Special Sub-Topic: History of the Canadian Navy Click Here To Play: History of the Canadian Navy

On October 21, 1910, Canada's navy came into being. What was its name at the time?

Naval Service of Canada. 105 years to the day following Nelson's victory at Trafalgar, the young nation of Canada saw her first 'own' Naval vessel arrive in Halifax Harbour.

Though HMCS Rainbow would be Canada's first Naval vessel, commissioned on August 4, 1910, this ship was the first commissioned for 'active' duty.

HMCS Niobe. The 11 year old HMS Niobe, a cruiser of the 'Apollo' class was given to Canada's fledgling navy by the Royal Navy. Though it lacked a full armoured belt, it was nonetheless a formidable vessel of 11,000 tons, armed with sixteen 6" guns, two torpedo tubes and various smaller weapons requiring over 700 men to operate.

The RCN (Royal Canadian Navy) by name came into existence when?

1911. Though considered at this time still to be a 'branch' of the Royal Navy, and governed under the "Kings Regulations and Admiralty Instructions" and The Naval Discipline Act of 1866, a proclamation issued on August 29, 1911 granted the title "Royal Canadian Navy" to Canadian Naval Forces.

When did the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) cease to operate under that name?

1968. On February 1, 1968 the new, unified Canadian Armed Forces came into being and the Royal Canadian Navy, as a legal entity disappeared. All branches (Army, Navy, Airforce) adopted a common uniform (bus driver green) and in the Navy especially, 'espirit de corps' all but vanished with mock funerals for the Naval uniform being held on both coasts. Maritime Forces within the Canadian Armed Forces finally adopted their own DEU (Distinct Environmental Uniform) in the mid 1980s.

During the inter-war years, with budgets slashed, what was established to maintain the Royal Canadian Navy's (RCN's) manning requirements?

Naval Reserves. Though the choice "the existance of the RCN on paper only during this time" is not far from the truth (the Navy reduced to less than 400 personnel and 2 small destroyers; Patriot and Patrician by 1927), the introduction of the RCNVR (Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve) on January 31, 1923 formed the corps of the inter-war Navy. Under Commodore Walter Hose, Naval reserve Divisions were established in 15 Canadian cities with over 1,000 volunteers. By 1939, this number had swelled to 113 officers and 1292 ratings with almost twice that on waiting lists. The main building of Canada's largest current Naval Reserve Division, HMCS Scotian in Halifax, bears Commodore Hose's name.

Though never a major player in the submarine community, Canada's Navy has always delved into submarine technology. What were the names of Canada's first two submarines?

CC.1, CC.2. In the summer of 1914, Seattle Construction and Drydock Company had in their possession two submarines originally contracted for by the Chilean government. Strained relations between the US and Chile as well as a failure of the boats to meet Chilean specifications meant that the company had them to 'unload. At 10 pm on August 4, 1914 under cover of darkness and after securing funds from a BC businessman and the then Premier of British Columbia, the two submarines were snuck into Victoria Harbour. Unbeknown to the enemy, the submarines had no offensive armaments whatsoever but history has shown that their presence alone deterred German commerce raiders from entering Canadian waters in the pursuit of shipping.

Canada's first Naval loss of World War II occurred on June 25, 1940 when this destroyer collided with the Royal Navy cruiser HMS Calcutta while hastily evacuating personnel from the French port of St Jean de Luz. Which was it?

HMCS Fraser. HMC Ships Fraser and Restigouche as well as HMS Calcutta made a hasty retreat from the port after taking on almost 20,000 civilians and servicemen but German tanks on the waterfront quickly ended the evacuation. In the ensuing melee to distance themselves from the French coast, Calcutta struck Fraser amidships slicing her cleanly in half. In all, forty-seven RCN and nineteen British sailors were lost.

As part of a lend-lease deal (ships for bases) between the US and Britain in 1940, the Royal Navy received 50 old 4-stack USN destroyers in return for establishing bases on Commonwealth soil. A number of these were turned over to the Royal Candaian Navy (RCN) for Atlantic escort duties. How many?

6. Though they didn't fit into the RCN's 'war plan', HMC Ships Annapolis, Columbia, Niagara, St Clair, St Croix and St Francis were reluctantly commissioned into the RCN.

November 6, 1940 saw the first contact for the Royal Canadian Navy with the enemy at sea. This destroyer, along with the RN destroyer HMS Harvester, depth charged and sank the Italian submarine Faa di Bruno.

HMCS Ottawa. The submarine had been shelling a freighter off Ireland. The freighter was able to get off a distress call bringing two destroyers to the scene. Several hours of depth charging and searching by both vessels brought an oil slick to the surface which authorities granted as 'probably damaged' for Ottawa’s crew. Post war records unveiled 50 years later confirmed the loss of Faa di Bruno in this action.

Another first saw this destroyer become the first Canadian vessel of the war fired upon by an enemy vessel.

