Canada and its NATO allies have been engaged in one of the largest military reinforcement projects in a generation.

Commander Jeffery Anderson and the crew of HMCS St. John’s stopped in the capital after participating in Operation Reassurance that saw them patrolling the Mediterranean and Arctic waters.

While patrols are a regular part of Canadian naval operations, this time things felt different because of rising political tensions around the world.

“There’s regional engagements that we undertook (during the mission). We did exercises, we tracked vessels and did maritime security patrols,” he told reporters in St. John’s.

“We were able to do some work with a submarine commander’s course off the coast of Norway, which was quite interesting for the crew, and make sure that we’re building up that capacity.”