Fleet Review!

The Canadian Navy is celebrating their 100th anniversary this week, and as Victoria (actually the nearby suburb of Esquimalt but who’s counting) is the home of this country’s Pacific Fleet -- and a major employer in the area -- the town has rolled out the red carpet, with banners, parades, proclamations and events of various sorts, capping off with a review of the fleet this Saturday by the Governor General, Michaëlle Jean.

But this is not just any old review of ship, no sirree! In honour of the special occasion, the Canadian Navy has invited vessels from five other countries to participate as well. By far the biggest will be the USS Ronald Reagan, a Nimitz-class nuclear aircraft carrier, which is currently anchored off Esquimalt Lagoon because it’s just too darn big to dock in our ports:

So this is what $4.3 billion dollars looks like!

There will also be ships from Japan, France, Australia and New Zealand along with the US Navy and Coast Guard. There will also be an attack (sorry, I mean “air show” buzzing right over our building) by the Canadian Snowbirds (no, not a bunch of old tourists, I mean the air force performing jet squadron) and other aircraft, and fireworks tomorrow night. The sailors are out in force around downtown, as populous as the UVic bunnies (and about as horny, one assumes).

We had a lovely day out scouting the area around the Lagoon a day early -- more pictures from that soon.