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Interwar Years
Imperial Adventure: HMCS Thiepval

In 1924, one of the few ships in the post-First World War Royal Canadian Navy, the Battle-class trawler HMCS Thiepval, became the first Canadian warship to visit the Soviet Union and Japan when it provided support for a British attempt to fly around the world.

The End of the Voyage
The End of the Voyage

The British round-the-world flight attempt ended on a beach near Nikolskoye on Bering Island, off the Kamchatka Peninsula.

Soon after leaving Petropavlovsk, the Vickers Vulture flying boat made a forced landing in the ocean. The crew were able to get their aircraft to the nearest beach, but the damage seen here could not be repaired. HMCS Thiepval raced through the night to meet the stranded crew and then salvaged their aircraft, hauling it up on the ship's rear deck for the trip to Canada. The propeller from this aircraft was subsequently displayed in the naval officers' mess at Esquimalt.

George Metcalf Archival Collection
CWM 19710050-001_107





HMCS Thiepval in Nazan Bay, Atka Island, in the Aleutians
12-Pounder Cannon, HMCS Thiepval
Coastal Schooner Everett Hays, Alaska
Red Army Guards aboard HMCS Thiepval
HMCS Thiepval Officers with Japanese Naval Lieutenant, Hakodate, Japan
Loading a Propeller, HMCS Thiepval
HMCS Thiepval Crew Members
Bruno the Brown Bear, HMCS Thiepval
Vickers Vulture Flying Boat in Petropavlovsk, Soviet Union
Soviet Soldiers and HMCS Thiepval Lieutenant
HMCS Thiepval's Lieutenants and the British Flight Crew, Petropavlovsk
The End of the Voyage