| Revision as of 17:20, 14 May 2005 editPlasma east (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Extended confirmed users41,280 editsm →Formation Years← Previous edit | Revision as of 20:01, 14 June 2005 edit undo192.139.27.18 (talk)No edit summaryNext edit → | ||
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| Some Navy that Canada owns?!? | |||
| The '''Royal Canadian Navy''' ('''RCN''') was the ] of ] from ] until ] when the three branches of the Canadian military were merged into the ]. The modern Canadian navy has been known as ] (MARCOM) since unification but still refers to itself as the "Navy" and maintains many of the traditions of the RCN. | |||
| ==History== | |||
| ===Formation Years=== | |||
| During the early years of the ], there was growing discussion within the ] as to the role the ]s would play in ] and ]. A key part of this discussion focused around naval issues. In Canada, it came down to a choice between two options. Either the young country could provide funds, support and manpower to the ], or it could form its own navy. Canada chose the latter. | |||
| On ] ], a Member of Parliament, ], introduced a resolution in the ] calling for the establishment of a '''Canadian Naval Service'''. The resolution was not successful; however, on ] ], the government of ] Sir ] took Foster's resolution and introduced it as the Naval Service Bill. After third reading, the bill received royal assent on ] ], and became the Naval Service Act, administered by the ] at the time. 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 ] (Royal Navy, retired), who was previously in charge of the Marine Service of the ]. | |||
| 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 used British cruiser HMCS ''Rainbow'' was the first ship commissioned into Canada's navy on ], ], at ]. She arrived at ], on ], ], and carried out fishery patrols and training duties on Canada's west coast. | |||
| Another used British cruiser, HMCS ''Niobe'', became the second ship commissioned into the Canadian navy on ], ], at ] in ] and arrived at ], on ], ]—]. | |||
| The Naval Service of Canada changed its name to Royal Canadian Navy on ], ], but it was not until ] that the use of "Royal" Canadian Navy was permitted by ]. | |||
| Immediately prior to the onset of the ], the premier of ], in a fit of public spirit, purchased two submarines (''CC1'' and ''CC2'') from a shipyard in ] that had been built for the ] navy, but the purchase had fallen through. On ], ], the federal government purchased them from the B.C. provincial government and they were in turn commissioned into the RCN. | |||
| ===World War I=== | |||
| In ] ] the '''Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve''' ('''RCNVR''') was established and undertook a strength of 1200 men from three distinct geographic areas: (1) Atlantic, (2) Pacific, and (3) Lake (representing inland areas). | |||
| After the outbreak of the ] in ], ] and ] were planning to expand the RCN significantly, 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 ], HMCS ''Rainbow'' patrolled the west coast of the ], as far south as ], although these patrols became less important following the elimination of the German naval threat in the Pacific with the ] ] defeat of Admiral ] ]'s ] off the ]. Much of ''Rainbow'''s crew were posted to the east coast for the remainder of the war and by ] ''Rainbow'' was withdrawn from service. | |||
| It was in Esquimalt and Victoria that the only active use of the RCNVR took place, with the reserve being tasked to help man the ''Rainbow'', ''C1'', and ''C2''. | |||
| The early part of the war also saw HMCS ''Niobe'' actively patrolling off the coast of ] but returned to Halifax permanently in ] ] when she was declared no longer fit for service and was converted to a depot ship. She was heavily damaged in the ] ] ]. | |||
| HMCS ''C1'' and HMCS ''C2'' spent the first three years of the war patrolling the Pacific; however, the lack of German threat saw them reposted to Halifax in ]. With their tender, ], they became the first warships to transit the ] flying the White Ensign (the RCN's service flag). Arriving in Halifax on ], ], they were declared unfit for service and never patrolled again, being scrapped in ]. | |||
| On ], ] the '''Royal Canadian Naval Air Service''' ('''RCNAS''') was formed with a main function to carry out anti-submarine operations using ] patrol aircraft. The ] ], located on the eastern shores of the harbour at ], was acquired but following the ], ] ], the RCNAS was discontinued. | |||
| Canada's wartime naval shipbuilding policies were not considered a success, having only delivered a cruiser and two destroyers. | |||
| ===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 ], and during the ] the RCN was threatening to become a civilian service. | |||
| On ], ], the RNCVR was replaced by the '''Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve''' (also '''RCNVR''') and formed with companies of 100 or half-companies of 50 in over 15 cities across the country. | |||
| On ], ], the RCN underwent a major facelift when the first custom-built RCN ships, destroyers HMCS ''Saguenay'' and HMCS ''Skeena'', were commissioned at ]. | |||
| Still, by the ], the RCN, along with its sister services, were starved of funding and equipment. However, this decade saw the RCN begin its rebuilding, as Ottawa joined ], ], and ] in a growing apprehension of the ramifications of ] ]'s rearmament and the adventurism of ] and ]. By the outbreak of ] in ] ], the RCN still had only six destroyers and a handful of smaller ships. | |||
