Pinned post for Q&A :)

Canada: Famously Polite. HMCS Oakville: Run them down with your ship, pelt them with soda bottles, and then swim over and try to beat the survivors with a chain, while naked. Was there a hockey match on that U boat or something?

Drachism of the day: "They also wanted to get in on the action of making their national anthem the final boss music for many less developed nations."

Canadians are great. I'm from rural Kentucky in the states with accompanying accent. I married a girl from New Brunswick. No one in our neighborhood in Colorado understands us.

“Niobe, who had been allowed to deteriorate,” Ah, the origins of a great Canadian Naval tradition.

The action between Oakville and U-94 has the tone of "The actions of the various parties all seemed perfectly logical to them at the time."

Two canadian ships enter the panama canal from opposite ends. When they meet in the middle they both gesture for each other to enter the middle lock and global trade grinds to a halt over the next six weeks.

The adventures of HMCS Oakville's boarding crew was a wild ride from start to finish holy hell

Imagine you're in a German cargo vessel when a Canadian light cruiser opens up and sinks you And on your lifeboat you hear two puffs of the light cruiser's horn *_SOOOO_* *_RRYYYYYY_*

As a Canadian, I'm amused that we're still considered polite. Imagine if the Germans had the puck....

Canadians politely liberated the city my father was surviving in when he was a teenager and I will always be thankful to that generation for it.

Another absolutely hysterical RCN story from WWII is that of HMCS LOCKEPORT (J100), a Bangor-class minesweeper. While en route for Baltimore for a refit in January of 1944, she encountered a fearsome nor'easter that knocked out all power and crippled her engines. With no propulsion or electrical power with which to call for help, the crew gathered all of the hammocks, blankets, tablecloths, rags, upholstery, and curtains they could find, and hand-sewed it all into a massive mainsail, which they then rigged from the ship's mast. Under this improvised sail power, they made it 200 miles before encountering a friendly tug who, after some improvised signalling involving a 3" starshell, a handful of Oerlikon tracers, and some hastily-painted dinner plates (as the semaphore signal flags had been washed overboard during the storm), agreed to help the stricken minesweeper reach harbour. They made a full repair and returned to service shortly thereafter. Or at least that's how the lower-decker story is told today. The historical account is probably much less interesting.

Royal Canadian navy sinks ships so politely that is almost offensive.

Those of us from northern states in the Midwest US know full well that Canadians are some of the kindest and most helpful people on earth until they're not. Remember: beware the nice ones. When they stop being nice, its never pretty. Edit: I feel like I should add that I understand this isn't always true. I live in Minnesota, the supposed US version of Canada. We also have the nice reputation. While not always true, if your car breaks down or heater breaks, the kindness of a neighbor could be all that keeps you from loosing limbs to frost bite or worse. Once you get 10 degrees below freezing in either C or F, risk rises fast. My guess is that this is what lead to the development of a non-confrontational and neighborly culture in very cold regions. A reputation as a kind person means more people might help, so it's an investment in your survival.

My uncle was a very young radio operator on HMCS New Glasgow when it sank U-1003 in 1945. According to him, they were coasting along north of Ireland on a foggy day when the lookouts reported hearing engine noises. They initially thought it was an aircraft, then realized it was a U-boat on snorkel. In quick succession, the following happened: general quarters was sounded; the cursing captain arrived on the bridge in his bathrobe; the captain ordered a sharp turn; the stern of the boat swung into the path of the U-boat; the two ships collided, destroying the U-boat's snorkel and damaging the New Glasgow. The New Glasgow made it back to port for repairs, and the U-boat spent a couple of days on the bottom trying to make repairs before being scuttled. It was the last U-boat sunk by the RCN. RIP Uncle Jack. You were a great story teller.

Few outsiders bother to tell this story or when they do, they get everything wrong. Will not surprise subscribers to this channel to learn that Drach does his homework and gets everything right.

