History of the Royal Canadian Navy

This article is about the Royal Canadian Navy. For the history of Canada's naval forces after 1968, see Canadian Forces Maritime Command. For other Royal navies, see Royal Navy (disambiguation).

Royal Canadian Navy
The Blue Ensign, displayed as a jack by the Royal Canadian Navy 1957 to 1965
Active	1911–1968
Country	Canada
Branch	Navy
Motto(s)	Ready Aye Ready
March	Heart of Oak
Engagements	First World War Second World War Korean War
Battle honours	Atlantic 1939-1945 Aleutians Gulf of St. Lawrence Mediterranean English Channel Arctic Normandy Norway North Sea Biscay Aegean South France Okinawa Korea 1950-53

The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) was the navy of Canada from 1911 to 1968. From May 4, 1910 to August 29, 1911 the navy was known as the Naval Service of Canada and operationally as Canadian Naval Forces.

The RCN played a role in the First World War, contributed significantly to the Battle of the Atlantic during the Second World War, and was a part of NATO's force buildup during the Cold War. However 1960s politicians believed that unification of the services was more appropriate than single services remaining. Therefore in 1968 all three Canadian services were unified to form the Canadian Armed Forces (short form: Canadian Forces (CF)).

History

Formative years

Main article: The Creation of the Canadian Navy

During the early years of the 20th century, there was growing debate within the British Empire as to the role the Dominions would play in defence and foreign affairs. Because of the developing naval arms race with Germany, a key part of this discussion focused on naval issues. In Canada, the naval debate came down to a choice between two options: either the young country could provide funds, support and manpower to the Royal Navy, or it could form its own navy, which could help support the Royal Navy if necessary. After extensive political debates, Canadian politicians chose the latter option.

On March 29, 1909, George Foster introduced a resolution in the House of Commons calling for the establishment of a Canadian Naval Service. The resolution was not successful; however, on January 12, 1910, the government of Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier took Foster's resolution and introduced it as the Naval Service Bill. After third reading, the bill received royal assent on May 4, 1910, becoming the Naval Service Act which created a Department of the Naval Service under the Minister of Marine and Fisheries, who also became the Minister of the Naval Service. The act called for:

• a permanent force
• a reserve (to be called up in emergency)
• a volunteer reserve (to be called up in emergency)
• the establishment of a naval college

HMCS Rainbow in 1910

The official title of the navy was the Naval Service of Canada (also Canadian Naval Forces), and the first Director of the Naval Service of Canada was Rear-Admiral Charles Kingsmill (Royal Navy, retired), who had previously been in charge of the Marine Service of the Department of Marine and Fisheries. A request to change name of the Naval Service of Canada to Royal Canadian Navy on January 30, 1911, brought a favourable reply from King George V on August 29 of that year.

His Majesty having been graciously pleased to authorize that the Canadian Naval Forces shall be designated the "Royal Canadian Navy," this title is to be officially adopted, the abbreviation thereof being 'RCN'.

King George V, August 29, 1911

Royal Naval College of Canada c. 1912-3

Royal Naval College of Canada c. 1913

The naval college was established in the dockyard at Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1911 as "Royal Naval College of Canada". The Royal Naval College was established to impart a complete education in Naval Science. Graduates were qualified to enter the Imperial or Canadian Service as midshipmen although a Naval career was not compulsory. The course provided a grounding in Applied Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Navigation, History and Modern Languages and was accepted as qualifying for entry as second-year students in Canadian Universities. The program aimed to develop both the physical and mental including discipline, the ability to obey and take charge, and honour. Candidates had to be between their fourteenth and sixteenth birthdays on July 1 following the examination. The original Royal Naval College of Canada facilities were destroyed on December 1917 at 0845, in the Halifax explosion. What could be salvaged was moved to the HMCS Stone Frigate at the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) in Kingston, Ontario. The "Royal Canadian Naval College" moved in 1919 to a building in the naval dockyard at Esquimalt, British Columbia. The College was closed in 1922.

