Navy Links

These links are to other Navy-related websites. Not much here now but it will gradually grow. Please let me know about your favourite website and I'll add a link to it. This page revised December 30, 2020.

Family History :

Application for Canadian Military Service Information. This is a link to a printable .pdf file which you can use to apply for the CANADIAN military records of a family member. The form contains all of the information you need for your application. (Added November 6, 2020)

General Navy Links :

Canada's Naval Memorial: HMCS Sackville. HMCS Sackville is Canada's oldest warship. This naval memorial and national historic site was a combat veteran of the Second World War. She is the last of Canada's 123 corvettes, one of many convoy escort vessels built in Canada and the United Kingdom during the war. She played a pivotal role in winning the Battle of the Atlantic and holds a special place in Canadian naval history and heritage.
Canadian Military. A huge website which is still under construction so you may want to return to it often. It has a good section on the Canadian Navy as well as on the other branches of Canadian Military, from the War of 1812 to Canadians in Afghanistan right now. Also see the sections on Canadians who fought in the American Civil War and in Vietnam.
Canadian Navy of Yesterday & Today A large page of links which is only one of a world-wide naval website.
For Posterity's Sake. A huge website with great photos. And the "RCN Memories" section is not to be missed!
Naval History.ca. News, views, book reviews, and a large collection of links to other navy websites. Last update seems to have been in 2010.
Naval-History.net. This British-based website concentrates on RN history, but it also contains the casualty lists of all Commonwealth navies up to about 1947. Also of note is a huge (and still growing) collection of transcribed 19th- and 20th-century ship's logs from the British and US navies.
Stokers on Line. Now off-line. Anyone know what happened to it? Website mainly for stokers. Interesting photos but has lots of broken links.
The Memory Project. A large and complex website with audio interview, photographs, biographies, etc., of men and women from all of the services who served in Canadian wars from WW1 to Afghanistan.
World War One: The War at Sea. Only a tiny part of the massive British Library website. A must-read for any naval history researcher.

Health and Welfare :

Medical information provided on ANY website is not a substitute for advice from your doctor.

Canada :

Canada, CRISIS HOTLINE: 1-833-456-4566.
Veterans' Affairs Canada: Services. Links are provided for: Mental Health, Disability Benefits, Financial Services, Homelessness, and many other services and information.

United States :

United States, CRISIS HOTLINE: 1-800-273-8255.
U.S. Dept. of Veterans' Affairs: Mental Health. If you are a member or former member of the U.S. military, this should be the first website you check out.
Addiction Group. They are dedicated to helping individuals suffering from substance abuse, preventing new cases through credible information, and spreading awareness to as many people as they can reach. Every fact-based piece of content is written by journalists or medical professionals. They have no affiliations to any rehab centers, are not sponsored, and display no advertisements on their website. (Added September 8, 2020)
AlcoholRehabHelp They offer free information regarding treatment for alcohol addiction. The links on their website point to both free counselling groups such as AA, and also to commerical treatment centers. (Added September 10, 2020)
HelpGuide.org: PTSD In Military Veterans. For all too many veterans, returning from military service means coping with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). HelpGuide.org is a non-profit, charitable organization.
Return-to-Work Toolkit: Information for Veterans and Wounded Warriors. A list of programs and resources offered by the United States Department of Labor.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, this website presents many links for support, counselling, and treatment. (Added September 8, 2020)
2020 Guide to Substance Abuse in Veterans. An American (U.S.A.) website, but it has excellent information and statistics on abuse and PTSD, etc. To quote from the introduction: " According to an article in the journal Substance Abuse and Rehabilitation, an estimated 11 percent of people seeking first-time care in the Veterans Administration health system report having a substance abuse disorder. The Veterans Administration has determined that men are more likely than women to experience a substance abuse disorder. The other group with higher rates of substance abuse was veterans aged 25 or under. "

The links to all but the above health and welfare websites have been removed. rcnhistory.org will not link to any "for profit" websites. Please use Google to find websites which meet your needs.
- Examples to enter into Google (include the "+" and brackets):
  - veterans+asbestos+(your country)
  - veterans+financial+(your country)
  - veterans+housing+(your country)
  - veterans+PTSD+(your country)
  - veterans+rehabilitation+(your country)
  - veterans+substance+abuse+(your country)
  - veterans+support+(your country)

United States, CRISIS HOTLINE: 1-800-273-8255.

Volunteers Needed!

All social service organizations depend on the dedication of volunteers. Especially in the current climate of reduced or non-existant funding, many of these life-saving organizations would simply disappear if they didn't have volunteers. If you are able, please reach out to a local hospital, nursing home, Legion, or other service club, to offer your time and services. Following is a list of links to point you to organizations who need volunteers to work with military veterans. This section added August 19, 2020.

