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

Esquimalt Base

Doug Bradford's 2004 watercolour depicts a Victoria class submarine (centre) and two Canadian frigates (background) at Esquimalt, British Columbia.

One of Canada's first two naval bases in 1910, Esquimalt has remained the major Pacific base for the country's navy since that date. This is one of a number of paintings arising from Bradford's time aboard the frigate HMCS Calgary in 2004. The Canadian Armed Forces Civilian Artists Program (CAFCAP), an art program co-administered by the Canadian War Museum and the Department of National Defence, commisioned Bradford to depict the experiences of Canada's navy.

Esquimalt Base
Painted by Doug Bradford in 2004
CWM 20070020-002