HMCS Regina dons new 'dazzle' paint ahead of RIMPAC 2020 exercise

HMCS Regina is pictured in Victoria in October 2019. (CTV News)

The Canadian frigate HMCS Regina is donning a new look ahead of its deployment next summer to Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC), the world’s largest international marine warfare exercise, in the Pacific Ocean.

The new paint job commemorates 75 years since the end of conflict on the other shore.

The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest fight of the Second World War, in which Canadian warships and aircraft hunted German U-boats and escorted supply convoys to Britain.

Thirty-three Canadian ships were sunk in the battle, including the original HMCS Regina, which was torpedoed off Britain and went down in seconds, killing 30 crewmembers, in 1944.

The paint scheme is a form of retro naval camouflage, often referred to as “dazzle” paint, which historically made visually tracking and targeting the vessels harder.

“In a very basic sense, what it does is it makes it more difficult from any distance for somebody to identify the class of ship, to identify the direction the ship is travelling, to identify how fast it’s going,” said Cmdr. Landon Creasy, the Regina’s current commanding officer.

The cost of the new paint job is approximately $20,000 and is being covered by the navy, according to public affairs officer Heather Blandford.

Officials ordered 272 gallons of paint to complete the work.

The Regina will wear the dazzle paint until the end of 2020, as will the smaller coastal defence vessel HMCS Moncton, based in Halifax.

RIMPAC 2020

The Regina will show off its facelift when it deploys to the month-long multinational RIMPAC exercise next summer, alongside HMCS Winnipeg, each with a CH-148 Cyclone helicopter on board.

The Royal Canadian Navy also intends to send two coastal defence vessels, HMCS Brandon and HMCS Edmonton, to join the war games, and one long-range submarine, HMCS Victoria.

A full list of the Canadian Armed Forces assets destined to join the U.S.-led exercise off Hawaii is below:

Royal Canadian Navy

Royal Canadian Air Force

Canadian Special Operations Forces Command

Canadian Joint Operations Command