A Nation's Navy: In Quest of Canadian Naval Identity

Dean F. Oliver is postdoctoral fellow at the Norman Paterson School of
International Affairs, Carleton University.

This third volume of essays in a Canadian naval trilogy that began with
The RCN in Retrospect (1982) and continued with The RCN in Transition
(1988) contains mostly good essays (as well as a few bad), but like its
predecessors, A Nation’s Navy is an indispensable resource for the
naval specialist or the military historian.

There are 21 contributions in all, and the authors comprise a veritable
“who’s who” of Canadian naval authorities—military historians,
in particular. The distinguished list includes Marc Milner, Michael
Hadley, Fred Crickard, Barry Gough, Roger Sarty, Michael Hennessy,
Richard Gimblett, Peter Haydon, and David Zimmerman.

The essays are grouped into theme sections (e.g., “The Navy as
Fighting Service,” “The Navy and Canadian Society”). The first
section, “Soundings,” is perhaps the best in the book, with
brilliant pieces on naval historiography, the navy’s popular image,
and strategic culture. The last section on future perspectives is,
unfortunately, the weakest.

Although several essays fail to substantially address “Canadian naval
identity,” others, including William Glover’s “Royal Colonial or
Royal Canadian Navy?” and Haydon’s piece on the post–1945 period,
offer penetrating insights.

In an otherwise superb collection one suggests possible omissions with
considerable hesitation. For example, the post–1950 period is not
especially well served and Canada’s long naval involvement in the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization cries out for comprehensive
treatment. Given the expertise of several contributors in the area of
modern naval operations, these topics could easily—and
profitably—have been covered.