Then after the war ended, we slowly unarmed because it was expensive and then after modernization during the Cold war a bunch of what was left was just never replaced
ElKaoss on
Third navy?
vazeanant6 on
Wild to think that with just 11 million people, Canada managed to field the 3rd largest navy and 4th largest air force in WWII. That’s basically the definition of ‘built different.
Ecstatic-Jaguar-259 on
I’d rather have an independent country with a smaller military.
Dominarion on
Canada was hitting so much about its weight that by late 1944, early 1945, it ran out of able bodied men. There was a plan for conscription, but they soon realized that sending disabled or unfit people to war would be pointless. The vast majority of the men who were physically fit had volunteered. No white feather campaign either. Just a vague “hey bad guys are fucking with our friends”. Canada declared war on Japan before the US did in 1941… Yes, the PM summoned the Japanese Ambassador to tell him we were at war before Roosevelt could summon congress to pass the vote after Pearl Harbor.
And we all went. Even the Quebecers, who hated to fight for the British Empire and sat down during WW1, suddenly remembered their Native American and French ancestry and went over like maniacs, bringing tomahawks and what not over the Pound. Scalping Nazis, and burning prisoners with flamethrowers. All it took was Canada allowing Quebecers to speak in french in the army and having their own regiment.
The liberation of the Netherlands was a terrible, costly thing. We lost so many men trying to free up Antwerp and the Scheldt that the regiments were at half capacity. One year after Normandy… Shit. 20% of the fighting troops in Normandy were Canadians. Canada had 11 million people vs the US 138 million and the UK and Empire (excluding the Dominions) near 1 billion. And Canada was not only fighting in Normandy, it was fighting in Italy and in the Pacific too.
We really hate fascists, I suspect.
JMHSrowing on
To be fair. . .
A big part of that was that by 1945 the usual contenders for the largest navies after the UK and U.S. had been systematically destroyed.
There’s also some caveats like that the naval force of Canada was almost all escort vessels as convoy operations were their thing. They had a couple cruisers and smaller carriers but no battleships or (iirc) fleet carries.
Also they did have the advantage that most of their ships were built by their allies.
Still it’s quite impressive and Canada has always been known to punch above their weight when it comes to a fight
EnergyHumble3613 on
TBF the navy was done by ship numbers and most of Canada’s fleet were corvettes, essentially pocket Destroyers, that could sweep the Atlantic shipping lanes and escort convoys. Great for Canada’s naval commitments during the war but not so great against a surface fleet with ships that could outrange them.
Thankfully Germany’s surface fleet was too busy either getting sunk off the coasts of South America or Europe or doing nothing at all.
7 Comments
Then after the war ended, we slowly unarmed because it was expensive and then after modernization during the Cold war a bunch of what was left was just never replaced
Third navy?
Wild to think that with just 11 million people, Canada managed to field the 3rd largest navy and 4th largest air force in WWII. That’s basically the definition of ‘built different.
I’d rather have an independent country with a smaller military.
Canada was hitting so much about its weight that by late 1944, early 1945, it ran out of able bodied men. There was a plan for conscription, but they soon realized that sending disabled or unfit people to war would be pointless. The vast majority of the men who were physically fit had volunteered. No white feather campaign either. Just a vague “hey bad guys are fucking with our friends”. Canada declared war on Japan before the US did in 1941… Yes, the PM summoned the Japanese Ambassador to tell him we were at war before Roosevelt could summon congress to pass the vote after Pearl Harbor.
And we all went. Even the Quebecers, who hated to fight for the British Empire and sat down during WW1, suddenly remembered their Native American and French ancestry and went over like maniacs, bringing tomahawks and what not over the Pound. Scalping Nazis, and burning prisoners with flamethrowers. All it took was Canada allowing Quebecers to speak in french in the army and having their own regiment.
The liberation of the Netherlands was a terrible, costly thing. We lost so many men trying to free up Antwerp and the Scheldt that the regiments were at half capacity. One year after Normandy… Shit. 20% of the fighting troops in Normandy were Canadians. Canada had 11 million people vs the US 138 million and the UK and Empire (excluding the Dominions) near 1 billion. And Canada was not only fighting in Normandy, it was fighting in Italy and in the Pacific too.
We really hate fascists, I suspect.
To be fair. . .
A big part of that was that by 1945 the usual contenders for the largest navies after the UK and U.S. had been systematically destroyed.
There’s also some caveats like that the naval force of Canada was almost all escort vessels as convoy operations were their thing. They had a couple cruisers and smaller carriers but no battleships or (iirc) fleet carries.
Also they did have the advantage that most of their ships were built by their allies.
Still it’s quite impressive and Canada has always been known to punch above their weight when it comes to a fight
TBF the navy was done by ship numbers and most of Canada’s fleet were corvettes, essentially pocket Destroyers, that could sweep the Atlantic shipping lanes and escort convoys. Great for Canada’s naval commitments during the war but not so great against a surface fleet with ships that could outrange them.
Thankfully Germany’s surface fleet was too busy either getting sunk off the coasts of South America or Europe or doing nothing at all.