No Higher Purpose: The Official Operational History of the Royal Canadian Navy in the Second World War, 1939–1943, Vol. 2, Part 1

J.L. Granatstein, Distinguished Research Professor of History Emeritus,
York University, served as Director of the Canadian War Museum from 1998
to 2000. He is the author of Who Killed Canadian History? and co-author
of The Canadian 100: The 100 Most Infl

During World War II, the Royal Canadian Navy transformed itself from a
tiny ragtag operation with 2000 sailors and a handful of ships into a
force of 100,000 men and women operating everything from corvettes to
aircraft carriers. This is an extraordinary tale—and one that has not
been told in full detail until this book, the first part of a two-part
volume. Official history is hard to write, but certainly, once the major
players are gone, it can be frank in its assessment of successes and
failures.

No Higher Purpose is that. Soundly based on quite astonishing research,
splendidly illustrated with fresh photographs and newly drawn maps, this
is a superb production in every respect. Contrary to recent memory, the
RCN did not take in plow jockeys and yachting sailors and instantly
become the navy that swept the U-boats out of the North Atlantic. As
with any force racked by the pains of too-rapid expansion, it learned on
the job—slowly. Ships could not be created overnight, though sometimes
it seemed that they were. Yards and workers had to be trained, just as
sailors did. Money had to be provided, and leaders found and pushed
forward. And there were relations with friends and allies to be fostered
and made to work. The British were slow to offer either respect or the
newest technology; the Americans, unbloodied in the war, were pushy and
aggressive; and the RCN was sometimes caught in the middle, wearing a
chip on its own shoulder and bemoaning its inability to be a “real”
navy with big-gun ships, instead of merely a convoy fleet. Covering the
period to 1943, the book also looks at the war in the Pacific, the
Caribbean, and the Gulf of St Lawrence.

This is a first-rate study, full and fair, providing a broad sweep and
telling personal incidents.