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Interwar Years
The 1930s: Rebuilding the Royal Canadian Navy

Despite the severe financial climate of the Great Depression and political infighting, the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) survived mainly as a coastal defence force. This period also saw the delivery of the first major warships designed and built for the RCN.

Model, HMCS Venture
Model, HMCS Venture

In 1937, the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) acquired the three-masted wooden schooner HMCS Venture as a training vessel.

Built in Meteghan, Nova Scotia, Venture was one of a series of RCN sail training vessels. Long after the age of sailing warships had passed, sail training was continued as a means of fostering teamwork, leadership, esprit de corps, and an appreciation of naval traditions in officer cadets. During the Second World War, Venture served as an accommodation vessel in Halifax, and later as a guard ship at the entrance to Bedford Basin.

Model Ship, Schooner
CWM 19760257-001





Launching HMCS Saguenay, July 1930
HMCS Saguenay, 1931
Model, HMCS Skeena
Engineer Captain Thomas C. Phillips
Destroyer Steam Turbine Engine
HMCS Skeena Plans
HMCS Saguenay Entering Willemstad Harbour, Netherlands Antilles, 1934
Torpedo Test Firing
Full-dress Uniform, Commander Frank Llewellyn Houghton
Sun Helmet, Horatio Nelson Lay
Commissioning of HMCS Fraser, February 1937
HMCS Restigouche
Royal Naval College of Canada Third Term Reunion, 1932
Sword of Honour, Robert Montague Powell
Model, HMCS Venture
Calgary Half Company, RCNVR, 1938
"Crossing the Line" Certificate, 1938