To form the nucleus of its new navy, and to train Canadians for the country's planned fleet of five cruisers and six destroyers, Canada acquired two ships from Great Britain. The cruiser Rainbow was the first ship commissioned into Canada's navy on August 4, 1910, at Portsmouth, England. She arrived at Esquimalt, British Columbia, on November 7, 1910, and carried out fishery patrols and training duties on Canada's west coast. Another Royal Navy cruiser, HMS Niobe, became the second ship commissioned into the Canadian navy on September 6, 1910, at Devonport in England and arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on October 21, 1910—Trafalgar Day.

These initial plans encountered significant setbacks following Laurier's defeat in the 1911 federal election, in which the debate about naval policy played a significant part. The new Conservative government, led by Robert Borden, had opposed the Naval Service Act while they were in opposition, and replaced it with a Naval Aid Bill, which called for Canada to give money to Great Britain to help fund ships for the Royal Navy. The Liberal-dominated Senate, however, defeated the bill. The Royal Canadian Navy now found itself in limbo, with very limited funds for operations, two obsolescent cruisers, and no prospect of new ships being built or acquired.

Despite the problems of these early years, some Canadians were still active supporters of a national navy. Building on earlier, unofficial efforts, a volunteer reserve came into being in May 1914 as the Royal Naval Canadian Volunteer Reserve (RNCVR). Its initial establishment was 1,200 men, and it was divided into three distinct geographic areas: (1) Atlantic, (2) Pacific, and (3) Lake (representing inland areas). During the First World War, it would expand considerably, and also establish an "Overseas Division" specifically for service with the Royal Navy.

Immediately before the First World War, the premier of British Columbia, in a fit of public spirit, purchased two submarines (CC1 and CC2) from a shipyard in Washington. The submarines had been built for the Chilean Navy but the purchase had fallen through. On August 7, 1914, the Government of Canada purchased the boats from the Government of British Columbia, and they were consequently commissioned into the RCN.

First World War

HMCS Niobe stops a liner for contraband inspection off the American coast, 1914-1915.

At the outbreak of the First World War on 5 August 1914, two government vessels, the CGS Canada (renamed HMCS Canada) and the CGS Margaret, were immediately pressed into naval service, joining HMCS Niobe, HMCS Rainbow and the two submarines HMCS CC-1 and HMCS CC-2, to form a six-vessel naval force. At this point, London and Ottawa were planning to significantly expand the RCN, but it was decided that Canadian men would be permitted to enlist in either the Royal Navy or its Canadian counterpart, with many choosing the former.

During the fall of 1914, HMCS Rainbow patrolled the west coast of North America, as far south as Panama, although these patrols became less important following the elimination of the German naval threat in the Pacific with the December 1914 defeat of Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee's German East Asiatic Squadron off the Falkland Islands. Many of Rainbow's crew were posted to the east coast for the remainder of the war and by 1917 Rainbow was withdrawn from service.

The early part of the war also saw HMCS Niobe actively patrolling off the coast of New York City as part of British blockading forces, but she returned to Halifax permanently in July 1915 when she was declared no longer fit for service and was converted to a depot ship. She was heavily damaged in the December 1917 Halifax Explosion.

CC-1 and CC-2 spent the first three years of the war patrolling the Pacific; however, the lack of German threat saw them reposted to Halifax in 1917. With their tender, HMCS Shearwater, they became the first warships to transit the Panama Canal flying the White Ensign (the RCN's service flag). Arriving in Halifax on October 17, 1917, they were declared unfit for service and never patrolled again, being scrapped in 1920.

On September 5, 1918, the Royal Canadian Naval Air Service (RCNAS) was formed with a main function to carry out anti-submarine operations using flying boat patrol aircraft. The U.S. Navy's Naval Air Station Halifax, located on the eastern shores of the harbour at Eastern Passage, Nova Scotia, was acquired but following the November 11, 1918 Armistice, the RCNAS was discontinued.