I've never understood where the Canadians picked up this stigma of being polite, gentle people always saying "sorry". I've lived with them and served with them. They friggin love fighting and they ain't so polite when somebody pisses them off. I've had a coke bottle thrown at me by a Canadian...and it I still think he was trying to kill me with it. After this story, I think I know where that unique skill came from.

Canadian Navy: *Sails up to enemy fleet* "Hello, could you please scuttle your fleet and go to your lifeboats. We will gladly accept you as prisoners of war." Enemy fleet: *Visible confusion then scuttles the fleet* "Yes, thank you have a good day. Your terms are fair."

The story of the Oakville is just incredible.

Earning her the dubious distinction of the first Royal Canadian ship to engage an enemy with Coke bottles in anger and coming out with the victory

Canadians in the tropics are a bit like Superman on earth: exposure to the energy of actual sunshine gives them super powers.

My father was Hal Lawrence's editor. Hal would tell the story of boarding U-94 and the reaction of the German submariners. Given his appearance on their deck clothed in naught but a lanyard with a pistol on its running end, he supposed that they must have thought, "Mein Gott, he has come to bugger us all!" Knowing the story, I am always amused by the typical Canadian prudishness of the propaganda poster which has Hal in shorts. On pronunciation of Canadian names: yes, the second "e" in "Nelles" is pronounced, and the "u" in Saguenay is silent, it is just there to make the "g" hard, as in "guess."

If you put that episode with the Oakville into a movie people would think it was way over the top.

The sole surviving Flower class corvette HMCS Sackville is a museum shop at Halifax NS

As I have been learning more and more about history in the past years, one of my biggest takeaways are how hard the UK's colonies fought, particular note to Australia, India, New Zealand, and the Canadians.

When the wind is just right, you sometimes hear a faint "soorey" being shouted across the sea between salvos.

As a Canadian: - Excellent video as always - Halifax Explosion please! - Tribals & The Haida(!!) please!

RCN sailor that sank your ship with a torpedo: “Sorry”.

We Canadians save all our aggressions for war and hockey.

I always love your delivery of the outlandish stories. Dry humor, deadpan delivery, and that extra bit of incredulous that helps to illustrate how insane war can be on the man-to-man level of the battles.

The Commander of my junior naval reserve battalion was Commander Atkinson, RCN. He had served in Second World War and was a fine officer. Being in Long Island we noticed he would occasionally revert to Royal Navy terminology or click his heels when saluting. We young Americans admired him greatly.

“Sinking you, but politely.” Love the dry humour.

As a former RCN reservist this was great. My uncle joined in WWII at 16 and served until 1968, including time in HMCS Haida.

One has to ask - did the Asbestos burn, or was she self extinguishing?

Very pleasant to see our RCN highlighted. I live just west of Hamilton, Ont which is now the home of the Tribal classic HMCS Haida, fantastic ship to tour. Thank you for this piece on our Navy

We had a Canadian liaison officer on my (USN) carrier my first deployment in 1998. He was very polite, spoke at least three languages, and did not lose his composure after a large quantity of alcohol in Palma de Mallorca on liberty.

Retired RCN Petty Officer, here. Two thumbs up. Fair Winds, Drachinifel.

RCN Sailor: SORRY FOR SINKING YOUR SHIP!!! Enemy Sailor: IT'S FINE, HAVE A GOOD DAY!! RCN Sailor: YOU TOO!!

"Canadian Destroyer" is a very impressive looking pro-wrestling move. Just wanted to put that out there.

I'm not surprised the Germans were reluctant to surrender to a pair of naked Canadians, they possibly feared an imminent breach of the Geneva convention.

HMCS Asbestos is named after a town in Quebec, which just changed its name last year actually because obviously going to a place called Asbestos doesn't seem very appealing...

