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All of my fathers ships crew have passed nearly 10 years ago. HMCS Lindsay K338. My father had the pleasure of several reunions with his mates in the 1980's and early 1990's. They truly bonded with and loved each other. They were all heroes. God bless them all. RIP.
They took such pride marching with their mates until they were to old. My grand father had a severe back injury leaving him in a back brace and collar but any time there was a parade of vets from WW2 he was there using two canes at the end. He died in December but he was able to march one last time with his baby brother who was home from England for the Remembrance day service that year. His picture has one of the largest smiles I have ever seen.
My father served on the HMCS Cheboque when it was torpedoed in 1944. Did not sink, but was towed back to the UK and decomissioned. He was hit by shrapnel but returned to duty later. He was 18 when he was hit. He lied about his age and joined at 16, saw action at 17 and when the war ended he was still just 19 years old. He stayed in the navy until 1969.
My Grandfather was the opposite - enlisted in the fall of 1939 but was rejected because he was already 34. He joined the RCN Reserves and was called up in 1940.
@@daverooneyca LOL, that's a common story for men back then. In 39 they had an age restriction plus if you had more than two kids you were rejected. My grandfather was to old, had three girls and was to skinny so he lied about his age, combined all the names into two kids and he knew the original doctor who did the medicals well enough that he covered for his weight. Before he saw any combat it was discovered how old he was and how many kids he had but by then they had lowered the restriction but they still made him a cook to keep him from combat. The closest he got to Europe was he saw the white cliffs of Dover from a transport but the ship never disembarked in the UK but returned and disembarked the troops in Newfoundland which was not part of Canada at the time which allowed him to get his overseas medal. His younger brother, cousin and best friends would serve in Italy, southern France, through western Europe and into Germany. While we did end up having conscription by the wars end only volunteers were to see combat. Had the war lasted that would have changed as the replacement situation was at the breaking point and could not have survived one more major offensive.
I'm a navy brat, grew up moving about every 18 months, by the time I was 12, I had lived from Halifax to Vancouver, and sailed to England three times. My sister and I were able to scramble free as birds over and through many RCN ships. My brother was even christened on HMCS Gatineau. I wouldn't change a thing. It was a great life and the RCN was a great navy. I miss my father very much, he'll never know how much I appreciated my childhood.
My father joined the CDN Navy at the age of 19, in 1939 before the start of WW2. He served on HMCS Ottawa 1940-41, St. Laurent, 1941-42, St. Francis 1943, eventually becoming a CPO before discharge in 1946. He survived the war, missing many friends lost when the HMCS Ottawa was torpedoed and sunk. I can’t believe going to war for $1.35 a day ($30 a month) on convoy duty when Wolf Packs were so omnipresent in the early years of the war.
By the end of WWII, the Canadian merchant fleet was the fourth largest in the world. Canadian merchant marine crews had higher death totals than any of Canadian armed forces branches.
I used to play on Haida, with my little brother. It was moored at Front St in the 60s. Absolutely kept Lake Ontario safe from submarines. Five year olds don't get any recognition for that sort of thing.
@@HiddenHistoryYT Later found out about "Canada's most fightingest ship.” by tonnage sank. Even "sank" two trains in Korea. Still a floating museum ship in Hamilton ON. As kids we brought lunch and usually ate in the Petty Officers mess. Without power for the cannons and pom pom guns we still shot down plenty of planes. Toronto harbour was never attacked by enemy subs or planes. If there was another person on board we never saw them. Probably would have lost a finger if everything wasn't painted in place. Now, you can pay and take a tour. I say show a bunch of modern kids the movie Battleship then give their imaginations run of the boat for the day!
My father was on HMCS Gatineau (H61) as a radar tech. Was in the Battle of the Atlantic, convoy duty and D-day, escorting the battle wagons across the channel.
I had the honor of being a USN officer many years ago. As a LT., and on the staff of an admiral ,I was invited to join the crew as a "guest" of the HMCS Nipigon, DDH 266, for a short cruise around the Caribbean. As an ASW platform, with her "bear-trap" system of recovering her Sea King heliocopter, and her outstanding crew, she was a force to be feared by the enemy ,and held in respect by her allies. The USN takes pride in our ASW abilities, but those Canadian sailors and their ships take a 2nd seat to no one. I am just very happy they are on the side of the free world.
My Grandfather served in the RCN during WWII. He was initially assigned to the British battleship HMS Ramillies, then to the Bangor class minesweeper HMCS Mahone and finally to the River class destroyer HMCS Assiniboine, mentioned in the video. He was decorated by King George for putting out the boiler room fire on the Assiniboine in July 1945 that ended her career.
A distant cousin of mine, Sub-Lt. Haddow Baird of Northumberland Street, Fredericton, New Brunswick, died on the Shawinigan just over 80 years ago. I came of age just a couple blocks away. He left a widow and infant daughter. My great great uncle and namesake William Quilty, the man that named my grandmother, also died at sea off the coast of Maine when his merchant vessel, SS Cornwallis, was torpedoed, on Dec. 3 1944. He turned 24 just two weeks earlier. My father tracked down and interviewed the last survivor of the wreck, one of only 5 that made it. He did not know William well, but he remembered him and his 3 best friends quite clearly. None of them made it. William and Haddow never knew each other but died just about a week apart. Thank you for this memorial to these brothers in arms. Lest we forget.
Good video - but you should do a story on two remarkable incidents involving the RCN: - the attack on a U-Boat by HMCS Oakville - the ferocious attack by a flotilla of destroyers including HMCS Athabaskan and Haida plus the Polish Piorun led by HMS Black Prince on 3 or 4 German Destroyers in the Bay of Biscay.
My father living in the US enlisted in the RCN in 1940 at the age of 15. After Pearl Harbor he was allowed to leave and joined the U.S. Navy at 17. He’s gone now, but what an exciting life.
I new some of these people. Many suffering from invisible wounds decades later. They are all gone now. But I will remember them and honour them until I take my last breath.
