Birth of the Navy (1910-1914)
HMCS Niobe

HMCS Niobe, one of the Naval Service of Canada's first two ships, was intended in part to train Canadian sailors. A large, obsolescent cruiser, Niobe required many crew and was expensive to operate. Lengthy repairs after it ran aground in 1911, and subsequent budget cutbacks, limited the ship's activities.

At the dockside, HMCS Niobe, Halifax

The logistics of keeping a large ship like HMCS Niobe provisioned with supplies, fuelled with coal, and adequately maintained required sophisticated dockyards and port facilities.

The largest storehouses in the Halifax naval dockyard were located at Wharf Number 3, seen here. This photograph shows an ant-like group of crew members carrying supplies past large pieces of equipment. The naval, government, and commercial dockyards clustered on Halifax's waterfront combined to make the city a hive of activity throughout much of the twentieth century.

George Metcalf Archival Collection
CWM 20030174-020