Inter-war period

HMCS Skeena

Following a draw-down in the RCN after the war, the RCN undertook to find a mission and found it in taking over many of the civilian responsibilities of the Marine Service of the Department of Transport. Even though by 1922 the RCN had been cut back to 366 men and had paid off its last remaining cruiser HMCS Aurora, the Navy kept two destroyers donated by the Royal Navy, HMCS Patriot and HMCS Patrician, until they were replaced in the late 1920s by two other ex-Royal Navy vessels HMCS Champlain and HMCS Vancouver, and thereby maintained ships in service throughout the lean years.

On January 31, 1923, the RNCVR was replaced by the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve (RCNVR) The initial authorized strength of the RCNVR was 1,000 all ranks. Twelve Canadian cities (Calgary, Charlottetown, Edmonton, Halifax, Hamilton, Ottawa, Prince Rupert, Quebec City, Regina, Saint John, Saskatoon and Vancouver) were earmarked for divisions of “Half-Company” strength, i.e. 50 men, all ranks. Three larger cities (Toronto, Montreal and Winnipeg) were ordered to man to a “Company” strength, which was 100, all ranks. The first commission was given, on 14 March 1923, to Lieutenant Frank Meade, who established a Company sized detachment in Montreal. By the end of 1923, twelve units had been formed.

In 1931, the RCN underwent a major facelift when the first ships specifically built for the RCN, the destroyers HMCS Saguenay and HMCS Skeena, were commissioned at Portsmouth, England.

In late January 1932, Skeena along with Vancouver provided protection to British assets and civilians in El Salvador at the request of the British Consul in San Salvador following the outbreak of a peasant uprising. A landing party was briefly sent ashore at Acajutla, but the situation there improved and the sailors saw no combat, although the two ships remained in the area until the end of the month.

Throughout the 1930s, the RCN, along with its sister services, was starved of funding and equipment. Nevertheless, this decade saw the RCN slowly begin its rebuilding, as Ottawa joined London, Paris, and Washington in a growing apprehension of the ramifications of Nazi Germany's rearmament and the adventurism of Italy and Japan, and procured two more destroyers from the Royal Navy: HMCS Ottawa and HMCS Restigouche. By the outbreak of war in September 1939, however, the RCN still had only six River class destroyers, five minesweepers and two small training vessels, bases at Halifax and Victoria, and altogether 145 officers and 1,674 men.

Second World War

HMCS Pictou, likely escorting a convoy, circa 1944-1945. Note the merchant ships in the distance.

The RCN expanded substantially during the Second World War, with the larger vessels transferred or purchased from the US and British navies (many through the Destroyers for Bases Agreement), and the smaller vessels such as corvettes and frigates constructed in Canada. By the end of the conflict Canada had the third-largest navy in the world, behind the United States and the United Kingdom, but only two ships larger than destroyers, the light cruisers HMCS Uganda and HMCS Ontario. Although it showed its inexperience at times during the early part of the war, a navy made up of men from all across the country, including many who had never before seen a large body of water, proved capable of exceeding the expectations of its allies. By the end of the Battle of the Atlantic, the RCN was the primary navy in the northwest sector of the Atlantic Ocean and under the command of Rear Admiral Murray was responsible for the safe escort of innumerable convoys and the destruction of many U-boats — an anti-submarine capability that the RCN would build upon in post-war years.

At the end of the Battle of the Atlantic, Canadian ships (either alone or in conjunction with other ships and planes) sank a total of 27 U-boats, and either sank or captured 42 Axis surface ships. But the real victory was not so much in the statistics of battle, as in the successful completion of 25,343 merchant ship crossings, carrying 181,643,180 tons of cargo and a significant proportion of the Canadian and US forces for the eventual victory in Europe. Canada lost 24 ships in five different theatres: first was the Fraser sunk in a collision while evacuating refugees from France in 1940; Athabaskan, Regina, Alberni and Trentonian were lost in 1944 during Operation Neptune and cross-Channel escort duty; Louisburg and Weyburn sank in the Mediterranean during the North African invasions of Operation Torch; eight ships were sunk protecting Canadian coastal waters Bras D'Or, Chedabucto, Clayoquot and Esquimalt (minesweepers), Otter and Raccoon (armed yachts), and Charlottetown and Shawinigan (corvettes); and nine ships were lost on Atlantic escort duty Margaree, Levis, Windflower, Spikenard, Ottawa, St. Croix, Valleyfield, Skeena and Guysborough (on loan to the RCN from the RN). Altogether the RCN lost 1,797 seamen, and 95 became prisoners of war.

