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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.

Soviet Soldiers and HMCS Thiepval Lieutenant

A group of Red Army soldiers and other onlooker's clusters beside one of HMCS Thiepval's lieutenants (left).

This photograph, which may have been taken on a beach in Petropavlovsk harbour, shows one of Thiepval's lieutenants in rubber hip boots and a number of Red Army soldiers in their distinctive hats. Thiepval and its crew were subjects of curiosity and suspicion for local Soviet officials and the Soviet military. The Canadians were likewise curious about the Soviet Union, and reported being unimpressed with the conditions they encountered.

George Metcalf Archival Collection
CWM 19710050-001_32