Excellent recap video as always Drach but I thought I'd provide some info about HMCS Rainbow and her Captain, Walter Hose. Her overall state when she was dispatched to tangle with SMS Leipzig off the coast of San Francisco is rather indicative of the entire Navy of the period. HMCS Rainbow was in basically zero fighting shape when she was dispatched, her crew was made up of only 122 men which is less than half her original rated compliment and of those men, the majority of those were inexperienced and freshfaced naval reservists. Walter Hose was both the commanding officer of Rainbow and the ranking Canadian naval officer on the entire West Coast, meaning as he left, he also left the entire coast without a real ranking officer to command it. Hose was personally responsible for starting the naval reserve unit on that coast which outfitted Rainbow, he went against the direct orders of Rear Admiral Kingsmill in Ottawa (ranking Canadian fleet admiral) in establishing the reserve and saw to it that the reservists were allowed to train in the Esquimalt navy yard using navy equipment while he payed for all of this out of his own pockets alongside creatively accounted for the used and lost equipment. As Rainbow went to see, she was in a dismal state of affairs. Her 6" and 4.7" guns featured only solid training shot and old 1890's vintage gunpowder filled explosive shells which had an alarming dud rate, the entire stock of new Lyddite HE shells the RCN had acquired was kept in Halifax for Niobe on the entirely different coast of the nation and had to be shipped by rail. It turned out that the rail company shipped the HE shells and their nose fuzes separately so in the end, Rainbow was forced to sail into combat against Leipzig without any largely functional shells. The old vessels top speed was only 15 knots compared to her 20 knot design speed, largely due to leaking steam lines and worn out machinery which caused frequent mechanical breakdowns. Her wireless set was also deficient and had a reduced range. With all of this taken into consideration, Ottawa still sent her down to face off against Leipzig. Rainbow luckily missed Leipzig by only a single day however, some people think Rainbow's likely disastrous engagement with Leipzig could have been Canada's "Remember the Maine" or Lusitania to rally the nation around the navy. As you explained it, the Canadian Navy had been severely neglected throughout the decades but such a thing could have potentially brought mass public and political support to the largely rejected navy. Walter Hose himself would go on to replace Admiral Kingsmill as the RCN's overall commanding officer for 13 years where he would singlehandedly save the entire Navy from ruin. The Airforce and Army attempted to have the Navy completely dissolved in the interwar period with the RCAF taking over their role however due to intense lobbying from Hose, such things would never happen. Hose also made the hard choice of selling off and putting Canada's cruiser and other vessels post WWI into reserve in order to save money, he would also close down the officer training school Canada had as well. Hose reinvested the little bits of funding he had into the various reserve units which would eventually be vital in the RCN's massive buildup in WWII and their survival through the interwar starvation years. People make fun of Congress not funding the USN however, the USN has never had to face off against a dual attempt by the Airforce and Army to have it completely destroyed. Walter Hose is rightfully viewed as a hero within the circles who know him although the government and navy as a whole seems to have forgotten about him. He's been titled as 'The Father of the Royal Canadian Navy".

The church was possibly a noticeable feature on the landscape and clearly visible from the sea (I bet it was painted white). It would have made a good position to get a positional fix from.

"Sinking me softly with his torp Sinking me softly with his torp Saying he's sorry with his words Sinking me softly... with his torp" (To the tune of the Carpenters' "Killing Me Softly")

Only the British would build open air bridges for duty in the artic circle.

I read _The Cruel Sea_ when I was 14 years old and can't see one of those Flower Class Corvettes with the mast in front of the bridge with out thinking about the _Compass Rose_ and all the men IRL who died serving on such vessels. .

Being a retired USA Coastie, it is always a pleasure to work with the Canadian Coast Guard!!!!

