CANADA’S WAR AT SEA
1939-1945
Canada played a major role in protecting trans-Atlantic convoys.
The Royal
Canadian Navy’s ‘small-ship’ fleet of destroyers, corvettes, frigates, and
minesweepers (supported by maritime patrol bombers of the Royal Canadian Air
Force) escorted Allied shipping across the Atlantic and along the
northeastern seaboard of North America. Despite early growing pains, the
R.C.N. grew into a formidable anti-submarine force. The navy also made major
contributions to Allied operations in the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, the
Arctic, and in European waters. By war’s end, the Royal Canadian Navy, the world’s third-largest fleet, had enlisted some 100,000 men and 6500 women and operated 471 warships and smaller fighting vessels, most Canadian-built. The R.C.N. sank 28 enemy submarines and numerous surface vessels but lost 24 of its own warships. Approximately 2000 Canadian sailors were killed. Another 12,000 Canadians served in the Merchant Navy, of whom more than 1600 died. See also : Canadian Newspapers and the Second World War : The Royal Canadian Navy |
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