As the end of the war against Germany approached, attention focused on Japan. At the end of 1944, some RCN ships were deployed with the British Pacific Fleet, joining the many Canadian personnel already serving with the Royal Navy in the Pacific War. Ottawa was also laying plans to expand the RCN's capabilities beyond its anti-submarine orientation. The war in the Pacific was expected to culminate with a massive invasion of Japan itself, and this would need a different navy than that required in the Atlantic.

Britain was nearly bankrupt after five and a half years of war and was looking to shrink its military somewhat, especially since the United States was now the dominant power in the Pacific. With this in mind, the RCN and the Royal Australian Navy were to receive many ships considered surplus to the RN's needs, with the end goal being a powerful Commonwealth fleet of Australian, British, Canadian, and New Zealand ships alongside the United States Navy. As in the First World War, the war ended before these plans came to fruition. With the dropping of two nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan's will to fight evaporated.

With the end of the war, the RCN stopped expanding. A planned transfer of two light aircraft carriers from the Royal Navy, HMCS Warrior and HMCS Magnificent was slowed, and when Warrior was found to be unsuitable for a North Atlantic winter, she was sent to the west coast and the next year was replaced by Magnificent, with Warrior being returned to the RN. Canada still had two light cruisers, HMCS Ontario and HMCS Uganda (later HMCS Quebec), a number of Tribal class and other destroyers, and a mass of frigates, corvettes, and other ships, the majority of which were mothballed by 1947.

1949 'mutinies'

In the late winter of 1949, the RCN was shaken by three almost simultaneous cases of mass insubordination variously described as "Incidents" or "Mutinies":

• On February 26, when the destroyer HMCS Athabaskan was on a fuelling stop at Manzanillo, Colima, Mexico, ninety Leading Seamen and below — constituting more than half the ship's company — locked themselves in their messdecks, and refused to come out until getting the captain to hear their grievances.
• On March 15, in another destroyer — HMCS Crescent, at Nanjing, China — eighty-three junior ratings held a similar protest.
• On March 20, thirty-two aircraft handlers on the carrier HMCS Magnificent, which was on fleet manoeuvres in the Caribbean, briefly refused an order to turn to morning cleaning stations.

As noted by Dr Richard Gimblett, researcher and himself a retired naval officer the respective captains in all three cases acted with great sensitivity, entering the messes for an informal discussion of the sailors' grievances and carefully avoided using the term "mutiny," which could have had severe legal consequences for the sailors involved. Specifically, the captain of the Athabaskan, while talking with the disgruntled crew members, is known to have placed his cap over a written list of demands, which could have been used as legal evidence of a mutiny, and pretended not to notice it.

Still, the Canadian government of the time — the early years of the Cold War — felt apprehensive of "The Red Menace," especially since the naval sailors' discontent coincided with a Communist-inspired strike in the Canadian merchant marine (also, one of the incidents occurred in a country — China — where the local Communists were in the fast process of winning a civil war and gaining power).

Defence Minister Brooke Claxton appointed Rear-Admiral Rollo Mainguy, Flag Officer Atlantic Coast, to head a commission of inquiry. The Mainguy Report — described by Dr Gimblett as "a watershed in the Navy's history, whose findings, recommendations and conclusions remain a potent legacy" — concluded that no evidence was found of Communist influence or of collusion between the three crews.