What my uncle saw at sea did him n eventually. He was never torpedoed, but the war did eventually take his life. PTSD was stigmatized back then, and rarely discussed or talked about like it is today.
@@62Cristoforo Mental health is still stigmatized. Oh sure, people _say_ they understand. That they _know_ it's not your fault. They say the words, but it's not in their hearts. One panic attack, or get triggered by a sudden something and all you get is naked contempt. It's a completely natural reaction, and it hurts like fuck.
"And if the convoy is lucky a ship or two of the Royal Canadian Navy. The sailors who say the sea is wide and the U-Boats cannot cover every mile of every route. Hoping, praying to dodge the enemy" Episode 1 Victory At Sea Great Video too
At 7:20 reference is made to Canadian losses off the coast of Port aux Basques being a naval vessel sunk in 1944. It should also be noted that on October 14, 1942, the passenger ferry SS Caribou operating between North Sydney, Nova Scotia and Port aux Basques, Newfoundland (as it was known in 1942) was also torpedoed and sank by a German submarine with a loss of life of 137 souls. The sinking of the SS Caribou is considered by many historians as the most significant sinking in Canadian waters during the Second World War. Referenced from Wikipedia.
You forgot to mention the aircraft carriers and submarines in your sum up, Canada’s Navy was the 3rd largest in the world after WW2. I was honoured enough to attend a final meal aboard the HMC Bonaventure aircraft carrier before her decommissioning in 1970 at Halifax Naval Base. By everything she was beautiful and vast to a young Sea Cadet.
My father was in England when WW2 started. Joined RN as DR. on an armed merchant cruiser out of South Africa. Later in war, switched to RCN. Served on HMS Bullolo, which was an Australian ship.
My god. I never understood what my Dad’s brother went through serving on HMCS Humberstone, a Corvette escort ship crossing the freezing North Atlantic. My brother says he told him they had to ignore their own sailors in the water after their ship was torpedoed. To stop and pick up survivors was instant death, easily picked off by U-boats. This scarred him for life in a time when PTSD wasn’t talked about or taken seriously.
My father served on the HMCS Teme and was a near casualty when it was accidentally rammed by the British aircraft carrier HMS Tracker in the dark of night a few days after D-Day. He also served on the convoy escorts to Murmansk, Russia during winter. He was 18-19 years of age at the time.
Very informative, thank you. To clarify one point that you mentioned about Newfoundland: it was actually still a British colony at that point in time, including St. John’s and its strategic port. Newfoundland joined the Canadian confederation in 1949, the last province or territory to do so.
HMCS Mantene K 444 . Corvette . This one ended as a breakwater in a booming ground , maybe Shelter bay , South of Campbell river BC. I often wondered if any are alive to tell her tales ? At low tide we walked out to her, how immense she seemed . TY RCN.
In a historical video, I would have thought you'd get the flag right. Outside of that, a nice overview of Canada's naval contributions to the war and victory.
My father was an ERA on the HMCS Shawinigan. He wasn't aboard at the time of the sinking, getting trained on his new ship... HMCS Cape Breton under construction in Quebec City. He never talked about it with me. Survivor guilt I assume. 😥
My great uncle served on HMCS athabaskan when she was hit and sunk. Picked up by HMCS Haida, and that's where he spent the rest of the war. Grandfather taught the boys how to shoot and throw grenades, til one day a kid pulled a pin, and blew his arm off.
I was the last Ordinary Seaman posted to the HMCS Assiniboine before it got decommissioned.... HMCS Assiniboine DDH 234 that is. I'm glad I caught this video.
My father used to attend the Uganda reunion and then there were none, it was renamed the HMCS Quebec, we had a beautiful oil painting of it (Uganda in Action). I think it hangs in the Navy club in Halifax now.
I had a friend, (Ham Operator) SK who was a radio operator on one of the Canadian Navy ships in the Atlantic during WWII. What story's he could tell RIP VE*CR
RCN crews also manned 2 RN escort carries on the arctic convoys but the RN was the air component as the RCN had not developed that until a few years later. RCN sailors also served on all sorts of RN vessels.
The River Class destroyers and the Corvettes were designed for open ocean operations. The Corvette's hull was based on the hulls of whalers that roamed the seas.
Prior, during and after the initial landing of D-Day RCN was given the task of keeping German U-Boats away. Also once the new Tribal Class destroyers came onlins (very fast have very heavily armed) RCN formed hunter killer groups that would shadow convoys until a wolf pack have formed. Then using their speed would attack the wolf packs. These along with RN groups also basically eliminated what was left of the German destroyers in the Bay of Biscayne,
My Uncle served as a stoker on board the Corvette HMCS Arrowhead (K145) - involved in the North Atlantic, St Lawrence, and along the US Eastern Seaboard. Not a single word about the RCN having to take over responsibility for the US Eastern Seaboard because of the incompetence of the US Navy, and Admiral King.
My great grandfather served in the pacific. Don’t know much of his service, that’s all he told us. All I have left is a picture of him in uniform while he was on leave.
A great documentary! Accurate information and an excellent selection of footage, much that I had never seen before - though I did notice a clip of HMS SABLE from WWI! One note - from your pronunciation of "route" I conclude you are Canadian. In this country, "lieutenant" is pronounced "lef-tenant". We don't use the American pronunciation. It may sound trivial, but language often preserves national identity more than anything else - just ask the Welsh.
In 1945, the crew of the Canadian cruiser HMCS Uganda in the Pacific voted on their own to stop fighting the Japanese and go home before the war was over leaving the British and Americans to finish the fight. The Japanese loved them.
@@kwd3109 -- true. As usual the Canadian government didn’t support the troops. The government wanted the sailors to re-up while at sea. Two thirds didn’t want to so the ship had to return. Unlike the American example talked about earlier no one died.
