Canada's Naval History

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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.

HMCS Patriot, around 1922

This photograph emphasizes the lean, predatory lines of HMCS Patriot, one of two destroyers acquired by Canada in 1920.

The destroyers Patriot and Patrician had seen British service in the First World War before being transferred to Canada. Along with the light cruiser HMCS Aurora, they formed the core of the Royal Canadian Navy in the early postwar years. Following Aurora's decommissioning in 1922, Patriot was the only significant Royal Canadian Navy unit on the east coast, and saw extensive use as a training ship for naval reservists.

George Metcalf Archival Collection
CWM 19850317-001