Like most everyone else, since I was a child I have read about Queen Elizabeth. There was always a touch of storybook to the narrative. I guess that’s what made it so special. So, it was pretty exciting to be in Halifax for the celebration of the Canadian Navy’s 100th Anniversary and to participate in the Queen’s Fleet review.

On Monday we were there for the Queen’s arrival at the Garrison Grounds. If you watched it on TV you know that it was REALLY raining. We were under a tent. But – to tell you the truth – it didn’t give too much protection. Just as the Queen and Prince Philip arrived, the rain let up. I was sitting next to Admiral Mark Stanhope, the First Sea Lord of the British Navy. I explained to him that I had been with President Obama in Toronto the day before in an equally strong downpour. But unlike the Queen, he was not able to get it to stop. I guess she has a few extra years of practice.

Ambassador Jacobson with the USS Wasp Marine and Navy Crew

It was quite a thrill to see the Queen and Prince Philip – along with the Governor General, the Prime Minister and so many others – at the Garrison Grounds and then at several events thereafter.

On Tuesday, the big highlight was the Fleet Review itself. Julie and I were aboard the USS Wasp. The two original ships Commissioned for the U.S. Navy by the Continental Congress in 1776 were the Wasp and the Hornet. The Wasp that we were on is the 10th USS Wasp. (The 7th USS Wasp,which fought in the Battle of the Solomon Islands in the Pacific during WW II, was sunk by a Japanese torpedo in 1942.) It is a massive ship. As the Queen passed by on board the HMCS St. John’s, the sailors on the Wasp, including Admiral Gary Roughead, the U.S. Chief of Naval Operations, manned the rail and saluted. I never thought I’d see anything quite like that.

Ambassador Jacobson on the 10th USS Wasp in Halifax

But there was more. On Wednesday we celebrated the 4th of July four days early with 1000 people about the Wasp. It was great fun with Vice Admiral Mel Williams, Jr., the Commander of the U.S. Second Fleet, Premier Darrell Dexter, Halifax Mayor Peter Kelly, and so many others.

U.S. Naval Attaché Stephen Jordon, CNO Admiral Gray Roughead, Canadian Naval Attaché to the U.S. Captain Richard Bergeron and Ambassador Jacobson aboard the Wasp

It turns out it was fitting to celebrate the 4th of July four days early. The Declaration of Independence is famously dated “July 4, 1776.” But as a young schoolboy I learned that it was not actually read to the public until four days later on July 8 in the yard in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia. I was always troubled by the fact that the American people had lost four days of independence that they would never get back. So the 1000 people on the Wasp helped me to recover those days and to get the American political universe back into sync.

My trip to Halifax is one I will not soon forget.
DJ