Canada's Naval History

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Birth Of the Navy

First World War

Between the Wars

Second World War

Early Cold War

Later Cold War
- - From RCN to Maritime Command
  - A Changing Fleet

Navy Today
- - The Gulf War
  - Continuing Commitments

The Navy Today
Continuing Commitments

Beginning in the 1990s, long-standing efforts to renew the ships and equipment of Canada's navy began to produce results, with new vessels entering service. At the same time, the navy continued to fulfill national commitments to alliance operations and, following terrorist attacks on the United States on 11 September 2001, to "the war on terror".

Artifact Record

Model, HMCS Toronto

HMCS Toronto is one of 12 Halifax class patrol frigates that entered Canadian service between 1992 and 1996.

The end result of the Canadian Patrol Frigate program that had begun in the mid-1970s, Toronto and the other 11 frigates are sophisticated, multi-purpose warships. Their armament includes air defence and anti-ship missiles, a Bofors 57 mm gun (right), a Sea King helicopter (far left), and anti-submarine homing torpedoes. A Canadian Tactical Towed Array Sonar (CANTASS), capable of detecting submarines at very long ranges, replaces the variable depth sonars carried by earlier Canadian warships.

Model Ship, Halifax Class Frigate
CWM 20020197-001