Yes. It's a phenomenal question. We often are. We do lead internationally.
I've had the opportunity to be the deputy commander of RIMPAC, the world's largest maritime exercise. I've had the opportunity to be the maritime component commander for RIMPAC.
We were very fortunate to have Rear-Admiral Scott Bishop as the deputy commander of the last RIMPAC. My deputy was the maritime component of the previous RIMPAC. Commodore Baines was just leading Exercise Cutlass Fury, the anti-submarine warfare exercise in the Atlantic. The year before, he was the leader of about 12 ships as part of Joint Warrior, one of the largest NATO maritime exercises in probably about the last 20 years.
There was the carrier strike group that was participating as part of the Rim of the Pacific exercise. Its anti-submarine warfare and surface warfare commander was Captain Jason Boyd.
You can't reinforce that point enough, that our ships have tremendous leaders, both operationally and tactically.
When I was speaking to Vice-Admiral Clive Johnstone in NATO, when when I was visiting him last week, he indicated that he's really appreciative of the ships we've deployed under his command. I think the term he used was that our commanding officers are “thoughtful” in terms of being able to deliver effects across a broad spectrum.
The final point I would add, in terms of that ability to lead and be interoperable, is that in my experience, whenever there's a frigate deployed within a coalition, if there's a hard job to do, it's typically given to the Canadian frigate.
The level of integration is tremendous, and one of the biggest compliments in a sort of reverse way is when, in a message, you'll see your ship mentioned as “USS” Charlottetown, which reinforces the fact that you've now been integrated or assimilated into that carrier strike group.
As I said in my change-of-command speech, if there's one thing I am absolutely, unequivocally sure of, it's the quality of our sailors. The foundation upon which the RCN is built is our sailors, and I refer to them as bedrock. If our sailors are not the best in the world, then they are amongst the best in the world. I have every confidence that any mission given to your navy, once given to the sailors, will be executed to the highest standards.
As I say to the leadership, “Get out of the road. They'll put that mission on their shoulders, and they'll get 'er done.” We just need to turn to making sure that we can then enable and sustain that commitment, and that's where we'll do the heavy lifting going forward.