Guardians of the North - Dundurn
  Back To List

Guardians of the North

Canadian Warships and Maritime Aircraft, 1910–2025

ByRichard H. GimblettandKarl Gagnon
Published October 2025
Hardcover

Description

A comprehensive, fully illustrated survey of Canada’s warship and maritime aircraft acquisitions from 1910 to the present day.

Combining the talents of two of Canada’s foremost naval historians, this book fills an important void in the story of the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) and associated Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Maritime Aviation. An unprecedented chronological examination of when and why Canada procured its some fifty classes of warships and a dozen aircraft types over the past 120 years, and how it has employed and disposed of them, Guardians of the North does more than collect statistics on the specifications and characteristics of those vessels and aircraft — it also offers fresh insights into many previously overlooked themes, revealing trends and connections over the decades to the present day.

Karl Gagnon’s exceptional profile drawings and many rarely seen images complement Richard Gimblett’s engaging narrative history of the RCN and Maritime Aviation, making this the defining work on the ships and aircraft defending Canada today.

Of Related Interest

Jackspeak of the Royal Canadian Navy

Mark Nelson

Warriors and Warships

Robert D. Banks

Atrocity on the Atlantic

Nate Hendley

Oceans of Fate

Dan Black

The Naval Service of Canada, 1910-2010

Richard H. Gimblett

Reviews

Contributors

Richard H. Gimblett

Richard H. Gimblett is command historian of the Canadian Navy and past president of the Canadian Nautical Research Society. A former serving officer, he is a contributor to volume 1 of the official history of the Royal Canadian Navy (1867-1939), and edited and contributed to The Naval Service of Canada, 1910-2010: The Centennial Story. He lives in Ottawa.

View Author Page  

Karl Gagnon

Karl Gagnon joined the Navy in 1983, serving mostly in the Reserves on a full-time basis before transferring to the regular force in 2014. Self-taught in graphic art and heraldry, his drawings have graced many publications such as the Navy’s commemorative centennial volumes. A native of Ville de Saguenay, Quebec, he now resides in Ottawa.

View Author Page  

Book Details

Hardcover
October 2025
12x9.75 in
400 pp
9781459755550
ePub
October 2025
-
400 pp
9781459755567
ePub
October 2025
-
400 pp
9781459755574