Pre War: 1937-1939
Faced with the specter of rising Fascist aggression, the staunchly conservative Canadian government determined in 1937 that war with the fascists was inevitable; the only thing in question was where and when the war would ensue.
Japanese conquests in China, coupled with the unexpected alliance of the heretofore peaceful Dutch state with Nazi Germany and Totalitarian Italy, it was clear that preparations must be made for war, and right soon.
The first order of the cabinet however was a concentrated program to increase the limited Canadian industrial base. This was achieved not by quasi-socialist government sponsored initiatives, as was the case to the south in the liberal Roosevelt administration, but by a series of contracted free-market programs, coupled with strong tax incentives for heavy industry. In parallel with this, efforts were made to inform the populace of the danger of coming war, and the need for self-sacrifice lest our mother England succumb to Fascist domination.
By 1939, after the ill-advised Munich Agreement championed by the arch-sniveler Neville Chamberlain, wiser minds in Canada knew that war in our time was immanent, and the emphasis was switched from industrial expansion to military production. The new Battle-class destroyers, the fruit of a joint technological effort between Canada and the UK, were ordered in a series of 16 4-ship flotillas, to counter the vast numbers of submarines being produced in Hamburg and Amsterdam. In addition, multiple divisions were added to the Canadian Army, well supported with artillery and engineering brigades. Also, a in a daring re-organization of the Canadian Military, the 1st Royal Canadian Marine Division was organized and along with 6 divisions of the Canadian army, based in Darwin, Australia as a counterweight to Dutch and Japanese Imperialism. And in a very controversial move, in Jan 1939, the RCN laid down the keels of the Warrior and the Magnificent, a pair of 20 thousand ton Fleet carriers that would form the backbone of a new Canadian blue-water fleet capable of fighting, albeit on a limited basis, against the finest navies in the world...
HMCS Iroquois (Battle Class DD)
Faced with the specter of rising Fascist aggression, the staunchly conservative Canadian government determined in 1937 that war with the fascists was inevitable; the only thing in question was where and when the war would ensue.
Japanese conquests in China, coupled with the unexpected alliance of the heretofore peaceful Dutch state with Nazi Germany and Totalitarian Italy, it was clear that preparations must be made for war, and right soon.
The first order of the cabinet however was a concentrated program to increase the limited Canadian industrial base. This was achieved not by quasi-socialist government sponsored initiatives, as was the case to the south in the liberal Roosevelt administration, but by a series of contracted free-market programs, coupled with strong tax incentives for heavy industry. In parallel with this, efforts were made to inform the populace of the danger of coming war, and the need for self-sacrifice lest our mother England succumb to Fascist domination.
By 1939, after the ill-advised Munich Agreement championed by the arch-sniveler Neville Chamberlain, wiser minds in Canada knew that war in our time was immanent, and the emphasis was switched from industrial expansion to military production. The new Battle-class destroyers, the fruit of a joint technological effort between Canada and the UK, were ordered in a series of 16 4-ship flotillas, to counter the vast numbers of submarines being produced in Hamburg and Amsterdam. In addition, multiple divisions were added to the Canadian Army, well supported with artillery and engineering brigades. Also, a in a daring re-organization of the Canadian Military, the 1st Royal Canadian Marine Division was organized and along with 6 divisions of the Canadian army, based in Darwin, Australia as a counterweight to Dutch and Japanese Imperialism. And in a very controversial move, in Jan 1939, the RCN laid down the keels of the Warrior and the Magnificent, a pair of 20 thousand ton Fleet carriers that would form the backbone of a new Canadian blue-water fleet capable of fighting, albeit on a limited basis, against the finest navies in the world...
HMCS Iroquois (Battle Class DD)
Last edited:
