Historic green jacket connects Navy’s past and present

HMCS Venture Instructor Lt(N) Richard Rowe proudly shows off his Bridge Watchkeepers Jacket during his NWO III Kootenay class at Workpoint, July 8. Photo: Peter Mallett/Lookout Newspaper

Peter Mallett,
Staff Writer 

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More than 30 years may have passed since his days as a young sailor but Lieutenant (Navy) Richard Rowe and his faded Green Navy Flight Jacket are back at square one.

Lt(N) Rowe proudly wore his jacket in the early 1990s as a Bridge Watchkeeper aboard Restigouche-class destroyer HMCS Kootenay. Today, the jacket is a cherished piece of Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) seldom-worn memorabilia for the 57-year-old Naval Warfare Officer-turned-instructor.

On July 8, Lt(N) Rowe, a Division Instructor at HMCS Venture, wore the jacket on the first day of the course he leads, titled Kootenay NWO III.

“This really brings things full circle for me, being able to wear this jacket in front of today’s students and reflect on my time aboard the vessel when I was also just starting out in the Navy,” said Lt(N) Rowe.

Lt(N) Rowe believes his job teaching the NWO III Kootenay program marks the first time that a course instructor taught a class named for a ship they sailed.

The NWO III coursing is the first chance students get to begin developing as officers and learn core skills of a Watchkeeping Officer. The 16 weeks of study include fundamentals of coastal navigation, rules of the road, tides, astronomic and meteorology, radar theory, navigation, marine engineering, collision regulations, naval history and Officer of the Watch maneuvers.

Part of the course also consists of five weeks in simulators and two weeks at sea in Orca-class vessels. Former members of Kootenay, Captain (ret’d) Murray ‘Sandy’ Bellows, who served as Lt(N) Rowe’s Executive Officer aboard Kootenay, and Commander (ret’d) Dave Kyle, his Commanding Officer, will be the students’ mentors during their studies on Venture’s bridge simulators.

Lt(N) Rowe admits he rarely brings the jacket out of the back of his closet except for special occasions. While the jacket’s green colours may seem strange to some, green was the official colour of the Navy following the reunification of the Canadian Armed Forces in 1968.

“These jackets were actually air force jackets but they got unofficially adopted as Bridge Watchkeeper jackets in post-unification years,” he said. “These jackets were not issued to RCN members and were hard to get unless you were a part of aircrew.”

Lt(N) Rowe purchased his from a reservist and then started wearing it on the bridge. The jacket’s many pockets and zippers on its sleeves and sides were perfect for keeping pens, notes, and personal belongings during long shifts.

He received special permission to wear the jacket in front of the class for the opening day. He wasn’t sure how his class would react to the old garment, pointing to the fact many of his students weren’t even born in the days when he sailed aboard Kootenay.

“It felt really cool wearing it and also discussing my naval career and the history of the ship,” said Lt(N) Rowe. “Giving the students something they can see and touch from the ship rather than an abstract file photo better captured their attention and most of the students seemed interested and thought it was impressive.”

Lt(N) Rowe has served 24 years of non-continuous service in the RCN. He served in Kootenay from 1991 to 1993 as a Maritime Surface and Subsurface Officer (now known as NWO) Under Training where he worked as Bridge Watchkeeper and Deck Divisional Officer.

He left the RCN in the late 1990s as part of the Force Reduction Plan to pursue a 22-year career with Corrections Canada. He then returned to the navy as a part-time reservist in 2004, and then again full-time regular force in 2019 as a deck officer with HMCS Margaret Brooke.

t(N) Richard Rowe of HMCS Venture is circled in red, in this HMCS Kootenay Change of Command Ceremony photo from June 1992. Credit: RCN File Photo