When the subject of the Royal Canadian Navy's role in World War II comes to mind, one class of ship stands out - the corvette. That storm tossed little ship, shepherding a convoy in the dangerous waters of the North Atlantic commanded by a young officer perhaps only a few years removed from his law practice, with an even younger crew made up of prairie farmers, Ontario factory workers or adventuresome boys fresh from school. That little ship typified the war-time efforts of Canadians at sea...

The frigates were more than the sum of their parts, more than a complete compilation of technology and size. They were superb at what they did, inspiring a fierce loyalty from their crews...

When the torpedo was introduced as a weapon of war around a hundred years ago, they were launched from small fast boats against the capital ships of a fleet. To counteract these, the navies of the world developed "torpedo boat destroyers"...

HMCS Athabaskan was a Tribal class destroyer, one of the most powerful destroyer designs of the Royal Navy prior to the war. Tribal ships displaced nearly 2,000 tons, had a top speed of 36 knots and were armed with 8 - 4.7 inch guns.

Athabaskan was an unlucky ship from the start because it was bombed during construction...

Commissioned at Sorel on December 16, 1941, HMCS Calgary arrived in Halifax on December 28. Calgary served with WLEF until November, 1942, when she was assigned duties in connection with "Operation "Torch".

She arrived in Londonderry on November 3 but proved to have mechanical defects that precluded her use on UK-Mediterranean convoys...

HMCS Mackenzie was built by Canadian Vickers Ltd. at Montreal; her keel was laid down on December 18, 1958 and commissioned on October 6, 1962.

After extensive workups in the North Atlantic and the Caribbean, HMCS Mackenzie joined the Pacific Command of the Royal Canadian Navy in May, 1963...

A good deal more imposing than Rainbow, Niobe had served in the RN from 1898 to 1910, one of eight sisters of the Diadem class. She was commissioned in the RCN on September 6, 1910 at Devonport, and arrived at Halifax on October 21.

Niobe was nearly lost during the night of July 30-31, 1911, when...

The Prince David was one of three CNR passenger liners that were converted to Armed Merchant Cruisers at the beginning of the war, and for three years were the largest ships in the RCN. From 1940 until Pearl Harbour, they served with the West Indies station in Bermuda, but were transferred to Esquimalt when hostilities with Japan broke out.

They patrolled the West Coast and were part of the joint US-Canadian convoys to Dutch Harbour and the Aleutian Island campaign in 1942...

On August 4, 1910 , at Portsmouth, England, HMCS Rainbow was commissioned the first unit of the infant Canadian Navy. One of a class of 20 "protected cruisers," she had served in the RN since 1893. Rainbow arrived at Esquimalt on November 7, 1910, and carried out training duties, ceremonial visits, and some fishery patrols until the end of 1912.

She then lay largely idle until the outbreak of the First World War, during which, apart from two submarines, she was the sole defender of Canada's western seaboard...

Commissioned at Montreal on October 31, 1940, Tillium arrived at Halifax on November 14 and in the Clyde on December 20 for final fitting out at Greenock which was completed on March 3, 1941. In April, after three weeks' workups at Tobermony, she joined EG 4 (RN) Greenock, for outbound North American convoys. She left Aultbea on June 10 with OB.332 for St. John's to join Newfoundland Command.

After two round trips to Iceland she arrived at Halifax on August 28 for three months' refit there and at Lunenburg. On completion of the refit in December...

HMCS Uganda was a Royal Navy Colony class cruiser that was launched on August 7, 1941, and commissioned on December 17, 1943. The Colony class ships were named after various colonies, such as Fiji, Newfoundland, Kenya, Bermuda, Jamaica, etc. The ships were 8,800 tons and carried a main armament of nine 6" guns, eight 4" dual purpose rapid-firing guns, and three sets of four-barrelled pom-poms as well as 20mm Oerlikans...