The history of the Royal Canadian Navy goes back to 1910, when the naval force was created as the Naval Service of Canada and renamed a year later by King George V. The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) is one of the three environmental commands of the Canadian Forces. Over the course of its history, the RCN has 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. In 1968, the RCN was amalgamated with the Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force to form what is today the unified Canadian Armed Forces. The naval force was known as Maritime Command until 2011, when the environmental command was renamed as the Royal Canadian Navy.
History Formative years
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 relations. 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 29 March 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 12 January 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 4 May 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
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 30 January 1911, brought a favourable reply from King George V on 29 August of that year.
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 1 July following the examination. The original Royal Naval College of Canada facilities were destroyed in December 1917 in the Halifax Explosion. What could be salvaged was moved to 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 was the first ship commissioned into Canada's navy on 4 August 1910, at Portsmouth, England. She arrived at Esquimalt on 7 November 1910, and carried out fishery patrols and training duties on Canada's west coast. Another Royal Navy cruiser, , became the second ship commissioned into the Canadian navy on 6 September 1910, at Devonport in England and arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 21 October 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. At the urging of the Admiralty's First Sea Lord Winston Churchill, Borden agreed to finance the construction of three dreadnoughts for $35 million.German (1990), p. 29. This plan was far more costly than Laurier's original plan of the Canadian-built fleet, and would reap no benefits to Canadian industries whatsoever. On 5 December 1912, Borden introduced the Naval Aid Bill as a one-time contribution to the British Royal Navy. After a bitter debate and a long filibuster by the opposition Liberals, the Borden government invoked closure on the debate, for the first time ever in Canadian Parliament, and the bill passed third reading on 15 May 1913. The act was soundly defeated by the Liberal-majority Senate two weeks later. 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 ( and ) from a shipyard in Washington. The submarines had been built for the Chilean Navy but the purchase had fallen through. On 7 August 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
At the outbreak of the First World War on 5 August 1914, two government vessels, CGS Canada (renamed ) and , were immediately pressed into naval service, joining Niobe, Rainbow and the two submarines CC-1 and 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 German Admiral Maximilian von Spee's East Asia Squadron in the Battle of the Falkland Islands. Many of Rainbow 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 17 October 1917, they were declared unfit for service and never patrolled again, being scrapped in 1920.
In June 1918, was sunk by a U-boat. In terms of the number of dead- 234 - the sinking was the most significant Canadian naval disaster of the First World War.
On 5 September 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 11 November 1918 Armistice, the RCNAS was discontinued.
Inter-war period
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, and , until they were replaced in the late 1920s by two other ex-Royal Navy vessels and , and thereby maintained ships in service throughout the lean years.
On 31 January 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 and , 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: and . A custom-built training vessel, the tern schooner based on the famous Bluenose was commissioned in 1938 for advanced seamanship training. 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