Post by Administrator on May 4, 2016 23:53:22 GMT
Remembering the Battle of the Atlantic:
It is with great pride to remember the Royal Canadian Navy and its leading role in the Battle of the Atlantic which largely saw flower-class corvettes and River-class frigates pitted against the German submarine fleet but also included the escorting Atlantic convoys to Liverpool and Londonderry and the Arctic convoys to Russia.
The Royal Canadian Navy was not alone in this battle as the Royal Navy was equally in the fight side by side with Canada and sometimes forgotten was the United States Navy's role although much smaller.
Across Canada this coming Sunday veterans, remaining members of the Merchant Marine, military personel, families and many others will gather at cenotaphs to remember this very critical aspect of the Second World War.
In fact, “The Battle of the Atlantic was the dominating factor all through the war,” said British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. “Never for one moment could we forget that everything happening elsewhere, on land, at sea or in the air, depended ultimately on its outcome.”
The battle lasted for 5 years, 8 months and 5 days, making it the longest continuous military campaign of the Second World War. Churchill went on to say that “the only thing that really frightened me during the war was the U-boat peril.”
It was the longest, largest and most complex battle in naval history, and victory came at a great price; the number of lives lost is staggering: some 72,200 Allied sailors and merchant seamen were killed. It claimed the lives of 2,024 RCN sailors and 1,629 members of the Canadian Merchant Navy.
Most of these Canadians have no crosses on their graves. And for the sailors who did survive the unimaginable struggles at sea, their haunting memories, mental anguish and feelings of guilt and pain have not subsided. For them, every day is Remembrance Day.
The growth of the Royal Canadian Navy and Canada as a nation was truly remarkable.
At the beginning of the Second World War, the Royal Canadian Navy had only six ocean-going ships and 3,500 personnel.
By the end of the war, Canada had one of the largest navies in the world with 434 commissioned vessels and reached a peak of 96,000 men and women in uniform in November 1944. That's many times larger than the Canadian Armed Forces today.
Over 100,000 Canadian men and women would serve in the Royal Canadian Navy during World War Two.
Canada’s industry also played an important role in the growth of our military and merchant navy.
From 1941 to 1945, Canadian shipyards produced approximately 403 merchant ships, 281 fighting ships, 206 minesweepers, 254 tugs, and 3,302 landing craft.
It was a great allied effort but Canada played a hugely important role in directing Allied efforts in the Battle of the Atlantic.
Let us remember with pride. Let us never forget.
Written and complied by Thomas Simpson
Saturday April 30, 2016
Design made in England by Darryl Hobson.