@@kwd3109 That's skewing the historical record. While the crew of HMCS Uganda did indeed vote to return to Canada, they remained on full duty until they were relieved. The vote was in early May and the Uganda wasn't relieved until mid-July. The crew of the Uganda shirked nothing.
@@glenhallick3953 That's not the opinion of the British and Americans. The Royal Navy was furious that they had to replace the Canadian cruiser and in Pearl Harbor the HMCS Uganda did not receive a warm welcome.
@@goata8If you can't defend your own country, and rely on someone else to do it for you, then you don't deserve to have sovereignty. May as well drop the maple leaf down the flag pole in Ottawa and run up the star spangled banner.
my father served in the navy --newfoundland reserve i think during --- i think--39/40--1946 and was based mostly in liverpool , england for the duration of ww2, its all a bit blurred these days as i havent had conract with him since 1963 and he has now passed===i wonder if anyone knows how i can get more information about his time in service
I don’t understand why the RCN doesn’t get any recognition of the vital work carried out prior to D Day, There is a lot told about how significant the weather forecasting was prior to the allies landing in France. Merchant and War ships carry onboard small weather stations, recording basic weather information, pressure, temp, etc etc. That information being transmitted to their HQ to be correlated with other weather reports which can then be used to produce a forecast, as was the case of the allies. The RCN and RN were tasked to hunt down German shipping in the Atlantic and North Atlantic and thus deny this intelligence to the Germans. Apparently the RCN lost several ships to the weather, superstructures getting severely iced up and becoming top heavy.
Canadian serving Naval Officers , especially Radio College trained in Ontario, were on loan to all kinds of ships for the war, and even before. My uncle William St John was loaned to the Norwegian tankers and ran bunker oil into the UK, and north sea areas, down to Newport News, and p/u "stuff" for the war effort before the USA even entered th ewar. Ran aviation fuel into Trieste. Passed in 2005, more of less my alternate father: he never had kids.
Nice work. Although not obvious, it's important to note Newfoundland's (pronounced "New-fun-laand") contributions separately since it was an independent country until 1949 when it joined Canadian Confederation.
Yup. While my father's squadron was based in Halifax, he was credited with overseas service, since, from time to time, they spent days in Newfoundland.
The Soviet Navy MAY have had the most numerous........Useless heaps of Scrap (Russia continues this Tradition), but the RCN was a MAJOR Player in the Victory in the Battle of the Atlantic and is deservedly proud of it`s record. I`d rate them an easy 3rd in Quality. Note the RAN also punched WAY above their stature - `the Scrapiron Flotilla`? Bet the Nazis regretted awarding that sobriquet!
Wish I could pay HMCS Sackville a visit - it`s a disgrace we `Limeys` don`t have a preserved Flower, referred to by Churchill as `Cheap and Nasties` - cheap to build, nasty for Germany. My 1/72 Model of HMS Compass Rose now resides at the Compasses Inn, nr Egham, Surrey UK.@@HiddenHistoryYT
For a while? By mid war the RCN was responsible for all East bound convoys in the North Atlantic convoy system. They would pick up West bound returning convoys mid ocean on their way back and escort them back to Halifax as well. This was the situation from early in the war until the end in May 45 with the US doing little for the norther route. The Northern Convoy route was much slower and traveled at the speed the slowest ship could manage within the convoy system. The Mid Atlantic crossing was under US protection and was made up of fast ships which didn't zig zag to avoid submarine attack. The overwhelming amount of tonnage sent from North America to Europe traveled the slower North Atlantic. In 1940/41 Germany started attacking US ships carrying supplies to Europe sinking many ships in US territorial water because they refused to listen to suggestion by British and Canadian naval officials. US mayors and Governors refused to black out their cites at night so with coastal cities well light up any ship at sea would be well profiled for German subs who had come in close. Several ships were sunk within eyesight of the coast yet US politicians fought any attempts to black out. When the US finally joined the war the US navy refused to see the value in the convoy system which led to higher losses under US care than under Canadian care when they reached Canadian waters and were put under Canadian control. Slowly but eventually the US changed their tactics to mirror Canadian and British operation which helped save lives. Canada also had the worlds fourth largest airforce by the wars end, after the war Canada didn't see it's role as being involved in foreign conflicts so budget cuts shrank our military back to a peace time force.
Most history is written by fans. The true story is sometimes less fan suitable. The fact is that through much of the war the RCN was ineffective, to the point where on November 17, 1942, Churchill requested that the RCN be relieved of convoy duties in the mid Atlantic. The biggest reason for ineffective convoy protection was technical: the RCN didn't have modern radar. The reason they didn't have radar was bureaucratic: someone in Ottawa didn't believe in radar and had been blocking it for years. On January 6, 1943, the RCN was withdrawn from convoy duty for retraining. By the time the RCN returned in June the battle of the Atlantic had been won by the Royal Navy. The RCN tried hard but were crippled by idiot administrators who refused to equip brave men with the equipment they needed to fight. Thousands of men died as a result. Cheerleading and overlooking what really happened just sets the stage for seeing the same thing happen again some day.
Wow, glossed over a few things here. It was the RN that refused to release the latest technology to the RCN until they were basically forced to so that the RCN could assume the majority role in convoy escorts. But as so often happens non Canadians truly believe that Canada played if anything a minor to no role in WW2. This RCN vet is a little tired of being told that my country did nothing, were good for nothing and should have stayed home and not gotten in the way of the mighty RN / USN. Guess generations of my family sweat, bled and died for nothing. Thanks so much
@@John-u3v9i This Scotsman appreciates the massive effort the Canadian men and women contributed to the war effort. You built and manned thousands of ships and planes and were right alongside us from the start to the beaches on D-day and on into Germany. We were never alone. We had Canadian, Aussies and New Zealanders as allies and with you guys behind us, we were never going to lose. The whole Anglosphere needs to stick together with the Americans. Right now, more than ever, we've never been in greater danger from malign powers including ones within all our Governments and Institutions.
“The Great Naval Battle of Ottawa” by David Zimmerman paints an unflattering picture of Canadian anti-submarine efforts in WW2, especially regarding radar. He says that out of nearly 100 corvettes, not one sub was sunk.
How many German subs were sunk by other Allied country’s navies. I think the idea wasn’t to sink them, but to keep them away from, and to protect the convoys.
@@62CristoforoI’m sure the corvettes’ screening and chasing had some effect. But they underperformed at sinking. Allied navies sank hundreds of Uniate. Google says: “246: U-boats were sunk by Allied surface ships.”
@@peterwhite507and Britain maintained its spot as number 2 for another decade and a half only behind the American Navy. it’s funny how the 4 main AngloSphere nations all had absolutely colossal fleets at the end of WW2.
""Estimated to have the fourth largest navy in the world"? Not a good start to a documentary that is unclear on stats. And it is "on D-Day"--not "in D-Day" as you suggest.
Newfoundland did not become apart of Canada until 1949, so it was the British who built the naval base. The first corvettes were based of a whalers designed for the north Atlantic at least this guy heard about the Champaign Navy Canada's MTB and gun boats operating in the channel. Over all poor researched, just repeating other's research, which I have heard on other channels by far more knowledgeable people.
Actually at the end of the war in Europe Canada, had the 3rd largest navy at the time. By the defeat of Japan and the end of the war, enough RCN ships had been decommissioned, that the RCN fell behind the RAN, and became the 4th largest navy. Badly written video. Most of the RCN's small ships were ALWAYS meant for ocean work as RN small ship were. Also the reason why at the start of the war surface raiders were expected to be the main danger in the North Atlantic, was due to the short U-boat range. Which changed after the fall of France, when U-boat could operate from French Atlantic ports versus German North sea ports.
@@RANDY64612Is it a quibble to point out that the Murmansk convoys were not "between Britain and Siberia" as the narration says? That's a bit of a geographical... um... well.
the RCN are the only Naval service to serve in absolutely every single battle and area of combat operations during both the first and second world wars. The single most Prolific combat Navies other than Germany itself and the most successful Naval country during both World Wars
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All of my fathers ships crew have passed nearly 10 years ago. HMCS Lindsay K338. My father had the pleasure of several reunions with his mates in the 1980's and early 1990's. They truly bonded with and loved each other. They were all heroes. God bless them all. RIP.
They took such pride marching with their mates until they were to old. My grand father had a severe back injury leaving him in a back brace and collar but any time there was a parade of vets from WW2 he was there using two canes at the end. He died in December but he was able to march one last time with his baby brother who was home from England for the Remembrance day service that year. His picture has one of the largest smiles I have ever seen.
My father served on the HMCS Cheboque when it was torpedoed in 1944. Did not sink, but was towed back to the UK and decomissioned. He was hit by shrapnel but returned to duty later. He was 18 when he was hit. He lied about his age and joined at 16, saw action at 17 and when the war ended he was still just 19 years old. He stayed in the navy until 1969.
My Grandfather was the opposite - enlisted in the fall of 1939 but was rejected because he was already 34. He joined the RCN Reserves and was called up in 1940.
A brave man!
Wow! Thank you to him for his service, he’s a hero! Appreciate you watching and have a great week :)
@@daverooneyca LOL, that's a common story for men back then. In 39 they had an age restriction plus if you had more than two kids you were rejected. My grandfather was to old, had three girls and was to skinny so he lied about his age, combined all the names into two kids and he knew the original doctor who did the medicals well enough that he covered for his weight. Before he saw any combat it was discovered how old he was and how many kids he had but by then they had lowered the restriction but they still made him a cook to keep him from combat. The closest he got to Europe was he saw the white cliffs of Dover from a transport but the ship never disembarked in the UK but returned and disembarked the troops in Newfoundland which was not part of Canada at the time which allowed him to get his overseas medal. His younger brother, cousin and best friends would serve in Italy, southern France, through western Europe and into Germany. While we did end up having conscription by the wars end only volunteers were to see combat. Had the war lasted that would have changed as the replacement situation was at the breaking point and could not have survived one more major offensive.
I'm a navy brat, grew up moving about every 18 months, by the time I was 12, I had lived from Halifax to Vancouver, and sailed to England three times. My sister and I were able to scramble free as birds over and through many RCN ships. My brother was even christened on HMCS Gatineau. I wouldn't change a thing. It was a great life and the RCN was a great navy. I miss my father very much, he'll never know how much I appreciated my childhood.
My father joined the CDN Navy at the age of 19, in 1939 before the start of WW2. He served on HMCS Ottawa 1940-41, St. Laurent, 1941-42, St. Francis 1943, eventually becoming a CPO before discharge in 1946. He survived the war, missing many friends lost when the HMCS Ottawa was torpedoed and sunk. I can’t believe going to war for $1.35 a day ($30 a month) on convoy duty when Wolf Packs were so omnipresent in the early years of the war.
Incredible! Thank you to him for his service, a true hero! Appreciate you watching and have a great week :)
By the end of WWII, the Canadian merchant fleet was the fourth largest in the world. Canadian merchant marine crews had higher death totals than any of Canadian armed forces branches.
Appreciate you watching and have a great week :)
I used to play on Haida, with my little brother. It was moored at Front St in the 60s. Absolutely kept Lake Ontario safe from submarines. Five year olds don't get any recognition for that sort of thing.
Very cool!
@@HiddenHistoryYT Later found out about "Canada's most fightingest ship.” by tonnage sank. Even "sank" two trains in Korea. Still a floating museum ship in Hamilton ON. As kids we brought lunch and usually ate in the Petty Officers mess. Without power for the cannons and pom pom guns we still shot down plenty of planes. Toronto harbour was never attacked by enemy subs or planes. If there was another person on board we never saw them. Probably would have lost a finger if everything wasn't painted in place. Now, you can pay and take a tour. I say show a bunch of modern kids the movie Battleship then give their imaginations run of the boat for the day!
