User:Cdn2000/Canadian Navy - Early Years

Canadian Navy - Early Years'''

Although the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) was officially created in 1910, during its early years the Navy faced a host of challenges that ultimately resulted in a very limited capability during the First World War. Poorly funded, undermanned and ill equipped, the Canadian navy had virtually no impact on the final outcome of the war. Due in part to the navy’s poor showing, immediately following the First World War there was a greater sense of maritime awareness in Canada. The naval senior staff decided to seize the opportunity and set about planning the creation of a new more functional naval service. In 1919, the Chief of Staff, Sir Charles Kingsmill, based on input from the Royal Navy’s (RN) Admiral Sir John Jellico, tabled his plan for the new independent Canadian navy. Kingsmill and Jellico envisioned a much-expanded naval service in Canada, something along the lines of a “fleet in being.” According to the estimates, the refurbished navy would have an established ceiling of 9,000 officers and other ranks; fleet units would include seven cruisers, six submarines, eighteen patrol boats and three supply tenders.

Difficulty defining the peacetime role for the navy and deciding on the composition of the fleet delayed the planning process considerably. Consequently, Kingsmill’s plan was not presented to the Canadian House of Commons for first reading until the 10th March 1920. By this time, the pro-military atmosphere had faded and with it public support. After all, the country was struggling with a host of problems and most of them were directly attributable to the war. The financial stability of the country had been shaken by the short, but hard hitting, depression of 1919-1920 combined with the Winnipeg General Strike. Furthermore, in 1918, the general population had been racked by a major influenza epidemic. At the same time, the government was struggling to accommodate over a half million ex-military personnel, the majority of whom were returning from overseas and many required medical attention. With government popularity on the decline, the country in a post-war recession and public opinion clearly against any sort of military spending, the government quickly changed its mind and decided not to support Kingsmill’s initiative. Shortly thereafter, the Admiral’s plan was scrapped entirely. Instead, the Conservative government decided to go with a more modest force – somewhat on the lines of the pre-war navy. This about turn by the Conservative government was a devastating blow to the RCN and cleared the way for a series of budgetary cutbacks which would span most of the inter-war period:

"The RCN survived for most of the 1918-39 period – to use a modern phrase – on “life support.” The two primary attending physicians during this bedside death-watch were William Lyon Mackenzie King, the on-again off-again Liberal prime minister of Canada, and Commandore Walter Hose, RCN, the director (and later first chief) of the Naval Services."

--Melvin Patrick Cornect LCdr (Ret) 20:38, 17 January 2010 (UTC)