Canadian Heroes
This was the book that started it all for me.
Well-written accounts of the Canadian contribution to the Battle of the Atlantic in WW2. The triangle run was the convoy duty between Halifax and St. John's, to a point in the mid-Atlantic, where they'd hand them over to the British, and then escort other ships to New York.
Lamb documents many incidents, including great losses of ships, and even torpedo attacks in the St. Lawrence. There was an appalling lack of equipment, poor radar and sonar, wooden deck guns, painted grey, to 'scare' the enemy, and inexperienced reservists. However, throughout the course of the war, Canada rose to the occasion, starting with a 13-ship pre-war navy, and ending with one of the largest navies in the world at the time. We sent 10% of our population to war.
Post-war spending cuts reduced it almost to insignificance. Our only carrier was scrapped, our pilots were forced into civilian life, and our minesweepers were phased out. We were reduced from 378 warships and 400 auxiliaries at war's end , to only 38 ships in 1984.
The change in our national flag, which linked us to Britain, was viewed by many as a loss of tradition and identification.
The government of Canada changed the name 'navy' to 'Marcom', short for Maritime Command, and further demoralized our sailors by exchanging their blue uniforms for drab olive-green clothing, exposing them to derision in the ports of the world. By this, they were sending the message to the military that they were obsolete, and all conflicts in the world could be solved by talk, and 'wishing would make it so.' Sad.