I can respect that: not a single Japanese Zero got east of Thunder Bay, too. Thanks for your and your little brothers service. !!
I remember HMCS Haida moored at the foot of Strachan Avenue, near the CNE. As a child I played on board that ship as well. Memories ....
HMCS Haida was refurbished and now has a permanent berth in Hamilton harbour where it still may be toured. It also served in Korea.
My father was on HMCS Gatineau (H61) as a radar tech. Was in the Battle of the Atlantic, convoy duty and D-day, escorting the battle wagons across the channel.
Thank you to him for his service, he is a hero! Appreciate you watching and have a great week :)
@@HiddenHistoryYT thank you so very much!!
There was no city of Gatineau in WW2. The city Gatineau is relatively new , before that it was Hull
@garbageday587 Google HMCS Gatineau, and you'll see the history of the ship. Gatineau was formerly HMS Express and was transferred to the RCN.
From MT - USA...
... Thank you, Canada...
... For saving us, too.
Very impressed - you are remembered.
Thanks for watching and have a great week :)
I had the honor of being a USN officer many years ago. As a LT., and on the staff of an admiral ,I was invited to join the crew as a "guest" of the HMCS Nipigon, DDH 266, for a short cruise around the Caribbean. As an ASW platform, with her "bear-trap" system of recovering her Sea King heliocopter, and her outstanding crew, she was a force to be feared by the enemy ,and held in respect by her allies. The USN takes pride in our ASW abilities, but those Canadian sailors and their ships take a 2nd seat to no one. I am just very happy they are on the side of the free world.
Thank you for your service! Appreciate you watching and have a great week :)
Thank you sir. 😊
My Grandfather served in the RCN during WWII. He was initially assigned to the British battleship HMS Ramillies, then to the Bangor class minesweeper HMCS Mahone and finally to the River class destroyer HMCS Assiniboine, mentioned in the video. He was decorated by King George for putting out the boiler room fire on the Assiniboine in July 1945 that ended her career.
Thank you to him for his service, he’s a hero! Appreciate you watching and have a great week :)
io seem to remember the name " malooga " many years ago, but i may be mistaken---maybe it was Mahone
His next ship would have been a rowboat?
A distant cousin of mine, Sub-Lt. Haddow Baird of Northumberland Street, Fredericton, New Brunswick, died on the Shawinigan just over 80 years ago. I came of age just a couple blocks away. He left a widow and infant daughter. My great great uncle and namesake William Quilty, the man that named my grandmother, also died at sea off the coast of Maine when his merchant vessel, SS Cornwallis, was torpedoed, on Dec. 3 1944. He turned 24 just two weeks earlier. My father tracked down and interviewed the last survivor of the wreck, one of only 5 that made it. He did not know William well, but he remembered him and his 3 best friends quite clearly. None of them made it. William and Haddow never knew each other but died just about a week apart. Thank you for this memorial to these brothers in arms. Lest we forget.
Good video - but you should do a story on two remarkable incidents involving the RCN:
- the attack on a U-Boat by HMCS Oakville
- the ferocious attack by a flotilla of destroyers including HMCS Athabaskan and Haida plus the Polish Piorun led by HMS Black Prince on 3 or 4 German Destroyers in the Bay of Biscay.
Added to my list, thanks! Appreciate you watching and have a great week :)
th-cam.com/video/G50knEfX0ds/w-d-xo.htmlsi=tJfP-mQ8p9_XlYBh
I toured HMCS Haida in '97.
My father living in the US enlisted in the RCN in 1940 at the age of 15. After Pearl Harbor he was allowed to leave and joined the U.S. Navy at 17. He’s gone now, but what an exciting life.
Thank you to him for his service, he was a hero! Appreciate you watching and have a great week :)
The RCN also helped the US Navy fight Japan when they tried to invade Alaska, Kiska and Attu.
Appreciate you watching and have a great week :)
The RCN actually shelled Japan.
I new some of these people. Many suffering from invisible wounds decades later. They are all gone now. But I will remember them and honour them until I take my last breath.
Very sad. Appreciate you watching and have a great week :)
What my uncle saw at sea did him n eventually. He was never torpedoed, but the war did eventually take his life. PTSD was stigmatized back then, and rarely discussed or talked about like it is today.
@@62Cristoforo Mental health is still stigmatized. Oh sure, people _say_ they understand. That they _know_ it's not your fault. They say the words, but it's not in their hearts. One panic attack, or get triggered by a sudden something and all you get is naked contempt. It's a completely natural reaction, and it hurts like fuck.
"And if the convoy is lucky a ship or two of the Royal Canadian Navy. The sailors who say the sea is wide and the U-Boats cannot cover every mile of every route. Hoping, praying to dodge the enemy"
Episode 1 Victory At Sea
Great Video too
Appreciate you watching and have a great week :)
At 7:20 reference is made to Canadian losses off the coast of Port aux Basques being a naval vessel sunk in 1944. It should also be noted that on October 14, 1942, the passenger ferry SS Caribou operating between North Sydney, Nova Scotia and Port aux Basques, Newfoundland (as it was known in 1942) was also torpedoed and sank by a German submarine with a loss of life of 137 souls. The sinking of the SS Caribou is considered by many historians as the most significant sinking in Canadian waters during the Second World War. Referenced from Wikipedia.
You forgot to mention the aircraft carriers and submarines in your sum up, Canada’s Navy was the 3rd largest in the world after WW2. I was honoured enough to attend a final meal aboard the HMC Bonaventure aircraft carrier before her decommissioning in 1970 at Halifax Naval Base. By everything she was beautiful and vast to a young Sea Cadet.
My father was in England when WW2 started. Joined RN as DR. on an armed merchant cruiser out of South Africa. Later in war, switched to RCN. Served on HMS Bullolo, which was an Australian ship.