The "General Causes Contributing to [the] Breakdown of Discipline" noted by the commission included:

• Collapse of the Divisional System of personnel management;
• Failure to provide Welfare Committees for the airing of petty grievances, which led to sailors informally adopting a kind of equivalent to a sit down strike;
• Frequent changes in ships' manning and routines with inadequate explanation;
• A deterioration in the traditional relationship between officers and petty officers;
• The absence of a distinguishing Canadian identity in the Navy.

The last issue — an assertion of "an uncaring officer corps harbouring aristocratic British attitudes inappropriate to Canadian democratic sensitivities" — went beyond the question of sailors' morale and touched on the basic identity of the Canadian Navy and indeed, on the national identity of Canada as a whole.

It was to have ramifications in the process undertaken in later decades, painful to many of the officers concerned, of deliberately cutting off many of the British traditions in such areas as ensigns and uniforms.

Cold War

The Annapolis class destroyer escort HMCS Nipigon underway during NATO Exercise Ocean Safari '85.

Immediately after the end of the Second World War, Canada, like many other countries, dramatically reduced its military expenditures. For the RCN, this meant large cuts to its personnel strength and number of commissioned ships. The emergence of the Cold War and the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), followed by the outbreak of the Korean War, prompted the Canadian government to dramatically increase its military spending. For the RCN, this resulted in increased numbers of personnel, the recommissioning and modification of some Second World War ships held in reserve, the design and construction of new classes of ships, and the upgrading of its recently created aviation capabilities. RCN destroyers formed part of Canada's initial response to the United Nations' call for assistance during the Korean War, and were sent to Korean waters to join other UN naval forces. The Canadian ships' duties included "exciting but dangerous" shore bombardments and the destruction of North Korean trains and railway lines. Initially dispatched in 1950, Canadian destroyers maintained a presence off the Korean peninsula until 1955.

At much the same time, the growing Soviet submarine threat led the RCN to update and convert existing ships to improve their anti-submarine capabilities. Most notably, 21 wartime River class frigates were extensively converted to Prestonian class frigates during the mid-to-late 1950s. The RCN also acquired several new classes of anti-submarine destroyer escorts (DDEs) to augment its fleet. Built in Canada, these ships pioneered innovative design features, including a distinctive rounded upper part of the hull which helped seawater drain from the deck during the extremely rough weather and also helped minimize winter-time ice buildup. The first of these new ships were the seven St. Laurent class DDEs, which were soon followed by the Restigouche, Mackenzie, and Annapolis classes with seven, four, and two vessels respectively. Following the construction of these new ships throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, the RCN was able to retire most of its remaining vessels dating from the Second World War.

Seeking to improve its ships' anti-submarine capabilities, the RCN pioneered the use of large ship-borne helicopters on small surface ships like destroyers in the rough waters of the North Atlantic and Pacific. The recovery of helicopters to a wildly pitching flight deck was made possible by the invention of the "Bear Trap", a cable and winch system which hauled a helicopter, hovering at full power, to the flight deck in all manner of conditions. Using this technology, the St. Laurent class DDEs were upgraded to destroyer-helicopter (DDH) vessels during the early to mid-1960s to accommodate recently acquired CH-124 Sea King anti-submarine helicopters. Other ships also received upgrades to increase their anti-submarine capabilities. The RCN was also actively involved in the development of various forms of ship-borne sonar, most notably the variable depth sonar (VDS), which greatly increased the ranges at which submarines could be detected. The improved capabilities conferred by these innovations contributed to Canada's NATO allies giving the RCN an expanded anti-submarine role in the North Atlantic. Much of the RCN's experimental work in these fields was conducted in conjunction with the Defence Research Board, and it would later include experiments leading to the development of the fastest warship ever built, the 60-knot (110 km/h) HMCS Bras d'Or.