Canada :

Canadian Forces, Morale & Welfare Services. "Military Family Resource Centres (MFRCs) give families the opportunity to participate in the planning, designing, delivering and evaluating of MFRC programs and services through volunteer experiences. MFRCs provide an environment for volunteers to bring their friends, meet other military family members who share their interests, and learn new skills. When community members are engaged in the life of their community, the whole community can benefit."
- Connect to your local CAF Community.
Royal Canadian Legion Outreach and Visitation Initiative. "If you are a Legion member, you can volunteer with OVI and make a difference in the lives of Veterans. Volunteers are selected based on the needs within the community, required skill sets, security screenings, and ability to travel to Ottawa for a one day training seminar. Calls for volunteers are sent by Dominion Command through both Provincial Commands and Legion Branches in areas of need."
Solders Helping Soldiers. "Soldiers Helping Soldiers operates as an all-volunteer team of serving military members, veterans, and citizens at large. Volunteers make a difference in every job within our organization. They are our boots on the ground and the power behind them. It is our volunteers who allow more veterans to be assisted in more communities."
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Veterans Program. "From working directly with patients, to helping raise funds which support the hospital, we offer a wide variety of opportunities for those who wish to make a difference in the lives of our patients, residents and their families. Volunteers act as ambassadors for the hospital. Our goal is a mutually beneficial placement where volunteers help to enhance the care of our patients and have a fulfilling experience."
Veterans Emergency Transition Services. VETS Canada began in 2010 as a grassroots movement when Jim Lowther, a veteran himself, realized that there were veterans slipping through the cracks. These veterans had lost their families, were living in the streets in high risk situations. Jim and his wife, Debbie, formed a small team in Halifax, Nova Scotia to seek out and help homeless and at-risk veterans with a view to helping reintegrate them into civilian life.

United States :

Friends of The Troops. "We are a volunteer-led nonprofit organization founded to support, encourage, and honor Veterans and members of the United States Armed Forces in times of need."
STEPS: Student Training & Education in Public Service. "At STEPS, we believe volunteering is at the heart of public service, and that everyone should find ways to regularly give back. Volunteering with veterans can be a life-changing experience for everyone involved."
US Department of Veterans Affairs: Voluntary Service. "In Fiscal Year 2019, over 61,000 Volunteers served more than 9.2 Million Volunteer Hours. Individuals and partnering organizations gave over $99 Million in Gifts and Donations. Savings to VA - more than $332 Million!"
Volunteers of America: Services For Veterans and Their Families. "Volunteers of America embodies President Lincoln’s promise to care for those 'who shall have born the battle.' We proudly serve 27,000 veterans with support services and affordable housing annually, including over 10,000 homeless veterans. More than 50 percent of veterans who live in our transitional housing for six months achieve our target outcome of stable, adequate permanent housing, and half of those are still in permanent housing after 12 months."

Links to Canadian Navy Pages on the Flickr website :

D. Brown. About 60 WW2-era RCN photos of ships and people.
Combat Camera. About 500 photos. Seems to be an official Navy page.
Donald Gorham. Looks like 1,000 or more RCN-related photos.
The Roger Litwiller Collection. Author and artist Roger Litwiller has a collection of over 2,500 mostly WW2 photos.
Mike Mitchell. Almost 200 photos in his Navy album.
Paul Rioux. 125+ Photos in Navy Ships album.
"Ronnie". His entry page lists almost 26,000 photos, and at least half are military photos (all services, many countries). Of note are over 100 of HMS/HMCS Niobe, almost 400 very vintage RCN photos, and thousands of WW2 photos, including German military.
James White. Of note are 90 historical photos of HMCS Niobe, 59 WW2-era photos of HMCS Cornwallis (the land base, not the floating ship), and 129 WW2 photos of HMCS Conestoga, which was the WRENS training facility.

Links to personal Navy websites :

Periscopes.ca, by Donald Courcy. Donald has documented his Navy career as a submariner and radioman from 1965 to 1973. There are also photos and/or videos of the "final voyages" of many RCN ships as they are towed away to be scrapped. (Revised September 10, 2020)

Links to naval ships and bases mentioned on this website :

HMCS Cape Breton.
- . . . and another.
HMCS Conestoga: See the link above to James White's Flickr page.
HMCS Cornwallis. Website of the Cornwallis Military Museum. There is a large collection of graduation photos available for download.
- HMCS Cornwallis: See the link above to James White's Flickr page.
CFB Esquimalt Naval & Military Museum. In addition to exhibits and displays, the museum houses an expanding archive and library that includes thousands of photographs and documents, histories of Canadian naval vessels, navigation charts, biographies of important leaders in the Royal Canadian Navy, ship plans, and copies of the Navy List (officers' names only).
HMCS Niobe: See the links above to the Flickr pages of "Ronnie" and James White.
"Under The Cat" : HMCS Bonaventure, HMCS Magnificent, HMCS Warrior.

Miscellaneous :

The History of Ships: Royal Canadian Navy, Current and Retired. Photos of RCN ships, submarines and auxiliary vessels, both current and recently past. Included are many satellite views of the ships. (Added February 5, 2020)
Scrapping The Supercarrier. This page has photos of the dismantling of the largest warships in the world. There are slideshow views of the scrapping effort in Brownsville TX and more . . . . (Added February 12, 2020)
The History of Ships: Prehistoric Craft. The history of watercraft before the Age of Metal, the invention of writing and the rise of kingdoms; roughly before 3,000 BCE.
The History of Ships: Phoenicians, Ancient Ships & Sea Trade. The rise of the Phoenicians' shipbuilding and sea trade from meager fisherman roots to opulent cargoes of gold, jewels and royal-purple cloth is explored in this website.
The History of Ships: United States Navy Ships.
The History of Ships: Viking Ships. The Viking ship was perhaps the greatest technical and artistic achievement of the European dark ages. These fast ships had the strength to survive ocean crossings while having a draft of as little as 50cm (20 inches), allowing navigation in very shallow water.
The History of Military Automotive Vehicles. This interesting website is packed with information, most of which was new to me, and also contains useful links for further research.
The Cars, Tanks, and Airplanes of WWII. A large page of links to articles of interest to military researchers. (Added August 8, 2019)

Can you provide new links or corrections?
Are any of the above links broken?
Please email Charlie Dobie.

BACK TO MAIN MENU