Thank you to him for his service, he’s a hero! Appreciate you watching and have a great week :)
My god. I never understood what my Dad’s brother went through serving on HMCS Humberstone, a Corvette escort ship crossing the freezing North Atlantic. My brother says he told him they had to ignore their own sailors in the water after their ship was torpedoed. To stop and pick up survivors was instant death, easily picked off by U-boats. This scarred him for life in a time when PTSD wasn’t talked about or taken seriously.
Thank you to him for his service, a true hero! Appreciate you watching and have a great rest of your week :)
HMCS Haida Tribal-class Destroyers still intact as Museum ship
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As is the Corvette HMCS Sackville, been on both.
My father served on the HMCS Teme and was a near casualty when it was accidentally rammed by the British aircraft carrier HMS Tracker in the dark of night a few days after D-Day. He also served on the convoy escorts to Murmansk, Russia during winter. He was 18-19 years of age at the time.
Thank you to him for his service, a true hero! Appreciate you watching and have a great week :)
My dad served on the HMCS Nene, K270. It was a River class frigate.
Thank you to him for his service, a hero! Thanks for watching and have a great week :)
8:15; you do pretty well, however, the Russia/USSR run was to Murmansk and Archangel not Siberia….incorrect side of the vast nation.
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Very informative, thank you. To clarify one point that you mentioned about Newfoundland: it was actually still a British colony at that point in time, including St. John’s and its strategic port. Newfoundland joined the Canadian confederation in 1949, the last province or territory to do so.
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I was stunned to find out previously that NZ had a larger navy than Canada at WW2's start
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@@HiddenHistoryYT They did mostly because of their location. The RN maintained a station at Halifax since the days of Woolf.
HMCS Mantene K 444 . Corvette . This one ended as a breakwater in a booming ground , maybe Shelter bay , South of Campbell river BC. I often wondered if any are alive to tell her tales ? At low tide we walked out to her, how immense she seemed . TY RCN.
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My father was on the HMCS Qu ‘Appelle.
He told me they used to call it the Q-Apple (H69)
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In a historical video, I would have thought you'd get the flag right. Outside of that, a nice overview of Canada's naval contributions to the war and victory.
My father was an ERA on the HMCS Shawinigan. He wasn't aboard at the time of the sinking, getting trained on his new ship... HMCS Cape Breton under construction in Quebec City.
He never talked about it with me. Survivor guilt I assume. 😥
Thank you to him for his service, a hero! Appreciate you watching and have a great week :)
I live in Hamilton Ontario Canada and here in our famous port city we Have the HMCS Haida
My great uncle served on HMCS athabaskan when she was hit and sunk. Picked up by HMCS Haida, and that's where he spent the rest of the war.
Grandfather taught the boys how to shoot and throw grenades, til one day a kid pulled a pin, and blew his arm off.
Thank you to him for his service, a hero! Appreciate you watching and have a great week :)
I was the last Ordinary Seaman posted to the HMCS Assiniboine before it got decommissioned.... HMCS Assiniboine DDH 234 that is.
I'm glad I caught this video.
Why no mention of the cruiser HMCS Uganda, the only Canadian warship to fight in the Pacific?
My father used to attend the Uganda reunion and then there were none, it was renamed the HMCS Quebec, we had a beautiful oil painting of it (Uganda in Action). I think it hangs in the Navy club in Halifax now.
I had a friend, (Ham Operator) SK who was a radio operator on one of the Canadian Navy ships in the Atlantic during WWII. What story's he could tell RIP VE*CR
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RCN crews also manned 2 RN escort carries on the arctic convoys but the RN was the air component as the RCN had not developed that until a few years later. RCN sailors also served on all sorts of RN vessels.
The River Class destroyers and the Corvettes were designed for open ocean operations. The Corvette's hull was based on the hulls of whalers that roamed the seas.
Prior, during and after the initial landing of D-Day RCN was given the task of keeping German U-Boats away. Also once the new Tribal Class destroyers came onlins (very fast have very heavily armed) RCN formed hunter killer groups that would shadow convoys until a wolf pack have formed. Then using their speed would attack the wolf packs. These along with RN groups also basically eliminated what was left of the German destroyers in the Bay of Biscayne,
Canadian Naval Officers Ranks are pronounced the same way as British Naval officers. Lieutenant is pronounced lef tenant.
Ahh my bad 😅 Appreciate you watching and have a great week :)
My Uncle served as a stoker on board the Corvette HMCS Arrowhead (K145) - involved in the North Atlantic, St Lawrence, and along the US Eastern Seaboard.
Not a single word about the RCN having to take over responsibility for the US Eastern Seaboard because of the incompetence of the US Navy, and Admiral King.
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My great grandfather served in the pacific. Don’t know much of his service, that’s all he told us. All I have left is a picture of him in uniform while he was on leave.
RIP uncle Edward Thomas Olympic coach and brave Canadian matelot of WW2.
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What was the compliment of RCN warships based out of Esquimalt on the Pacific during WWII?
Umm, I guess once you know the name of a ship, you can them look up its complement.
My grandfather served on HMCS ARVIDA & HMCS ANTIGONISH
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My Grandpa served aboard the Nabob. First Canadian manned aircraft carrier. It was torpedoed by a UBoat.
Thank you to him for his service, a hero! Appreciate you watching and have a great rest of your week :)
A great documentary! Accurate information and an excellent selection of footage, much that I had never seen before - though I did notice a clip of HMS SABLE from WWI!
One note - from your pronunciation of "route" I conclude you are Canadian. In this country, "lieutenant" is pronounced "lef-tenant". We don't use the American pronunciation. It may sound trivial, but language often preserves national identity more than anything else - just ask the Welsh.
Greatly appreciate the kind words! Thanks for watching and have a fantastic week :)
@@HiddenHistoryYT They're well deserved! And they come from a reserve Lt(N) in the RCN to boot. A good week to you too.
I was on the haida last week
Lucky! Appreciate you watching and have a great week :)
Many hockey sticks were used.... *salutes* Never forget. (on a serious note, *salutes* Never Forget their Sacrifice. God Bless You All.)
