Quick and inexpensive to build, took on a significant portion of the convoy duties. About half the size of a destroyer and armed with only a single gun and depth charges, the corvettes, which were To meet its obligations, Canada embarked on a massive shipbuilding effort,Ĭommissioning dozens of smaller warships known as corvettes. Laurent and HMCS Saguenay.Īt the time, Canada’s navy was small - only six destroyers and about 3,500 personnel, a third of whom were reservists. The first convoy, HX-1, left Halifax on 16 September 1939 escorted by British cruisersĪnd two Canadian destroyers, HMCS St. Newfoundland, harboured naval and merchant vessels that joined the convoys. Other Canadian ports, as well as the port of St. Nova Scotia, for the treacherous journey across the Atlantic. Merchant marine and air force were thrust into the Battle of the Atlantic.Ĭanada’s role was primarily escort duty for the hundreds of convoys that gathered in Halifax and Sydney, Canada Joins the BattleĬanada declared war on Germany a week later, on 10 September 1939.
German Admiral Karl Dönitz believed that disrupting or severing the delivery of food, oil, equipment and supplies would ensure that Germany would win the war.ĭönitz co-ordinated a blitz on Allied shipping that would continue until the last days of the war.
The battle for control of the key shipping routes between Europe and North America had begun. Torpedoed the SS Athenia, a passenger ship en route to Montréal with more than 1,400 passengers and crew on board 112 people were killed, including four Canadians. Off the coast of Ireland, a German submarine, U-30, The first shots on the Atlantic were fired on 3 September 1939, just hours after Britain formally declared war on Germany.
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