From its eighteenth-century roots in exploration and trade, to the major conflicts of the First and Second World Wars, through to current roles in multinational operations with United Nations and NATO forces, Canada's navy – now celebrating its one hundredth anniversary – has been an expression of Canadian nationhood and a catalyst in the complex process of national unity.

 

In the second edition of Canada’s Navy, Marc Milner brings his classic work up to date and looks back at one hundred years of the navy in Canada. With supplementary photographs, updated sources, a new preface and epilogue, and an additional chapter on the navy’s global reach from 1991 to 2010, this edition carries Canadian naval history into the twenty-first century. Milner brings effortless prose and exacting detail to discussions about topics as diverse as Arctic sovereignty, fishing wars, and international piracy. Comprehensive and accessible, Canada’s Navy will continue to provoke discussion about the past and future of the country’s naval forces and their evolving role in the interwoven issues of maritime politics and economics, defence and strategy, and national and foreign policy.

Marc Milner is Director of the Brigadier Milton F. Gregg, V.C., Centre for the Study of War and Society at the University of New Brunswick. A native of Sackville, N.B., Dr. Milner earned his doctorate at the University of New Brunswick in 1983. From 1983 to 1986, Dr. Milner was a historian with the Directorate of History, Department of National Defence, Ottawa, where he wrote portions of the R.C.A.F.'s official history and the first narrative of the recent official history of the Royal Canadian Navy. He joined the History Department at U.N.B. in 1986. Since then, he has served as director of U.N.B.'s Military and Strategic Studies Programme and chair of its History Department for six years. Dr. Milner is best known for his work on naval history, including North Atlantic Run: The Royal Canadian Navy and the Battle for the Convoys (1985); The U-Boat Hunters: The Royal Canadian Navy and the Offensive against Germany's Submarines (1995); Corvettes of the Royal Canadian Navy (co-authored with Ken Macpherson, 1993); a novel, Incident at North Point (1998); a popular history, HMCS Sackville 1940-1985 (1998, for the Canadian Naval Memorial Trust); Battle of the Atlantic (2003), which won the Charles P. Stacey Prize for the best book on military history in Canada for 2003-04; and Canada's Navy: The First Century (1999). Dr. Milner writes a regular column on Canadian naval history for Legion Magazine, and the second (updated) edition of Canada's Navy: The First Century was published just in time for the naval centennial.

Marc Milner's profile page

'Milner's book ... will serve for many as the navy's "official history." '

Globe and Mail

'Marc Milner is one of the soundest counsels in Canadian military history.'

Atlantic Books Today

'This book, like the first edition, provides an outstanding narrative of the history of the Canadian Navy, and should hold a place of honour on every naval officer’s bookshelf.'

Canadian Military Journal, vol10:03:2010

'A focused and consolidated history, Milner has achieved a great accomplishment with this much-needed addition and upgrade to the history of the Canadian Navy.'

H-Canada, September 2010

'[Canada's Navy] will long remain the standard account of how the Canadian navy was created, developed, and used ... Marked by breadth of learning, masterly analysis, and a generous scholarship, it is a model and an inspiration. Canadians, and naval historians around the world, are once again in Milner's debt.'

The International History Review

'A delightful tour de force.'

Toronto Star

'This welcome new book is stimulating, authoritative, and current. Canada's Navy: The First Century is a great read.'

Maritime Affairs

‘Milner’s book is an essential reading for anyone interested in understanding the broader question of Canadian defense politics… He has opened up the door for a much more sophisticated and nuanced understanding of the nexus of Canadian politics, national interest, and sea power.’

War in History vol 20:02:2013