Celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Navy with this commemorative $1 circulation coin, packaged for the first time ever in a 5-pack. The coin depicts an enlisted man with the 1910 uniform and a female officer with a modern day uniform, to represent the men and women in the Naval service. The ship represented is HMCS Halifax, the lead ship in the Navy's current fleet. The fouled anchor is part of the centennial identifier image in use to recognize the 100th anniversary of the Navy.
No. : 112237 Status : Canada only | New | Available Mintage : Unlimited
Mintage : Unlimited Composition nickel electroplated with bronze Finish : Weight (g) : 7.0 Diameter (mm) : 26.5 Edge : plain Certificate: Face value : $1 Artist : Bonnie Ross (reverse), Suzanna Blunt (obverse)
1910 - The Canadian Navy comes into existence on May 4, 1910, when the Naval Service Act becomes law. Permission to add the prefix �Royal� is granted by King George V the following year, and the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) is born. The Navy's first two ships are used British vessels with the colourful names Niobe and Rainbow.
1911 - The Royal Naval College of Canada opens in Halifax (NS) on January 19, 1911. On February 1, the first recruiting posters for the Royal Canadian Naval Service are issued to Post Offices across Canada. Ninety-eight years later, Cmdr. Jos�e Kurtz takes charge of the warship HMCS Halifax, the first Canadian woman to lead a major warship.
1914 - The first women accepted officially in the Royal Canadian Navy are six nurses who serve during August 1914 on His Majesty's Canadian Hospital Ship HMCHS Prince George, the only Canadian hospital ship to ever sail with the Royal Canadian Navy. In WWII, Canadian military nurses face the daily threat of torpedo attacks and many lose their lives on the job.
1917 - On August 12, 1917, the submarines CC-1 and CC-2 and the sloop HMCS Shearwater become the first Canadian warships to use the Panama Canal.
1918 - The patrol vessel HMCS Galiano is wrecked in bad weather and lost with all hands while transiting Barkley Sound on October 30, 1918. She is the only vessel lost by the Royal Canadian Navy in the First World War.
1923 - The Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve (RCNVR) is created on January 31, 1923, with a company (100 men) or half-company in every major city. Its value becomes clear as the dark clouds of war gather in 1939. The RCNVR leads Naval recruitment efforts, helping the Navy to become the world's third-largest, with a complement of nearly 100,000.
1931 - The first warships authorized by and built for the Canadian government, destroyers HMCS Saguenay (D79 later I79) and Skeena (D59 later I59), arrive at Halifax (NS) on July 3, 1931.
1939 - The Second World War breaks out in September 1939. From only 13 ships at the start of the war, the Royal Canadian Navy grows to 332 warships, becoming the world's third largest navy by the end of the war. The corvette is Canada's signature ship during the war, with 113 named after villages, towns and cities in all nine provinces.
1941 - By June 1941, a Naval base is established at St. John's (NF). Canadian ships overseas are withdrawn to help protect transatlantic supply routes. The small size and manoeuvrability of Corvettes in particular are incredibly effective against German submarines. In just twelve hours on August 3, 1942, the HMCS Sackville sends two enemy U-boats scuttling back to port.
1942 - An Order-in-Council establishes the Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service on Jul 31, 1942, and nearly 6,500 women eventually enlist for service. Although WRCNS disbands at the end of the Second World War, in 1951 parliament authorizes the formation of a WREN section in the RCN(R).
1944 - During the Battle of the Atlantic in 1944, Canadian escort and anti-submarine capability is so large and good that the British consider withdrawing to leave the Mid-Ocean Escort Force in the hands of the RCN. On D-Day (June 6), 110 ships and vessels and 10,000 courageous Navy personnel also take part in the Normandy landings, helping to liberate occupied Europe.
1945 - The minesweeper HMCS Esquimalt (J272) is torpedoed on April 16, 1945, and sunk by submarine U-190 with a loss of 39 of her crew, the last Canadian ship lost in WWII. At one minute past midnight on May 28, all Canadian ships at sea turn on their running lights signalling the end of the Battle of the Atlantic.
1946 - HMCS Warrior, Canada's first aircraft carrier commissions into the Royal Canadian Navy on January 24, 1946. The 803, 835, 326, 883 Squadrons of the British Royal Navy are transferred to Canada, establishing the Naval Air Arm in Canada.
1948 - In 1948, a Regular Force Leading Seaman must support his family on an annual salary of $1,440. Although serving in the Navy is a source of great pride, it is definitely not a way to make one's fortune! The average annual salary in Canada that year is $2,175 for a man and $1,233 for a woman.
1950 - Throughout the Korean War, cutting the communist supply chain is a key strategic objective. On both the East and West coasts, the Navy excels. Although stopping a Communist supply train is no easy feat, HMCS Crusader is the UN force's top �trainbuster� with five to her credit.
1953 - The icebreaker HMCS Labrador arrives at Esquimalt (BC) on September 27, 1953, becoming the first naval and deep draught vessel to negotiate the Northwest Passage.
1955 - A women's component of the Navy is authorized and fully integrated into the regular force in 1955, a first throughout the British Commonwealth.
1962 - During the Cold War, the Navy develops numerous advances in ship design and anti-submarine warfare. Among these innovations: the concept of a destroyer or frigate-size vessel operating a large anti-submarine-warfare helicopter, the bear-trap, the variable depth-sonar, and a series of hull sonar sets.
1965 -In the 1960s, the crew of the aircraft carrier HMCS Bonaventure holds parties for disadvantaged children while visiting ports such as Trinidad, Stockholm, Hamburg, Belfast and Rotterdam. Festivities include miniature merry-go-rounds, mock-up airplane and train rides, races, clowns and pirates, and hamburgers and ice cream.
1968 - The Canadian Navy is merged with Canada's Army and Air Force in 1968 to form the Canadian Armed Forces, later the Canadian Forces. The maritime component is named Maritime Command, replacing the title Royal Canadian Navy.
1982 - The last remaining Flower-class corvette, the restored HMCS Sackville, becomes a museum ship moored in season at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax (NS). Visitors get a tangible sense of the ship's heroic past escorting transatlantic convoys and ferrying troops during WWII, one of the Navy's greatest contributions to protecting Canadian lives
1995 - The destroyers, frigates, and submarine sent to support the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in 1995 during the so-called Turbot War with Spain off the Grand Banks resonate with Canadians' sense of nationalism and ignite a wave of pride in the Navy.
2001 - Within nine days of the 9/11 attacks, six Navy vessels are on their way to the Arabian Sea as part of Operation Apollo, the maritime component of the War on Terror. With the world still in a state of shock following the terrorist attacks, this remarkable feat of readiness and flexibility means that Canada is the second nation after the US to deploy ships.
2004 - The Navy is so proficient at a number of tasks during Operation Apollo (the maritime component of the War on Terror) that a Canadian is assigned to lead Commander Task Force 151, the multinational naval force carrying out interdiction efforts in the Gulf of Oman.
2008 - The Navy is responsible for slowing the flow of illegal narcotics, both off the coast of Canada and in South American waters. The Navy also makes a significant impact in combating international piracy off the coast of Somalia. HMCS Ville de Qu�bec plays a key role in keeping sea lanes open so the UN's World Food Program can deliver aid to 3.2 million Somalis.
2009 - The Navy provides the first Canadian response following the horror of the 2009 Haiti earthquake. Navy medical staff treat wounds and perform surgery on injured adults and children, while Naval engineers lay concrete to help start the slow process of rebuilding the devastated country.
