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Canadian Merchant Navy

Canada, like several other Commonwealth nations, created the Canadian Merchant Navy (French: Marine marchande Canadienne) in a large-scale effort during World War II. 184 ships are involved in merchant shipping activity in the Canadian shipping industry.

Crew[edit]

Merchant Navy ships were armed during World War II. There were merchant seamen gunners. Also many British and Canadian merchantmen carried volunteer naval gunners called defensively equipped merchant ship or DEMS gunners. Merchant seamen crewed the merchant ships of the British Merchant Navy which kept the United Kingdom supplied with raw materials, arms, ammunition, fuel, food and all of the necessities of a nation at war throughout World War II. Seamen were aged from fourteen through to their late seventies.[4]

"Royal Canadian Naval Association Naval Memorial (1995)" by was erected on the shore of Lake Ontario in Spencer Smith Park in Burlington, Ontario. The 6 ft 4 in (1.9 m) high cast bronze statue depicts a World War II Canadian sailor in the position of attention saluting his lost shipmates. The model for the statue was a local Sea Cadet wearing Mike Vencel's naval service uniform.[5] On the black granite base, the names of Royal Canadian Navy and Canadian Merchant Navy ships sunk during World War II are engraved.[6]

André Gauthier

A commemorative plaque in SS Point Pleasant Park, unveiled in 1967, "When the United Kingdom declared war on Germany in 1914, Canada and Newfoundland's participation was virtually unquestioned. With the onset of the Second World War in 1939 Canadians and Newfoundlanders once more rushed to enlist and were a major factor in the Allied victories in both conflicts. During two world wars the main duty of the Royal Canadian Navy was to escort convoys in the Atlantic and guard merchant vessels against the threat of attack by German submarines. In the Second World War, it also escorted ships in the Mediterranean and to Russia and supported the Allied landings in Sicilian, Italian and Normandy campaigns as well as in the Pacific. The Canadian Merchant Navy's duties included the transportation of troops and supplies to the Allied armies and food for the United Kingdom, extremely dangerous work which resulted in considerable losses."

Halifax, Nova Scotia

At the in Halifax, Nova Scotia. "In memory of 2200 known Canadian Merchant Seamen and 91 Canadian vessels lost by enemy action and those who served in the cause of freedom – World War I 1914–1918; World War II 1939–1945; Korean Conflict 1950–1953"

Maritime Museum of the Atlantic

A monument in , Canada "Dedicated to the men and women who served on the Royal Canadian Navy and the Canadian Merchant Navy.[7] this includes those who served in World War I, World War II, and the Korean War. This monument sits along the Detroit River within the Windsor Sculpture Park in the Dieppe Gardens, named in memory of the soldiers who lost their lives in the 1942 landing at Dieppe.

Windsor, Ontario

Monuments to the Canadian Merchant Navy were erected in several Canadian cities:

Military history of Nova Scotia

Hal C. Banks

Seafarers International Union of Canada

The Merchant Navy

Valour At Sea – Canada's Merchant Navy

The Merchant Navy of Canada

Archived June 15, 2017, at the Wayback Machine

Canadian World War II Merchant Ship Losses

Canadian Shipowners Association 2007 Statistics

Canada Merchant Navy Education