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.

Canadian Sailors and Sugar

Canadian sailors are photographed with workers at a sugar processing facility, likely in the Caribbean, around 1930.

The sailors are posing with what appears to be raw brown sugar, while local workers toil in the background. Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) ships and crews regularly undertook Caribbean exercises with Royal Navy ships, which helped the RCN improve its efficiency and also served as encouragement and reward for members of the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve. Such exercises would have been the first experience of travel abroad for some reservists, who sought to document their experiences in photographs like these.

VRP 991.363.19
CFB Esquimalt Naval and Military Museum