Awards

• Commended for Keith Matthews Award for Best Book 2011
• Commended for Keith Matthews Award for Best Book 2011.
• Commended for The Keith Matthews Award 2011 (Canada)

Overview

Commended for the 2011 Keith Matthews Award From its creation in 1910, the Royal Canadian Navy was marked by political debate over the countrys need for a naval service. The Seabound Coast, Volume I of a three-volume official history of the RCN, traces the story of the navys first three decades, from its beginnings as Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Lauriers tinpot navy of two obsolescent British cruisers to the force of six modern destroyers and four minesweepers with which it began the Second World War. The previously published Volume II of this history, Part 1, No Higher Purpose, and Part 2, A Blue Water Navy, has already told the story of the RCN during the 19391945 conflict. Based on extensive archival research, The Seabound Coast recounts the acrimonious debates that eventually led to the RCNs establishment in 1910, its tenuous existence following the Laurier governments sudden replacement by that of Robert Borden one year later, and the navys struggles during the First World War when it was forced to defend Canadian waters with only a handful of resources. From the effects of the devastating Halifax explosion in December 1917 to the U-boat campaign off Canadas East Coast in 1918, the volume examines how the RCNs task was made more difficult by the often inconsistent advice Ottawa received from the British Admiralty in London. In its final section, this important and well-illustrated history relates the RCNs experience during the interwar years when anti-war sentiment and an economic depression threatened the services very survival.

Full Product Details

9781554889075

Table of Contents

Reviews

In its final section, this important and well-illustrated history relates the RCN's experience during the interwar years when anti-war sentiment and an economic depression threatened the service's very survival. The amount of information, graphics, photographs and maps in this book is indeed mind-boggling. - Seawaves Magazine (Canada) July 2011 ...a must-have volume for those interested in the history of the country's maritime force. - Esprit de Corps military magazine Dec 2011 This is a superbly written, extensively researched and well-constructed volumeThe great news about The Seabound Coast is that it ties together generations of scholarly activity with extensive new archival research in Canada and abroad, and provides those interested in Canadian naval history with a new benchmark, a new reference work and a new starting place upon which to build. - International Journal of Maritime History (Corner Brook, NL), book review, December 2011 issue

In its final section, this important and well-illustrated history relates the RCN's experience during the interwar years when anti-war sentiment and an economic depression threatened the service's very survival....The amount of information, graphics, photographs and maps in this book is indeed mind-boggling.

Author Information

William Johnston, William G.P. Rawling, Richard H. Gimblett, and John MacFarlane are historians with the Department of National Defence in Ottawa.

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