The Seabound Coast - Dundurn

The Seabound Coast

The Official History of the Royal Canadian Navy, 1867–1939, Volume I

Published January 2011

Description

Commended for the 2011 Keith Matthews Award

From its creation in 1910, the Royal Canadian Navy was marked by political debate over the countrys need for a naval service. The Seabound Coast, Volume I of a three-volume official history of the RCN, traces the story of the navys first three decades, from its beginnings as Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Lauriers tinpot navy of two obsolescent British cruisers to the force of six modern destroyers and four minesweepers with which it began the Second World War. The previously published Volume II of this history, Part 1, No Higher Purpose, and Part 2, A Blue Water Navy, has already told the story of the RCN during the 19391945 conflict.

Based on extensive archival research, The Seabound Coast recounts the acrimonious debates that eventually led to the RCNs establishment in 1910, its tenuous existence following the Laurier governments sudden replacement by that of Robert Borden one year later, and the navys struggles during the First World War when it was forced to defend Canadian waters with only a handful of resources. From the effects of the devastating Halifax explosion in December 1917 to the U-boat campaign off Canadas East Coast in 1918, the volume examines how the RCNs task was made more difficult by the often inconsistent advice Ottawa received from the British Admiralty in London. In its final section, this important and well-illustrated history relates the RCNs experience during the interwar years when anti-war sentiment and an economic depression threatened the services very survival.

Reviews

Contributors

William Johnston

William Johnston is a historian with the Department of National Defence in Ottawa.

William G.P. Rawling

William G.P. Rawling is a historian with the Department of National Defence in Ottawa.

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.

John MacFarlane

John MacFarlane is a historian with the Department of National Defence in Ottawa.

Book Details

ePub
January 2011
-
1014 pp
9781459713246
Hardcover
January 2011
7x9.25 in
1014 pp
9781554889075
ePub
January 2011
-
1014 pp
9781554889082