HMCS Saguenay. On December 1, 1940, lookouts on Saguenay spotted a surfaced submarine lining up a freighter in a convoy 300 miles west of Iceland. As Saguenay closed on the submarine, one of its torpedoes struck forward, tearing Saguenay’s bow off. Expert seamanship and damage control brought the vessel home to be repaired and to fight another day. Ironically, once again, it was the Italian Navy providing the RCN with her baptism of fire in the form of the submarine Argo.

The bulk of Canada's wartime Navy comprised this class of vessel.

'Flower' class corvette. Though all four classes were incorporated in the wartime RCN, it was the corvette, based on a whaling boat design, which became the backbone of Atlantic convoy escort duties for the RCN. Designed more for coastal duties, they retained very poor sea keeping qualities. Commented one 'old salt: "they ought to receive submariner pay ... the corvettes spent so much time under water!". Over 120 were built in Canadian shipyards for service with several navies. Though one in a story of many, HMCS Sackville remains Canada's last corvette and now serves as a memorial on Halifax’s waterfront to those Canadians lost in World War II's longest running battle - The Battle of the Atlantic.

Though records are still sketchy, one of the first attempts by the Allies to gain the ULTRA secret at sea occurred on September 10, 1941 when this corvette encountered U-501 south of Greenland.

HMCS Chambly. After a running battle with HMC Ships Moose Jaw, Chambly, Orillia, Kenogami and Alberni while attempting to attack convoy SC-42, U-501 was finally brought to the surface by depth charges and rammed by the corvette HMCS Moose Jaw. U-501's Captain surrendered his submarine to Chambly's Captain. While Chambly's Boarding Party searched the submarine, renegade crew members on U-501 took the submarine for it’s final dive retaining the ULTRA secrets for another day. Unfortunately, they also retained one member of Chambly's Boarding Party; Leading Stoker W.I. Brown.

On August 27, 1943, this destroyer in company with an RN Task Group was the first Allied ship attacked by a new breed of German 'smart bomb'.

HMCS Athabaskan. Though two German Dornier Do 17 bombers seemed to be shadowing the small Task Group in the Bay of Biscay, they actually launched four HS-293 glider bombs. Though the one hitting Athabaskan actually passed through the superstructure before exploding, the one hitting HMS Egrit caused the entire crew of 225 to disappear in a huge explosion. These 'Chase me Charles' glider bombs had a small booster and were radio guided from their launching aircraft allowing the operator to steer the 1100 lb warhead to its target with pinpoint accuracy.

"Canada’s Fightingest Ship", this Tribal Class destroyer has found a permanent home on the waterfront of Hamilton, Ontario.

HMCS Haida. Finishing the war with many honours and having played a vital role in the rescue of survivors from the April 1944 sinking of HMCS Athabaskan, as well as shore bombardment on D-Day, Haida was retained following her decommissioning in the 1950s as a Naval memorial in Toronto, Ontario. In the summer of 2003, after being reinforced and repainted she was moved, with much fanfare to Hamilton, Ontario.

At the end of hostilities in 1945, Canada's Navy ranked here in the largest Allied navies.

3rd largest. Exceeded in size at war's end by only the USN and RN, from a handful of antiquated vessels and 1800 men in 1939, the Canadian Navy grew to nearly 100,000 personnel and over 400 vessels. Most of the over 25,000 merchant ship crossings of the Atlantic were escorted in whole or part by the RCN. In turn, the RCN shared in the sinking of thirty-one U-boats and forty-two surface ships at a cost of twenty two ships of her own to enemy action, the last one, the 'Bangor' class minesweeper HMCS Esquimalt within sight of the residents of Halifax just days before VE Day. The total cost in lives exceeded 1800 but Canada's Navy had made a name for itself.

Referred to as 'Cadillacs' when introduced into service, this class of destroyer was Canada's first post-war attempt at a fully designed and developed warship purely Canadian.

'St Laurent' class. On the drawing board as early as March 1949, this anti-submarine DDE developed and launched through the 1950s and into the early 1960s, included Assiniboine, Fraser, Ottawa, St Laurent, Saguenay, Skeena and Margaree. Subsequent batches included Restigouche, Gatineau, Chaudiere, Kootenay, Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan, St Croix, Columbia, Yukon, Terra Nova and Mackenzie. The final batch of two; Annapolis and Nipigon were purpose built helicopter carriers from the start. Upgrades in later years saw all of the first batch converted to DDH (helicopter carrying) with the four Restigouche class: Restigouche, Terra Nova, Kootenay and Gatineau receiving upgrades including the 'new' ASROC-anti submarine rocket propelled torpedo. The last ships of this class remained in service until well into the 1990s fulfilling Canada’s commitment to NATO as well as being utilized as test beds for new equipment to be fitted to the Canadian Patrol Frigate.

This destroyer was the only RCN vessel to be struck by enemy fire during the Korean War.

HMCS Iroquois. Canada's Destroyer Squadron's main claim to fame during this conflict was as 'train busters' hitting rail lines and freight traveling along the north eastern coastline of North Korea. Though HMCS Nootka came under heavy fire from shore batteries in March 1952, she escaped relatively unscathed. In October of the same year however, while in consort with a USN destroyer pounding rail lines and shore batteries, the North Korean gunners found there mark exploding a shell just above Iroquois's fo'c'sle killing three of the destroyer's crew. These would turn out to be the only RCN casualties of the Korean War.

