In June 1992, the massive carrier went into Saint John Shipbuilding for it's first major Canadian refit. This gained it the Sea Sparrow SAMs of US carriers, the C13-3 steam catapult from the Nimitz-class, a new hangar deck and mounts raising the hangar height to 21 feet, an angled flight deck that now allowed a longer take off run, and a new tower that included new radars. Also replaced was the machinery, with new Bombardier boilers and steam turbines which upped horsepower to just shy of 300,000 shp. Returned to service in April 1995, Defender was ready to serve on.

Her success during Desert Storm convinced Australia to go the same route, and USS Coral Sea was sold to Australia, becoming HMAS Pacific on March 24, 1993.

Defender also served as air cover more than once for peacekeeping operations in Bosnia, and alongside USS Abraham Lincoln provided much of the air power that backed up NATO's attacks on the Yugoslav regime in 1999-2000. But shortly after that, Defender's finest hour came.

On September 11, 2001, Defender had just arrived in New York and its crew witnessed the first attack on the Twin Towers. It took mere minutes for Defender's Captain to call US authorities and get clearance to launch their F/A-18s. It was too late to stop the second tower from being hit, but Defender's helicopters flew up to the burning towers, and despite horrible visibility and thick smoke, managed to rescue more than 60 people from the towers before they collapsed. Defender rolled right up next to the burning towers, and Defender's fire fighting crew assisted NYFD authorities in firefighting. 62 of Defender's crew died alongside the New York emergency personnel. Defender was damaged by falling debris from the attacks, but was quickly repaired in Halifax following the attacks.

Two Canadian F/A-18s and two Pennsylvania Air National Guard F-15s tracked down American Airlines Flight 93, and watched helplessly as a passenger attempt to take the plane back resulted in its crash.

Defender became the first foreign military unit to be awarded the American Presidential Unit Citation, and Prime Minister Jean Chretien promoted every man on the ship one rank. Helicopter pilots James Ryman, Paul Harris, Steven Mikelson and Andy Stasiuk were awarded the Order of Canada for their bravery, and them and Defender's Captain, Bill Hamilton, were awarded the Medal of Freedom for their attempts.

It was easily decided that the attacks constituted Article 5 of NATO, Australia also invoked Article IV of the ANZUS treaty. Defender's repairs took mere weeks, and the carrier was ready to go when the War on Terror became a reality. On October 7, 2001, planes from carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower began striking targets. Defender headed out for the area on October 25, Transiting the Suez Canal on November 2 and arriving on station on November 8. By the end of 2001, three US carriers were joined by Defender, HMAS Pacific and the French Charles de Gaulle. Returning home on January 25, 2002, Defender arrived to a rousing arrival.

On the first anniversary of the attacks, Defender returned to New York City. Treated like heroes by New Yorkers, Commodore Hamilton called the hospitality overwhelming.

Canada stayed out of the US invasion of Iraq, a move crticized at the time but later proven to be astoundingly smart. Canada said that the US had not proven its case well enough for it to be justified. Defender continued in service, participating every year in the RIMPAC exercises and NATO operations.






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