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Brave men
When USA joined the war the admiral in charge of the east refused to use convoys. The Germans loved him.
In 1945, the crew of the Canadian cruiser HMCS Uganda in the Pacific voted on their own to stop fighting the Japanese and go home before the war was over leaving the British and Americans to finish the fight. The Japanese loved them.
@@kwd3109 -- true. As usual the Canadian government didn’t support the troops. The government wanted the sailors to re-up while at sea. Two thirds didn’t want to so the ship had to return.
Unlike the American example talked about earlier no one died.
@@kwd3109 That's skewing the historical record. While the crew of HMCS Uganda did indeed vote to return to Canada, they remained on full duty until they were relieved. The vote was in early May and the Uganda wasn't relieved until mid-July. The crew of the Uganda shirked nothing.
@@glenhallick3953 That's not the opinion of the British and Americans. The Royal Navy was furious that they had to replace the Canadian cruiser and in Pearl Harbor the HMCS Uganda did not receive a warm welcome.
@@Charles-k9g5y Americans and British sailors continued to die till the war's end so your argument is not sincere.
Every country with an ocean bordering it needs a blue water navy.
Agreed unless you’re friendly neighbors with the US 😂
@@goata8If you can't defend your own country, and rely on someone else to do it for you, then you don't deserve to have sovereignty. May as well drop the maple leaf down the flag pole in Ottawa and run up the star spangled banner.
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When saying "Newfoundland" don't say "NewfoundLUND". Say "land" at the end. "New-fin-land" phonetically.
🇨🇦😉
Great video.
Read of Manitoba born Charles Goodeve and his work on ship degaussing and the hedgehog depth charge system, among other things.
15:09 Super interesting.
my father served in the navy --newfoundland reserve i think during --- i think--39/40--1946 and was based mostly in liverpool , england for the duration of ww2, its all a bit blurred these days as i havent had conract with him since 1963 and he has now passed===i wonder if anyone knows how i can get more information about his time in service
Hey Rand McNally, Murmansk is NOT in Siberia!
I don’t understand why the RCN doesn’t get any recognition of the vital work carried out prior to D Day, There is a lot told about how significant the weather forecasting was prior to the allies landing in France. Merchant and War ships carry onboard small weather stations, recording basic weather information, pressure, temp, etc etc. That information being transmitted to their HQ to be correlated with other weather reports which can then be used to produce a forecast, as was the case of the allies. The RCN and RN were tasked to hunt down German shipping in the Atlantic and North Atlantic and thus deny this intelligence to the Germans. Apparently the RCN lost several ships to the weather, superstructures getting severely iced up and becoming top heavy.
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Canadian serving Naval Officers , especially Radio College trained in Ontario, were on loan to all kinds of ships for the war, and even before. My uncle William St John was loaned to the Norwegian tankers and ran bunker oil into the UK, and north sea areas, down to Newport News, and p/u "stuff" for the war effort before the USA even entered th ewar. Ran aviation fuel into Trieste. Passed in 2005, more of less my alternate father: he never had kids.
In the Canadian, and Commonwealth Navies, the ranks are Leftenant, not lootenant.
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Nice work. Although not obvious, it's important to note Newfoundland's (pronounced "New-fun-laand") contributions separately since it was an independent country until 1949 when it joined Canadian Confederation.
Yup. While my father's squadron was based in Halifax, he was credited with overseas service, since, from time to time, they spent days in Newfoundland.
13:30 casualties not the same as loss of life. Casualties also include wounded. Again, learn to use the interweb.
My dad survived the sinking of HMCS charllettown in the st Lawrence River September 11-42 by u boat 517
The Soviet Navy MAY have had the most numerous........Useless heaps of Scrap (Russia continues this Tradition), but the RCN was a MAJOR Player in the Victory in the Battle of the Atlantic and is deservedly proud of it`s record. I`d rate them an easy 3rd in Quality. Note the RAN also punched WAY above their stature - `the Scrapiron Flotilla`? Bet the Nazis regretted awarding that sobriquet!
oh I thought that sobriquet was actually given the Australian destroyer Flt in the Med witch was WW1 vintage
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@@shanehansen3705 Absolutely - by the Nazis, but the Aussies treated as a Compliment, a major Propaganda FAIL!
Wish I could pay HMCS Sackville a visit - it`s a disgrace we `Limeys` don`t have a preserved Flower, referred to by Churchill as `Cheap and Nasties` - cheap to build, nasty for Germany. My 1/72 Model of HMS Compass Rose now resides at the Compasses Inn, nr Egham, Surrey UK.@@HiddenHistoryYT
The fighting sailors of the Canadian and Australian Navy are renowned and remembered with honour in this part of the UK. Forever grateful.
time to get back at it
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For a while? By mid war the RCN was responsible for all East bound convoys in the North Atlantic convoy system. They would pick up West bound returning convoys mid ocean on their way back and escort them back to Halifax as well. This was the situation from early in the war until the end in May 45 with the US doing little for the norther route. The Northern Convoy route was much slower and traveled at the speed the slowest ship could manage within the convoy system. The Mid Atlantic crossing was under US protection and was made up of fast ships which didn't zig zag to avoid submarine attack. The overwhelming amount of tonnage sent from North America to Europe traveled the slower North Atlantic. In 1940/41 Germany started attacking US ships carrying supplies to Europe sinking many ships in US territorial water because they refused to listen to suggestion by British and Canadian naval officials. US mayors and Governors refused to black out their cites at night so with coastal cities well light up any ship at sea would be well profiled for German subs who had come in close. Several ships were sunk within eyesight of the coast yet US politicians fought any attempts to black out. When the US finally joined the war the US navy refused to see the value in the convoy system which led to higher losses under US care than under Canadian care when they reached Canadian waters and were put under Canadian control. Slowly but eventually the US changed their tactics to mirror Canadian and British operation which helped save lives.