The RCN also expanded and improved its aviation capabilities during much of this period. While it had provided crews for the British aircraft carriers HMS Nabob and HMS Puncher during the Second World War, and Canadians had served in the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm, Canada had no carriers of its own until HMCS Warrior entered Canadian service in 1946. Warrior proved unsuitable for North Atlantic winters, however, and was replaced by HMCS Magnificent in 1948. By the mid-1950s, Magnificent was no longer used as an active aircraft carrier, but was used as a vehicle transport during Canada's peacekeeping response to the 1956 Suez Crisis, before being paid off. Her replacement, HMCS Bonaventure, was a more modern aircraft carrier which had been substantially rebuilt to accommodate an angled flight deck and other improvements. During this time, the RCN also used stations at HMCS Shearwater and HMCS Patricia Bay to operate carrier-based fighter and anti-submarine aircraft, including the British Supermarine Seafire and Hawker Sea Fury, and the American F2H Banshee, the RCN's only jet fighter. Anti-submarine aircraft included variants of the Fairey Firefly, the Grumman Avenger, and a version of the Grumman Tracker built by de Havilland Canada.

Unification

On February 1, 1968, the personnel of the Royal Canadian Navy, along with those of the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Canadian Army, were transferred to the new, unified Canadian Forces, established under separate legislation, the National Defence Act. The naval forces were restructured as Canadian Forces Maritime Command (MARCOM), with Fleet Air Arm units being transferred to the Canadian Forces Air Command (AIRCOM).

For many of the serving naval personnel, the transition - giving up the old ensigns, and even more the adoption of army-type ranks and green uniforms instead of the distinctive naval ones - was a very painful process. Researcher Alan Filewood recalls:

I grew up in a navy family; my father was a regular force officer who had risen from the lower deck, and he was himself the son of a petty officer who had come to Canada as one of the British Royal Navy crews that brought Canada's first warships to this country in 1911 and elected to stay to build the RCN. Growing up in a naval family, I was imbued with the traditions of a service that prided itself on its British roots.

I recall vividly the day the armed forces paraded in Ottawa to witness the lowering of the old service ensigns and the raising of the new. My mother was a naval vet, a former WREN, and at this transformative moment of national symbolism, she wept; with the lowering of the White Ensign something disappeared from her history. Sometime later my father came home demoralized in his new army-style uniform with an army rank. Like many other naval officers, he retired soon thereafter.

The controversy included the dismissal of Rear-Admiral William Landymore, senior officer in the Atlantic, who tried to secure commitments that naval traditions would be maintained, but was later fired by Defence Minister Paul Hellyer for his opposition to the changes.

Legacy

What many think of as the modern Canadian Navy is officially known as the Canadian Forces Maritime Command (MARCOM), which was officially established 7 June 1965 as one of six functional commands which were formed under the integration reorganization of the Canadian services. The Royal Canadian Navy effectively ceased to exist February 1, 1968 when the Canadian Forces Reorganization Act was given Royal Assent. However, MARCOM, being the operational commander of the naval forces of Canada, is represented as the "Canadian Navy" and maintains many of the traditions of its predecessor. As the Canadian Monarch is the Commander-in-Chief of the Canadian military, commissioned Canadian naval ships, as units of the Canadian Armed Forces, use the prefix HMCS "Her/His Majesty's Canadian Ship/Submarine," a unit designation that began with the establishment of the Royal Canadian Navy and is continued to this day under the Canadian Forces. On Tuesday, December 14, 2010, the Canadian Senate passed a motion urging the federal government to change the name of Canada’s naval force from Maritime Command to a title that included the word “navy.” Both "Canadian Navy" and "Royal Canadian Navy" were considered acceptable.

Ensigns and jacks

On March 3, 1911, the RCN was authorized the use of the White Ensign, which remained the main identifying flag of the navy for the next 54 years. At the same time, the Canadian Blue Ensign was designated the jack of the RCN. However, because naval tradition dictates that the jack is worn at the ship's bow only when moored or on "dress ship" occasions, HMC ships normally had no distinctly Canadian flags when under way, the White Ensign being identical to the Royal Navy's ensign. Because of this, a tradition developed of painting a green maple leaf on ships' funnels to mark the ship as Canadian.

