The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; French: Marine royale canadienne, MRC) is the naval force of Canada, and one of three environmental commands of the Canadian Armed Forces. The command's official strength includes 8,400 Regular Force sailors, 4,100 naval reservists, and a fleet that includes 25 commissioned warships and additional auxiliary vessels.
The RCN is headquartered in Ottawa, with its commander reporting to the Chief of Defence Staff. Three formations are responsible to the commander of the RCN: Maritime Forces Atlantic, based at CFB Halifax on the Atlantic coast; Maritime Forces Pacific, based at CFB Esquimalt on the Pacific coast; and the Naval Reserve, headquartered in Quebec City with 24 reserve divisions located across the country.
Established in 1910 as the Naval Service of Canada, the service received royal sanction in 1911 and was renamed the Royal Canadian Navy. In 1968, the RCN was unified with the Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force to form the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), the RCN becoming its naval command, Maritime Command. The historic Royal Canadian Navy designation was restored in 2011. The RCN took part in several conflicts including the First World War, Second World War, the Korean War, the Gulf War, the War in Afghanistan, and other NATO and UN peacekeeping missions.
Established following the introduction of the Naval Service Act by Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the Naval Service of Canada (NSC) was intended as a distinct naval force for Canada that could, should the need arise, be placed under British control. The bill received Royal Assent on 4 May 1910. Initially equipped with two former British Royal Navy vessels, HMCS Niobe and Rainbow, King George V granted permission for the service to be known as the Royal Canadian Navy on 29 August 1911.
During the first years of the First World War, the RCN's six-vessel naval force patrolled both the North American west and east coasts to deter the German naval threat, with a seventh ship, HMCS Shearwater, joining the force in 1915. Just before the end of the war in 1918, the Royal Canadian Naval Air Service was established with the purpose of carrying out anti-submarine operations; however, it was disbanded after the armistice of 11 November.
After the war, the RCN took over certain responsibilities of the Department of Transport's Marine Service and slowly started to build its fleet, with the first warships specifically designed for the RCN being commissioned in 1932. At the outbreak of the Second World War, the Navy had 11 combat vessels, 145 officers and 1,674 men. During the Second World War, the RCN expanded significantly, ultimately gaining responsibility for the entire Northwest Atlantic theatre of war. During the Battle of the Atlantic, the RCN sank 31 U-boats and sank or captured 42 enemy surface vessels, while completing 25,343 merchant crossings. The navy suffered the loss of 33 ships and 1,797 sailors. To gain experience with the operation of aircraft carriers, RCN personnel crewed two Royal Navy escort carriers from 1944 to 1946: HMS Nabob and Puncher.
Starting in May 1944, when Canada began drafting plans to assume a larger role in the Pacific Theatre after achieving victory in Europe, the Canadian government recognized that the RCN would require much larger vessels. Canadian naval staff advocated for HMS Nabob and Puncher to be given back to the Royal Navy in exchange for two light fleet carriers. The Canadian government agreed to acquire two carriers on loan from the Royal Navy, with an option to purchase them, but they were not ready before the war ended. Postwar budget cuts meant that Canada could only afford to operate one aircraft carrier, instead of two as originally planned. The RCN operated HMS Warrior from 1946 to 1948, before exchanging it with the Royal Navy for the slightly larger HMCS Magnificent.
From 1950 to 1955, during and after the Korean War, Canadian destroyers maintained a presence off of the Korean peninsula, engaging in shore bombardments and maritime interdiction. During the Cold War, the Navy developed an anti-submarine capability to counter the growing Soviet naval threat.
In November 1956, HMCS Magnificent was chosen to transport men and supplies to Egypt as part of Canada's response to the Suez Crisis. In preparation for use as a transport, the ship's weapons were stripped, and her complement was reduced to 600 personnel. The initial plan was to embark the Queen's Own Rifles of Canada, but that order was rescinded in December. Magnificent waited in Halifax until the end of the month, then sailed for Egypt carrying 406 Canadian troops and their vehicles, four Royal Canadian Air Force de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otters, and a single H04S helicopter. She returned to Canada in March 1957. Later in 1957, the RCN paid off HMCS Magnificent and commissioned HMCS Bonaventure, which was better suited for jet aircraft. She flew the McDonnell F2H Banshee fighter jet until 1962, as well as various other anti-submarine aircraft until her decommissioning.
In the 1960s, the RCN retired most of its Second World War vessels, and further developed its anti-submarine warfare capabilities by acquiring the Sikorsky CH-124 Sea King, and successfully pioneered the use of large maritime helicopters on small surface vessels, having developed the beartrap to enable safe operations on small vessels. The beartrap was first trialed in 1963, with it entering operational service in the RCN in 1967. The beartrap was subsequently adopted by other navies, including Australia, Japan, and the US.
From 1964 through 1968, under Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, the RCN, Royal Canadian Air Force and Canadian Army were amalgamated to form the Canadian Armed Forces. This process was overseen by then–defence minister Paul Hellyer. The controversial merger resulted in the abolition of the RCN as a separate legal entity. All personnel, ships, and aircraft became part of Maritime Command (MARCOM), an element of the CAF. The traditional naval uniform was eliminated and all naval personnel were required to wear the new CAF rifle green uniform, adopted also by former Royal Canadian Air Force and Canadian Army personnel. The unification of the Canadian Forces in 1968 was the first time that a nation with a modern military combined its formerly separate naval, land and air elements into a single service.
Ship-borne aircraft continued to be under the command of MARCOM, while shore-based patrol aircraft of the former Royal Canadian Air Force were transferred to MARCOM. In 1975 Air Command was formed, with all air groups and their aircraft, including Maritime Command's Maritime Air Group were transferred to Air Command.
Following the Official Languages Act enshrinement in 1969, MARCOM instituted the French Language Unit, which constituted a francophone unit with the navy. The first was HMCS Ottawa. In the 1980s and 1990s, women were also accepted into the fleet, with the submarine service the last to allow them, beginning in 2001.
HMCS Bonaventure was sold off in 1970, shortly after completing a 16-month, $11 million mid-life refit. The 1970s saw the addition of four Iroquois-class destroyers, which were later updated to air defence destroyers, and in the late 1980s and 1990s the construction of 12 Halifax-class frigates and the purchase of the Victoria-class submarines.
In 1990, Canada deployed three warships to support coalition forces during the Gulf War. Later in the decade, ships were deployed to patrol the Adriatic Sea during the Yugoslav Wars and the Kosovo War. More recently, Maritime Command provided vessels to serve as a part of Operation Apollo and to combat piracy off the coast of Somalia.
Some of the changes that had taken place during the unification of the forces began to be undone. In 1985, MARCOM received new black uniforms, differentiating them from the land-based forces. By 1990, the three senior naval officers of MARCOM had recreated the Naval Board. On 16 August 2011, the historic names of the Canadian Forces' three environmental commands were restored with Maritime Command renamed the "Royal Canadian Navy".