Navy Training

Sailors took over Hamilton Harbour today for a weekend of training.

Both water and land mock scenarios took place so that naval reservists could better prepare for potential deployment overseas to protect docked Canadian ships.

On the naval security team side, they will deploy to foreign ports. When a ship comes along side, they are the ones that force protection.

The Royal Canadian Navy has created a new naval security team made up of mostly part time sailors, who are deployed for a few weeks at a time. Their purpose is to relieve full time sailors from protecting their docked ship so that the crew can focus on other tasks.

The navy says being docked at a foreign port can be risky.

Some have already had the opportunity to go overseas on a security mission.

Over 130 sailors took part in the exercises this weekend. They came from all across Ontario. Many of them are students or have fulltime jobs.

The sailors were also put through mock scenarios on land. Vehicles were checked for drugs, and hidden passengers. There were mock pat downs and arrests.

The navy says the naval security team fills a need by providing an extra layer of force protection.

The inaugural naval security team was first deployed this spring to support ships as part of an operation aimed at building strong ties between the Canadian navy and navies of Asia-Pacific countries.