My dad joined the naval reserve in 1941 along with his best friend. His best friend was my uncle since he and dad had married sisters. In 1943 dad was activated and sent to Halifax from Victoria where after some training he was on a corvette escorting a convoy. Partway across the Atlantic the Asdic operator on dad's ship messaged the bridge he was picking up high speed propeller noise. The captain ordered engines shut down and the acoustic torpedo heading for them lost its lock and passed a 100 yds behind. Dad had been a base supply clerk at HMCS Dockyard in civvie street so he became a base supply clerk at HMCS Niobe, the base which resupplied Canadian convoy escorts and he was there for VE Day. He was then sent back to Canada to join the Pacific fleet but the war ended before he made it back to Esquimalt. My uncle stayed in the navy until his retirement.

Nice Drachism: 29:33 "Lacking only the silver spray-paint to complete the image..." WITNESS ME!!!

Canadian ships have no AA. They have Eh-Eh instead.

The exploits of HMCS Oakville are remembered on a plaque in a park where 16 Mile Creek enters Lake Ontario near where she stopped to pay her namesake town a visit on the way to war after being built in Port Arthur (now Thunder Bay) on Lake Superior. Drach's version is more colourful!

As a Canadian whose BA involved a 30 page essay on the "Dreadnought Question," I am both amused and impressed at how you managed to take an event that nearly brought down the government and fundamentally shifted Canadian attitudes towards international participation and compress it down to about 10 sentences. :D

One of my uncles served on the HMCS Skeena which was lost off Iceland. He never spoke of his experiences. Another uncle served on the "Maggie" and the "Bonnie" after the war. He took me on a tour of the Bonaventure.

0:39 "The Canadian Navy Presents Great Attractions to Men and Boys". That didn't age well.

HMCS Oakville's boarding crew is like a scene straight off JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

My father work at the Halifax Shipyard during the war and helped build the Tribal Class destroyers, he was very proud of that.

One of the few, if only, hybrids of stand-up comedy and naval history.

As a current employee of the Royal Canadian navy I’m looking forward to this

My grandad was Canadian he was ti young to join over there so he run away to england joined up RN he served with mountbatten destroyer fleet in the Med and Burma. He picked up mountbatten after hms kelly was hit. Few days later grandad ship was hit hms Kipling. They go on from there to Burma

HMCS Asbestos was named after a town in Quebec which had a mine which produced vital material desperately needed by the allied war effort.

HMCS Oakville “Drive me closer I want to hit them with my sword!”

Thank you for this video. My father enlisted in the RCNVR in October, 1939 and served through August, 1945. After training in HMS Voltaire, a British merchant cruiser, he went on to serve in two RCN corvettes, HMCS Matapedia (K-112) and HMCS Pictou (K-146), both assigned to the Atlantic convoy routes. Although Flower class corvettes, the RCN named their versions after Canadian towns.

Giving a like and a comment (already subscribed) just for the frequent mention of my home of Halifax. To make relevant, my wife's grandfather served on RCN Tribals in WW2 and Korea. Thanks for the coverage.

Can you do an episode on the Australian navy that whould be awesome

It's all fun and games until Canadians free you from your mortal coil... *nicely and politely*

The HMCS Sackville, a Flower class corvette, is a museum ship in Halifax. It is strikingly small and it is hard to imagine that those brave men endured the North Atlantic weather and seas and fought the U-boats in such tiny and cramped vessels.

Drach, when you talked about the submarines early in the video. It reminded me of a joke. Our biggest mall, The West Edmonton Mall had more submarines than our actual navy at the time in the 80s/90s. They were on guided rails and you could see aquarium fish and other stuff. I moved to Edmonton well after they were removed and scrapped.

Fun fact: In canada, so many people were apologizing during court rules that sorry had to be made a word that wasn't taken as a confession due to some court cases in the past.

I’m trying to imagine the look on a U-94 crewman as he crawls out of his sinking sub only to see a man in nothing but underwear and a gas mask running at him with a pistol.

"That plastic kit" But of course,giving revell no break anywhere anytime

My husband served on HMCS Valleyfield A K329 frigate that was sunk May 7th, 1944 8 hours off the coast of Newfoundland. The only reason he survived is that he was on duty that night. He was a telegrapher. Thirty seven survived, one hundred thirty seven were lost. He never quite recovered from the trauma.