Canada also had the worlds fourth largest airforce by the wars end, after the war Canada didn't see it's role as being involved in foreign conflicts so budget cuts shrank our military back to a peace time force.
Most history is written by fans. The true story is sometimes less fan suitable. The fact is that through much of the war the RCN was ineffective, to the point where on November 17, 1942, Churchill requested that the RCN be relieved of convoy duties in the mid Atlantic. The biggest reason for ineffective convoy protection was technical: the RCN didn't have modern radar. The reason they didn't have radar was bureaucratic: someone in Ottawa didn't believe in radar and had been blocking it for years. On January 6, 1943, the RCN was withdrawn from convoy duty for retraining. By the time the RCN returned in June the battle of the Atlantic had been won by the Royal Navy.
The RCN tried hard but were crippled by idiot administrators who refused to equip brave men with the equipment they needed to fight. Thousands of men died as a result. Cheerleading and overlooking what really happened just sets the stage for seeing the same thing happen again some day.
Wow, glossed over a few things here. It was the RN that refused to release the latest technology to the RCN until they were basically forced to so that the RCN could assume the majority role in convoy escorts. But as so often happens non Canadians truly believe that Canada played if anything a minor to no role in WW2. This RCN vet is a little tired of being told that my country did nothing, were good for nothing and should have stayed home and not gotten in the way of the mighty RN / USN. Guess generations of my family sweat, bled and died for nothing. Thanks so much
@@John-u3v9i This Scotsman appreciates the massive effort the Canadian men and women contributed to the war effort. You built and manned thousands of ships and planes and were right alongside us from the start to the beaches on D-day and on into Germany. We were never alone. We had Canadian, Aussies and New Zealanders as allies and with you guys behind us, we were never going to lose. The whole Anglosphere needs to stick together with the Americans. Right now, more than ever, we've never been in greater danger from malign powers including ones within all our Governments and Institutions.
“The Great Naval Battle of Ottawa” by David Zimmerman paints an unflattering picture of Canadian anti-submarine efforts in WW2, especially regarding radar. He says that out of nearly 100 corvettes, not one sub was sunk.
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How many German subs were sunk by other Allied country’s navies. I think the idea wasn’t to sink them, but to keep them away from, and to protect the convoys.
@@62CristoforoI’m sure the corvettes’ screening and chasing had some effect. But they underperformed at sinking. Allied navies sank hundreds of Uniate. Google says: “246: U-boats were sunk by Allied surface ships.”
Australia has to our west the Indian Ocean, to the south the Southern Ocean & to east the Pacific Ocean.
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And billabongs. 😂😂
Do the Republic of china navy during WW2
Added to my list!
Heroes!!
Just how did the Soviet Union have a larger NAVY than Canada during WWII?
Much bigger country! Appreciate you watching & have a great week :)
Australia had the forth largest navy at the end of ww2 and the forth largest air force!😊😊😊
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Yup, Canada had the 3rd largest according to most sources.
And the most kangaroos.😂😂
@@peterwhite507and Britain maintained its spot as number 2 for another decade and a half only behind the American Navy. it’s funny how the 4 main AngloSphere nations all had absolutely colossal fleets at the end of WW2.
""Estimated to have the fourth largest navy in the world"? Not a good start to a documentary that is unclear on stats. And it is "on D-Day"--not "in D-Day" as you suggest.
so many of us were born in Halifax navy kids
The Soviet navy wasn’t larger in 1945
Newfoundland did not become apart of Canada until 1949, so it was the British who built the naval base. The first corvettes were based of a whalers designed for the north Atlantic at least this guy heard about the Champaign Navy Canada's MTB and gun boats operating in the channel. Over all poor researched, just repeating other's research, which I have heard on other channels by far more knowledgeable people.
Subs as well. Our subs are crappy.
The Maple Leaf WAS NOT the flag of Canada in WWII.
We did well.
Indeed! Appreciate you watching and have a great week :)
Didn't Canada have twice as many vessels as russia at the end of the war?
How our mighty military has fallen due to poor leadership and sad political decisions. It continues today. Well done to all veterans. BZ
WAVY Navy
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@@HiddenHistoryYT
RIGHT FREAKAN BACK>>>>Family
It was the 3rd largest.
Third largest
Think.Denmark has best trained Navy. Modern Ships
The Danish Navy in WW2
th-cam.com/video/D8Uq9cAIRl4/w-d-xo.html
Actually at the end of the war in Europe Canada, had the 3rd largest navy at the time. By the defeat of Japan and the end of the war, enough RCN ships had been decommissioned, that the RCN fell behind the RAN, and became the 4th largest navy. Badly written video. Most of the RCN's small ships were ALWAYS meant for ocean work as RN small ship were. Also the reason why at the start of the war surface raiders were expected to be the main danger in the North Atlantic, was due to the short U-boat range. Which changed after the fall of France, when U-boat could operate from French Atlantic ports versus German North sea ports.
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02:33 wrong Canadian flag. Learn to google before you publish.
What’s your history channel so I can trash talk it? 😆
If one wants to be precise the map is wrong. Newfoundland was not part of Canada until 1949.
@@RANDY64612Is it a quibble to point out that the Murmansk convoys were not "between Britain and Siberia" as the narration says? That's a bit of a geographical... um... well.
Let this be a rude awakening to all the chest pounding Americans. Just remember Canada did it’s part, not only in general, but before America did.
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Britain and Siberia ??
👍👍👍
Vidéo sans nul doute très intéressante, mais hélas.....pas pour un français non anglophone, dommage.
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Ft Townsend
The royal canadian navy... Glou Hlou😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦
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lacking in video content
the RCN are the only Naval service to serve in absolutely every single battle and area of combat operations during both the first and second world wars. The single most Prolific combat Navies other than Germany itself and the most successful Naval country during both World Wars
I do believe the RN fought world wide in both world wars.
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Do the Republic of china navy during WW2
Will add it to my list! Thanks for watching :)