Canada's Naval History

Home > Explore History > First World War (1914-1918) > War in the Pacific

Birth Of the Navy

First World War

Between the Wars

Second World War

Early Cold War

Later Cold War
- - From RCN to Maritime Command
  - A Changing Fleet

Navy Today
- - The Gulf War
  - Continuing Commitments

First World War (1914-1918)
War in the Pacific

At the outbreak of war in August 1914, only three obsolete ships and two recently-acquired submarines protected Canada's west coast. Canadians feared that German cruisers might attack merchant ships or bombard cities and towns. After these attacks failed to materialize, many vessels and personnel were transferred to the Atlantic to deal with the growing German submarine threat.

Cargo Ship Seen from Canadian Submarine

This photograph of a cargo ship was taken from one of Canada's submarines, either CC-1 or CC-2, during a transit of the Panama Canal in mid-1917.

It reveals the low profile of a surfaced submarine against the high-sided potential target of a merchant ship. In the summer of 1917, with the German naval threat in the Pacific long since eliminated, three vessels from Canada's small west coast force, HMCS Shearwater, CC-1, and CC-2, were ordered to Halifax as part of a plan to send the submarines to European waters. The four-month trip took the Canadian vessels through the Panama Canal, which links the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

George Metcalf Archival Collection
CWM 19840218-002_9