| ===World War II=== | |||
| The RCN expanded greatly during ] and following the end of the war was the third-largest navy in the world, behind the ] and the ]. 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 ], the RCN was the primary navy in the northwest sector of the ] and was responsible for the safe escort of innumerable convoys and the destruction of many ]—an anti-submarine capability that the RCN would build upon during the post-war. Similarly, a massive building program (for a nation of only 11 million) saw ]s, ]s, and other escort vessels built in shipyards on both coasts and on the ]. Added to this were ]s, ]s, ]s, and various auxiliary ships. In addition, the '''Royal Canadian Naval Air Service''' was reborn with the use of anti-submarine patrols on both coasts conducted with ] flying boats. | |||
| As the end of the war against Germany approached, attention focused on Japan. At the end of ], some RCN ships were deployed with the ], joining the many Canadian personnel already serving with the Royal Navy in the ]. Ottawa was also laying plans to expand the RCN's capabilities beyond its ] 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 ] were to receive many ships considered surplus to the RN's needs, with the end goal being a powerful ] ] of ], British, Canadian, and ] ships alongside the ]. As in World War I, the war ended before these plans came to fruition. With the dropping of two ]s on ], 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, ] and ] was slowed, and when ''Warrior'' was found to be unsuitable for a ] winter, she was sent to the west coast and the next year was replaced by ''Magnificent'', with ''Warrior'' being given back to the RN. Canada still had two light cruisers, ] and ] (later ]), a number of ] and other destroyers, and a mass of frigates, corvettes, and other ships, the majority of which were mothballed by ]. | |||
| ===Cold War=== | |||
| The ] and the formation of ] saw the RCN halt its contraction and begin expanding again. Several World War II vintage ships saw action in the ], including exciting but dangerous shore bombardment and North Korean train destruction missions. The growing ] submarine threat in the ] saw a new class of anti-submarine destroyer escorts (DDEs), the ''St. Laurent'' class, designed. The RCN also pioneered several innovative ship designs, one of the more notable being the "rounded" upper part of the hull which helps drain seawater from the upper decks during the extremely rough conditions of the North Atlantic and Pacific oceans—it has also been said that this rounded upper hull would assist in cleaning radiation from a ship in the event of coming in contact with fallout from a ]. | |||
| Following the seven ''St. Laurent'' DDEs, the ''Restigouche'' and ''Mackenzie'' DDE classes were built with seven and four vessels respectively. In the early ] the ''St. Laurent'' DDEs were upgraded to destroyer-helicopter (DDH) vessels to accommodate the new CH-124 Sea King anti-submarine helicopters. The RCN was the first navy in the world to pioneer the use of ship-borne helicopters on small surface ships such as destroyers and frigates in the rough waters of the North Atlantic and Pacific. Recovery of helicopters to a wildly pitching flight deck was aided with the RCN invention of the "Bear Trap"—a cable-assisted winching system which hauled a helicopter, while operating at full power, to the deck in all manner of conditions. RCN also was an early pioneer in various forms of ship-borne sonar, both passive and active. These innovations resulted in their NATO allies giving RCN an expanded anti-submarine role throughout the North Atlantic. | |||
| Following the construction of these vessels throughout the ], RCN was able to retire all remaining World War II-era vessels. HMCS ''Magnificent'' stopped being used as an active carrier by the mid-] and was used as a vehicle transport during Canada's peacekeeping response to the ] ] before being paid off and replaced by ], a more modern aircraft carrier which was subsequently updated with an angled flight deck. The RCNAS used stations at ] and ] to operate carrier-based fighter aircraft as well as coastal patrol aircraft. | |||
| The RCN also conducted experiments with the fastest warship ever built, the 60-knot maximum speed ]. | |||
| ===Unification=== | |||
| On ], ], the Royal Canadian Navy was merged with the ] and the ] to form the ]. The naval forces were restructured as ] (MARCOM). | |||
| ==Ensigns and jacks== | |||
| ] | |||
| On March 3, 1911, the RCN was authorized the use of the ], which remained the main identifying flag of the navy for the next 54 years. At the same time, the ] was designated the jack of the RCN. However, because naval tradition dictates that the jack is worn at the ship's bow only when docked 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 ]), having an ensign identical to the Royal Navy's became less satisfactory. In 1961, a policy of wearing the ] 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 ]. | |||
| ==Ranks== | |||
| (need more info) | |||
| == On film == | |||
| * '']'' (]), centres on the Canadian Navy during WWII. Produced by ]. | |||
| ==See also== | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| ==External links== | |||
| * | |||
| * | |||
| * | |||
| * | |||
| ] | |||
Revision as of 20:01, 14 June 2005
Some Navy that Canada owns?!?