This vessel was the flagship of the Royal Canadian Navy through the late 1940s and into the 1950s.

HMCS Magnificent. A former RN aircraft carrier acquired by the RCN in the late 1940s, Magnificent replaced the old wartime carrier HMCS Warrior and became the pride of Canada's post war fleet and remained in frontline service until replaced in 1957 by HMCS Bonaventure.

Dubbed "Sisters of the Space Age", this destroyer class developed in the 1960s joined the Canadian Navy in the early 1970s.

'Tribal' class. Named after the WWII destroyers of the then 'Tribal' class, this four ship class comprised HMCS Iroquois, HMCS Huron, HMCS Algonquin and HMCS Athabaskan and were all commissioned by the end of 1973. Initially intended to be an extension of the St Laurent class, these ships came out longer, wider, heavier, carried more crew and were equipped to operate two Sea King helicopters. Their unique 'V' funnels stood them apart from their peers until reassignment to Area Air Defense vessels in the 1990s lead to a redesign of the upper deck structure.

Canada recently leased four of this class of submarine from the British government to replace the aging submarines acquired in the 1960s.

'Upholder' class. As early as the 1960s, Canadian Defence White Papers indicated the true need for a substantial submarine force. Though, ideally a nuclear powered submarine would have better met the requirements for extended under-ice operations, the Canadian government opted for a 'can't refuse' bargain from the British after the Royal Navy submarine fleet went all nuclear. Built in the early 1980s, the four vessels completed were laid up in the late eighties waiting for a buyer. After the Canadian Navy decommissioned the last of its 'Oberon' class in the late 1990s, the first of the now 'Victoria' class was commissioned in Halifax. It is expected, after modernization and refitting that all four submarines should be operational in the 2005-2007 time frame. Their names are: HMCS Victoria, HMCS Windsor, HMCS Chicoutimi and HMCS Corner Brook.

These two unique vessels provide at-sea replenishment for Canada's current Naval Fleet.

HMC Ships Protecteur and Preserver. Commissioned in August 1969 and July 1970 respectively, these two ships are the true workhorses of Canada's fleet. A third AOR, HMCS Provider was retired in the 1990s. HMCS Protecteur, based out of Esquimalt, BC and HMCS Preserver, out of Halifax, NS provide Canada's small but formidable fleet with the flexibility to operate for long periods of time far from home. During the Persian Gulf War in 1991, HMCS Protecteur became the lone floating gas station for hundreds of coalition warships patrolling in the Persian Gulf region. More recently, both AORs have spent time in the same area in the War on Terrorism providing support to several Navies operating assets in the area.

Only one ship in the Canadian Navy has ever carried the designation DDG (Guided missile destroyer). Which is it?

HMCS Terra Nova. In order to provide enhanced anti ship protection, HMCS Terra Nova, a DDE temporarily had her aft ASROC removed and replaced by four Harpoon anti-ship missiles when deployed to the Persian Gulf in 1990. Admittedly a make shift arrangement, this nonetheless changed her classification albeit for only seven months.

This twelve-ship class of Coastal Patrol vessels began appearing in Canada's fleet in the mid 1990s.

'Kingston' class. These twelve ships known as MCDVs (Minesweeper-Coastal Defence Vessel) comprise HMCS Kingston, HMCS Goose Bay, HMCS Glace Bay, HMCS Shawinigan, HMCS Moncton, HMCS Summerside, HMCS Edmonton, HMCS Brandon, HMCS Yellowknife, HMCS Whitehorse, HMCS Nanaimo and HMCS Saskatoon. With the exception of a senior Electrician and a senior Naval Electronics Technician, they are manned entirely by Naval Reservists. They provide coastal defence, fisheries patrol and serve in a support role to Naval Task Groups.

This 'Halifax' class frigate, during operations in the Persian Gulf on the War on Terrorism, boarded and confiscated a dhow carrying over $50M USD worth of drugs in early 2002.

HMCS Toronto. Upon completion of securing the dhow, Area Commanders ordered it sunk by gunfire and just prior to opening up with her main armament, HMCS Toronto in company with USS Leyte Gulf ran the US flag and NYFD flags up her mast. A truly touching moment; I know, I was there. After closing to open up with small arms, the dhow was finally holed and set aflame by Leyte Gulf and sank shortly after. Contrary to news reports of the time, Toronto DID NOT sail downwind after the dhow was set on fire!

Finally, an easy one. Canada's West Coast Fleet is currently based out of ...?

Esquimalt, British Columbia. Canada’s west coast fleet currently comprises two 'Iroquois' class DDHs, five 'Halifax' class FFHs, five 'Kingston' class MCDVs, one 'Victoria' class submarine and one ‘Preserver’ class AOR. Since inception in 1910, Esquimalt has been the home to Canada's west coast Navy.