Cold, snowy ,morning cup of hot tea, and one of the darndest ,sea stories I have ever heard. Thanks Drach

Always hilarious to look back at how often New York wanted to conquer Canada. On the other hand, having grown up in Oregon, I well remember the slogan "54-40 or fight!"

I apologise for being tardy, I was dealing with a Maple syrup spillage.

Huge fan of the channel since the robot voice days. As an (east coast) Canadian I appreciate your efforts on this topic!

So Canada was like that younger sibling, that inherrits most of their stuff from older one

Sweet, was running out of backlog to watch!

Thank you so much. The Oakville crew shot I'd seen before, upper row, 3rd from the left may be the same pic of my dad

Thank you for the video on the RCN. Much appreciated chap. Loved the story of the Oakville and her brave 2 man boarding party making Jerry apologize for exiting the uboat before it sinks.

Living in Oakville, I knew of HMCS Oakville, but not her story, thank you!!

Thanks for this, I appreciate all your hard work.

Love Canadian content, thanks so much!

I have always considered the Canadian military small as it might be, to be among the toughest group of men and women of any military in the world. They're also probably the friendliest. Any event I would have them at my back anytime. And I would back them up anytime.

Informative and entertaining, thanks for your consistent work!

Love it, great review of the history of the Canadian navy. Learned much, thanks. Keep it up, great channel.

I've been waiting for this for a long time! Thank you!!

Really enjoyed this. Thanks!

I’d recommend doing a video on Albert “ The Beard” Morrow, he commanded MTB726 65th flotilla, fellah literally looked like a pirate

GOD I LOVE THIS CHANNEL!! ❤️ Listening to someone talk about a subject that they are so knowledgeable of is fabulous!

Great video. Like many Canadians I'm just glad that someone noticed us, it it so unusual. I'm also surprised that you didn't mention that a number of Canadian corvettes were so desperately needed in the Atlantic that they sail on operations with logs in their 4" mounts instead of cannon. Nor that the crew of one of the Canadian cruisers in the Pacific upon hearing that service within that theatre was going to be voluntary (this was after VE Day) held a vote to stay or go home and the go home side one. The Canadian Captain then felt obligated to honour the results. So after informing their American commanders of the reasoning (which they were not at all pleased about) set sail for Victoria.

Wonderful vid Drach! Thanks! I can confirm that RCN continues the proud tradition of the OAKVILLE in finding ridiculous ways to solve problems that always seem to work out somehow in the end and make for very good stories over a pint.

Wonderful - the bit about the Oakville is just amazing.

Was waiting for a canadian episode. Woot woot! Cheers from Grande prairie!

My great uncle was lost as a radio operator on the Fraser, that went down off the coast of France in the early years. mostly due to inexperience as two ships collided. I am also in love with the Gumboot Navy. British Columbia's coastal patrol force of armed fishing boats. One of these was an ex Us patrol boat, turned into a trawler, that engaged in Rum running during prohibition, became a trawler again before serving as a member of this reserve force.

Our (Canadian Navy) have an on-going fued (The Liquor War) with the Danish Navy , where by every year we yoink each other's flags off Hans Island , leaving behind a bottle of Canadian whiskey , or Dutch snaps respectively. It's all in good fun .

Well Drac, I really have to thank you for this one - I was watching last night, and, during the telling of the HMCS Oakville story, was laughing SO hard that my stomach was hurting, and I was reduced to helplessly pleading for mercy from you, and recieving absolutely none! 😂 Amazing story, and always, told in the perfect manner! Thanks! 🍁❤

Thanks mate, it was amazing as usual!

Very impressive development of the Canadian Navy!

Marvelous. A salute & much respect to our Canadian neighbors & relatives!

Man, I love the work you're doing! Just wanted to say that.