Royal once more

For a long time now, Canada has not officially had a navy. What we had instead was the Maritime Command of the Canadian Forces. For all intents and purposes, it is the same thing; the name distinction was fairly unknown even to members of the Command itself; let alone the civilian population. We still referred to the military body that owned our ships and paid our wages as the “navy”.

This has now changed. As of today, August 16 2011, we are once again the Royal Canadian Navy. The date was chosen as the 100th anniversary of the original granting of the “royal” designation by King George V, when the newly-formed Canadian Naval Service became the Royal Canadian Navy. This is the name we fought under in both world wars, as well as the Korean war, until the unification of the Canadian Forces in 1968.

Although this is still largely a cosmetic change, this will also have an impact on the outlook of the Navy. Many of our oldest traditions come from the Royal Navy, and were brought unchanged into the Royal Canadian Navy. With the return to our roots, some of these traditions will bring on new meaning, or re-take their old meanings, as we continue to perform our duty for our country and our loved ones at home.