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Interwar Years
The 1920s: A Navy Struggling to Survive

Following the end of the First World War, the Royal Canadian Navy faced significant threats to its continued existence. In the face of significant cutbacks, the navy focused on maintaining a small force to train sailors and to protect the country's coasts against enemy ships.

Torpedo Lecture Room, Halifax
Torpedo Lecture Room, Halifax

This photograph from Leonard W. Murray's album shows torpedo components and technical diagrams arranged in the torpedo lecture room in Halifax.

Torpedoes, an important weapons system for the interwar RCN, were extraordinarily complex, requiring well-trained personnel to maintain and use them. HMCS Patriot, HMCS Patrician, and the destroyers that succeeded them were all designed to conduct hit-and-run torpedo attacks on larger warships. The "Vernon" mentioned in the caption is the Royal Navy's much larger torpedo training establishment in Portsmouth, England, which Canadians attended during the interwar years to receive more advanced instruction.

George Metcalf Archival Collection
CWM 19750559-009_p22





HMCS Aurora
Admiral Jellicoe's Visit to Canada, 1919
HMCS Patriot, around 1922
Canadian Submarines CH-14 and CH-15
Royal Naval College of Canada, Esquimalt, 1920-1921
HMS Raleigh Aground, 1922
Battle-Class Trawler HMCS Ypres
RCNVR Quebec Hockey Team
Field Gun Competition, Canadian National Exhibition, Toronto, 1924
Anchor Light, HMCS Patriot
HMCS Vancouver
F.L. Houghton aboard HMCS Vancouver
Canadian Sailors and Sugar
Leonard W. Murray at the Royal Canadian Navy Barracks, Halifax
Lieutenant Governor Tory Taking the Salute
Royal Canadian Navy Barracks, Halifax
Torpedo Lecture Room, Halifax
The Gun Battery, Halifax
HMCS Givenchy's Crew, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1919
HMCS Patriot Towing the Hydrofoil HD-4, September 1921