Interwar Years
The 1930s: Rebuilding the Royal Canadian Navy

Despite the severe financial climate of the Great Depression and political infighting, the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) survived mainly as a coastal defence force. This period also saw the delivery of the first major warships designed and built for the RCN.

Model, HMCS Skeena

This model of HMCS Skeena belonged to Victor G. Brodeur, the ship's first commanding officer.

It shows the ship's original armament of four 4.7-inch guns in single mountings (left and right) and the two sets of torpedo tubes behind the funnels. Brodeur, the son of Canada's first minister of the naval service, had been one of the country's original naval cadets. He would command Skeena once more in the 1930s before going on to play an important role as Canada's naval representative in Washington during the Second World War.

Model Ship, River Class Destroyer
CWM 19780631-001