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Interesting Canadian Naval Topics

Some Notes on HMCS Iroquois in Action in Korea HMCS Iroquois in Korea

In 1952, while operating in combat on the coast of Korea, HMCS Iroquois suffered casualties in action against North Korean shore batteries. The story is not often told and is a reminder that UN Operations are not always peaceful.


Canadian Commanding Officers of Naval Vessels (Afloat)

A compilation of the names of those Canadians and others who have served (in command afloat) as Captains of Canadian or other naval vessels. The names are all dynamically linked to the biography database to permit easy access to the details of careers. This list does not include commanding officers of "stone frigates".


Canadian in the Royal Navy Upper Yardman’s School

A small number of Canadians earned commissions as officers in the Royal Canadian Navy through an old and little-known program of the Royal Navy. Unlike their counterparts in better known commissioning schemes they followed a very traditional syllabus designed to weed out most of the participants.


A Full List of Canadian Graduates of the RN Upper Yardman’s School

A complete compilation of the very few Canadian graduates of the Royal Navy’s Upper Yardman’s School.


Some Canadian Navy Football StarsCanadian Navy Football Stars

Few people realize that the Royal Canadian Navy football team once won the Grey Cup (the pre–eminent championship in Canadian Football). Its teams were bolstered with some great talent, some of who went on to great careers in professional football.


Some Canadian Navy Ice hockey StarsCanadian Navy Ice Hockey Stars

Wartime could not slow down the Canadian love for ice hockey. The patriotism of many professional ice hockey players provided the Royal Canadian Navy with some top notch ice hockey talent. HMCS York (the Toronto Division of the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve) had teams in the Ontario Hockey Association for two seasons during the Second World War. In 1942–1943 they lost the championship in the final game. However in the 1943–1944 season they fared much worse finishing out of the playoffs.


The Rainbow Sea Cadet Corps, Victoria BCRainbow Sea Cadet Corps

The Rainbow Sea Cadet Corps (now 5 RCSCC Rainbow) in Victoria BC is Canada’s oldest Sea Cadet Corps. It has produced several generations of naval personnel and hundreds of solid Canadian citizens.


Restoration of the Name Royal Canadian NavyRCN Badge

After a hiatus of many years the official name of the Royal Canadian Navy was restored. Here is the text of the email of the naval message announcing this historic change.


The Traditions Connected to Canadian Naval WeddingsCanadian Naval Weddings

Naval weddings bring a whole set of traditions. What makes it a ‘naval’ wedding is the wearing of the uniform. The arch of swords ceremony is an old English and American naval custom, which gives a symbolic pledge of loyalty to the newly married couple from their naval family.


The Tradition of Naval BaptismNaval Baptism

Baptism is the visible way in which someone enters the Christian family. For sailors the usual place of their Sunday worship may be in their ship rather than in a church, and so a practice has grown up of having a child baptized in the father’s or mother’s ship. The ship’s bell is inverted and used as a font. It is the custom of the Service to inscribe the name of people baptized in a ship around the outside of the ship’s bell.


RCN Centennial Memorial WindowMemorial Window

In 2010 a stunning stained glass memorial window in honour of the centennial of the Royal Canadian Navy was dedicated in the historic St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Esquimalt British Columbia.


Canadian Naval links to New York City on the Anniversary of 09/11 Tragedy.Memorial Window

Some Canadian Naval links to the events in New York City on 09/11 are remembered by guest contributor Bill Clearihue on the anniversary of 09/11/2011.


Some Interesting Canadian Naval PersonalitiesInteresting Naval Characters

Some brief sketches of Canadian naval officers who distinguished themselves in unique ways who might otherwise be overlooked by historians.


Some Interesting Canadian Naval ScientistsInteresting Naval Scientists

Some brief sketches of Canadian naval officers who have distinguished themselves in unique ways in science who might otherwise be overlooked by naval historians.


United States Navy Connections

The Canadian Holders of the United States Naval Medal of Honor.Naval Medal of Honor

The list of the Canadian–born holders of the United States Naval Medal of Honor.


Royal Navy Connections

Captain James Hepburn McFarland RN: A Royal Naval Officer With a Long Career Through the Napoleonic Wars Captain James Heburn MacFarlane

Captain James Hepburn McFarland RN served on the Newfoundland Station early in his career. He was the ancestor of at least 7 naval officers, including three in Canada.


A Seagoing Officers Sea Chart Book From 1799Captain James Heburn MacFarlane

Captain James Hepburn McFarland RN was one of the author’s ancestors. As a watchkeeper in a sailing man–of–war he was required to supply his own charts for navigation. He purchased a collection of 46 charts which were bound into hard covers. One of the charts is a hand drawn contemporaneous copy of a sea chart of the mouth of the River Plate by the Malaspina Expedition which he drew (perhaps after an encounter with the expedition leaders).


Nauticapedia

Site News: December 21, 2024

The vessel database has been updated and is now holding 94,824 vessel histories (with 16,274 images and 13,929 records of ship wrecks and marine disasters).

Vessel records are currently being reviewed and updated with more than 45,000 processed so far this year (2024).

The mariner and naval biography database has also been updated and now contains 58,599 entries (with 3996 images).

Thanks to Ray Warren who is beginning a long process of filling gaps in the photo record of vessel histories in the database. Ray has been documenting the ships of Vancouver Harbour for more than 60 years.

Thanks to contributor Mike Rydqvist McCammon for the hundreds of photos he has contributed to illustrate British Columbia’s floating heritage.

My very special thanks to our volunteer IT adviser, John Eyre, who (since 2021) has modernized, simplified and improved the update process for the databases into semi–automated processes. His participation has been vital to keeping the Nauticapedia available to our netizens.

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