page_title: History of the Royal Canadian Navy
section_title: Second World War
hierarchical_section_title: History of the Royal Canadian Navy / History / Second World War
caption_attribution_description: English: Bombardment by H.M.C.S. UGANDA of Sukuma Airfield on Miyako Jima Français&#160;: Bombardement de l'aérodrome de Sukuma, île de Miyako-Jima, par le NCSM UGANDA
context_page_description: 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 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.
context_section_description: The RCN expanded substantially during the Second World War, with the larger vessels transferred or purchased from the US and British navies (many through the Destroyers for Bases Agreement), and the smaller vessels such as corvettes and frigates constructed in Canada. By the end of the conflict Canada had the third-largest navy in the world, behind the United States and the United Kingdom, but only two ships larger than destroyers, the light cruisers HMCS Uganda and HMCS Ontario. 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 Battle of the Atlantic, the RCN was the primary navy in the northwest sector of the Atlantic Ocean and under the command of Rear Admiral Murray was responsible for the safe escort of innumerable convoys and the destruction of many U-boats—an anti-submarine capability that the RCN would build upon in post-war years.  The Northwest Atlantic Theatre was the only theatre not under command of either a Briton or American during the entire war.
  At the end of the Battle of the Atlantic, Canadian ships (either alone or in conjunction with other ships and planes) sank a total of 27 U-boats, and either sank or captured 42 Axis surface ships. But the real victory was not so much in the statistics of battle, as in the successful completion of 25,343 merchant ship crossings, carrying 181,643,180 tons of cargo and a significant proportion of the Canadian and US forces for the eventual victory in Europe.  Canada lost 24 ships in five different theatres: first was Fraser, sunk in a collision while evacuating refugees from France in 1940; Athabaskan, Regina, Alberni and Trentonian were lost in 1944 during Operation Neptune and cross-Channel escort duty; Louisburg and Weyburn sank in the Mediterranean Sea during the North African invasions of Operation Torch; eight ships were sunk protecting Canadian coastal waters Bras d'Or, Chedabucto, Clayoquot and Esquimalt (minesweepers), Otter and  Raccoon (armed yachts), and Charlottetown and Shawinigan (corvettes); and nine ships were lost on Atlantic escort duty Margaree, Levis, Windflower, Spikenard, Ottawa, St. Croix, Valleyfield, Skeena and Guysborough (on loan to the RCN from the Royal Navy). Altogether the RCN lost 1,797 seamen, and 95 became prisoners of war.
  As the end of the war against Germany approached, attention focused on Japan. At the end of 1944, some RCN ships were deployed with the British Pacific Fleet, joining the many Canadian personnel already serving with the Royal Navy in the Pacific War. Ottawa was also laying plans to expand the RCN's capabilities beyond its anti-submarine 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 Royal Australian Navy were to receive many ships considered surplus to the RN's needs, with the end goal being a powerful Commonwealth fleet of Australian, British, Canadian, and New Zealand ships alongside the United States Navy. As in the First World War, the war ended before these plans came to fruition. With the dropping of two nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan's surrender was effected.
  With the end of the war, the RCN stopped expanding.  A planned transfer of two light aircraft carriers from the Royal Navy, HMCS Warrior and HMCS Magnificent was slowed, and when Warrior was found to be unsuitable for a North Atlantic winter, she was sent to the west coast and the next year was replaced by Magnificent, with Warrior being returned to the Royal Navy. Canada still had two light cruisers, HMCS Ontario and HMCS Uganda (later HMCS Quebec), a number of Tribal
caption: Naval bombardment by HMCS Uganda on Miyako-jima in May 1945. Uganda was one of several RCN ships attached to the British Pacific Fleet.
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