When British and Canadian foreign policies began to diverge in the 1950s (highlighted by the two countries' different roles in the Suez Crisis), having an ensign identical to the Royal Navy's became less satisfactory. In 1961, a policy of wearing the Canadian Red Ensign from the masthead (in addition to the Canadian Blue Ensign at the jack staff when appropriate, and the White Ensign at the ensign staff) was established. On February 15, 1965, the White, Blue, and Red ensigns were all replaced by the new National Flag of Canada, the Maple Leaf flag.

The White Ensign, worn as an ensign by the Royal Canadian Navy 1911–65.

The Blue Ensign, worn as a jack by the Royal Canadian Navy 1921–57.

Final version of the Blue Ensign, worn as a jack by the Royal Canadian Navy 1957–65.

Directors of the Naval Service

1. Admiral Sir Charles Kingsmill 1910–1920
2. Commodore Walter Hose 1921-1928

Chiefs of the Naval Staff

1. Rear-Admiral Walter Hose 1928–1934
2. Vice-Admiral Percy W. Nelles 1934–1944
3. Vice-Admiral George C. Jones 1944–1946
4. Vice-Admiral Howard E. Reid 1946–1947
5. Vice-Admiral Harold Taylor Wood Grant 1947–1951
6. Vice-Admiral Rollo Mainguy 1951–1956
7. Vice-Admiral Harry DeWolf 1956–1960
8. Vice-Admiral Herbert S. Rayner 1960–1964

Pre-unification senior officers of the RCN

Between the time the RCN was integrated with the RCAF and the Canadian Army in 1966, and unification in 1968, there was no Chief of the Naval Staff, and responsibility for the RCN often overlapped between Ottawa and Halifax.

Flag Officer, Atlantic Coast

1. Rear Admiral J.V. Brock, 1964
2. Rear Admiral William Landymore, 1964–1966

Flag Officer, Pacific Coast

1. Rear Admiral M.G. Stirling, 1964–1966
2. Rear Admiral J.A. Charles, 1966–1969

Principal Naval Adviser, CFHQ

1. Vice Admiral K.L Dyer, 1964–1966
2. Vice Admiral R.L. Hennessy, 1966–1968

Commander, Maritime Command

1. Rear Admiral William Landymore, 1964–1966
2. Rear Admiral J.C. O'Brien, 1966–1968

Heritage

This history of the Royal Canadian Navy is preserved and presented at the Maritime Command Museum in Halifax, the Canadian War Museum, the Naval Museum of Alberta and naval museum on several bases. Several RCN vessels have been preserved including the corvette HMCS Sackville, which serves as Canada's Naval Memorial, as well as the destroyer HMCS Haida and the auxiliary patrol ship HMCS/CSS Acadia which served the RCN in both the First and Second World Wars.

Film and books

• Corvette K-225 (1943), centres on the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War. Produced by Howard Hawks.
• A Canadian Second World War Naval officer is one of the main characters in Jan de Hartog's novel The Captain.

See also

• Barber pole -- nickname for a battle group
• List of Canadian Navy ships
• List of aircraft of the Royal Canadian Navy
• List of Royal Canadian Navy bases
• Uniforms of the Canadian Forces
• Canadian Forces Maritime Command
• Royal Canadian Naval Air Service

External links

• Canada faces fleet programme dilemmas Extract from April 2006 article discussing development options facing Canadian Navy
• Information about Canadian naval ships on Haze gray and underway
• Ensigns of the Royal Canadian Navy 1910-1965
• Alan Filewood, "Theatre, Navy and The Narrative of 'True Canadianism'".
• Dr Richard Gimblett, "Dissension in the Ranks - "Mutinies" in the Royal Canadian Navy
• Royal and Dominion Navies in World War 2, Campaigns, Battles, Warship losses
• Royal and Dominion Navies, Victoria Cross at Sea, 1940-45