The Early Cold War
Rebuilding and Transformation

The Canadian navy's main Cold War mission was anti-submarine warfare, as it had been in the two world wars. It sought to build a force of ships, personnel, and facilities to fulfill this mission, as well as to pursue other national objectives like sovereignty protection.

Ship's Crest, HMCS Porte de la Reine

This crest for HMCS Porte de la Reine portrays the gate of the same name in the French fortress at Louisbourg, in modern day Nova Scotia.

Porte de la Reine was one of five Porte class gate vessels built in the early 1950s and named after gates in the French fortifications at Louisbourg and Quebec City. Originally built to tend to the anti-submarine nets that would protect Canadian harbours in wartime, these gate vessels instead spent most of their careers as training ships for naval reservists.

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Naval Museum of Quebec