Naval Defence: Yesterday and Today

The first Royal Navy warship dropped anchor in Esquimalt Harbour in 1848, beginning a long evolution of naval power there that left Esquimalt a major strategic base despite changing global politics and weapons systems. In the early years, surrounding forests supplied wood for repairs to masts and spars, and the first structures were hospital huts built during the Crimean War in 1854-56. As steam replaced sail, Vancouver Island's large coal reserves helped power Britain's new ironclad warships, and increasing harbour activity helped justify the construction of Fisgard Lighthouse in 1860. The completion of a drydock in 1887 gave Esquimalt full repair facilities and marked the high-water mark of the British naval presence on Canada's west coast. After the turn of the century, new threats closer to home led Britain to begin recalling forces from imperial outposts, and in 1905 the last ships of the Royal Navy's Pacific Squadron left Esquimalt. Canada then assumed responsibility for its own naval defence, forming the Royal Canadian Navy in 1910. Initially equipped with two aging British cruisers, one on each coast, the R.C.N. grew unevenly, with peacetime austerity followed by intense shipbuilding and training in wartime. Today, Canadian sovereignty on the west coast is protected by the men, women, ships and aircraft of the Canadian Maritime Forces Pacific.

British Columbia · Canada