The West Coast operations of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) will be under new leadership after the now-former commander of the Maritime Forces Pacific, Rear Admiral Christopher Robinson, transferred authority to Rear Admiral David Patchell at a change of command ceremony.
The ceremony, held at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Esquimalt on Tuesday, Aug. 5, was attended by local elected officials, local First Nations' representatives and representatives for the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) and CAF to celebrate Robinson's three years of leading operations on the Pacific coast.
"As I pass over command to Rear Admiral David Pachel, I just want to express my deepest gratitude to everyone assembled here today, everyone that's in the larger formation for all the extraordinary things they've done as they stood watch with me over the last three and a half years," Robinson told the crowd.
He pointed to some highlights over his tenure as seeing the submarine HMCS Cornerbrook return to active service for the first time in over a decade; frigates deployed to the Indo-Pacific on Operations Projection, Neon and Horizon; coastal defence vessels seizing thousands of kilograms of illicit drugs in the Caribbean
Sea; and multiple infrastructure projects were either completed or broke ground on CFB Esquimalt.
"More interestingly and more inspiringly, the clearance divers responded at very short notice to the crash of a Chinook into the Ottawa River in conditions where they couldn't see their hands in front of their faces and recovered those aircraft," he said, speaking on the CH-147F Chinook helicopter crash that left two dead in 2023.
Vice-Admiral Angus Topshee, commander of the RCN, thanked Robinson for his service and welcomed Patchell to his post at a "really interesting time," outlining the importance of the military command over the coming years as global tensions rise.
"I would argue that through the entirety of the Cold War here in British Columbia, we never had to give any thought to what it is we in uniform are prepared to do. War was something distant, something far away, something improbable, and I think in today's world we really appreciate that that is no longer the case," said Topshee.
After signing the change of command documents, Patchell – who has spent the last three years serving as Vice Commander of the U.S. 2nd Fleet in Norfolk, Va. – thanked the crowd and his family as he returns to Canada.
"There is no doubt that Canada needs a strong navy to defend our nation, to work with Americans in defending North America, and to support our allies on the global stage," he said. "The Royal Canadian Navy is in a significant period of recapitalization [with] Harry DeWolf-class, protector-class, river-class destroyers, and a new fleet of submarines marking a significant investment into our navy."
