Location: On the south side of Upper Road (Highway 348)
adjacent to the Presbyterian Church
GPS location: 45°39'51"N 62°41'13"W
The above photographs were taken on 5 May 2003.
The Battle of the Atlantic which lasted 2,075 days, was the longest campaign of the Second World War. It pitted Allied navies against German and Italian naval forces, especially submarines, in a battle to safeguard the essential flow of shipping between North America and Europe.
On any given day 125 merchant vessels were sailing in convoy across the North Atlantic. It was during these treacherous, stormy crossings that Canada's navy matured and won the mantle of a professional service. Our navy escorted 25,343 merchant vessels across the Atlantic. These ships carried 181,643,180 tons of cargo to Europe – the equivalent of eleven lines of railway freight cars, each stretching from Vancouver to Halifax. Without these supplies, the war effort would have collapsed.
Although it was largely unprepared for war in 1939, Canada's navy grew at an unparalleled rate, eventually providing 47 percent of all convoy escorts. Rear Admiral Leonard Murray, Commander-in-Chief North-West Atlantic, who directed convoy battles from Halifax would become the only Canadian to hold an Allied theatre command during the war...
— From the Battle of Atlantic Memorial Service pamphlet
Online source:
The Battle of the Atlantic
http://www.thewrens.com/boatantic_hist.html
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In order to encourage the captains of the merchant ships of all countries which carried the lifeblood of the United Kingdom, I made it a point to attend the briefing conference of all captains and chief engineers before their departure. During the winter of '42-'43, when sinkings were at their worst, I could see when I told them of the measures by escort and air cover that were being taken for their protection and safety; I could see that they knew very well and that they knew I knew in spite of my brave words, that anything up to 25 per cent of them would probably not arrive in the U.K. in their own ships, and that probably half of that number would not arrive in the U.K. at all. But there was never a waver in their resolve. — Admiral Leonard Murray, RCN
Online source:
The Merchant Navy of Canada
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Links to Relevant Websites
Admiral L.W. Murray
The Royal Canadian Navy and the Battle of the Atlantic, 1939-1945
The Battle of the Atlantic
Photograph of Admiral Murray with Winston Churchill
Admiral Leonard Warren Murray: A War, Peace & Security Bibliography
Rear-Admiral L.W. Murray Monument by the Pictou-Antigonish Regional Library
Rear-Admiral L.W. Murray Monument (2) by the Pictou-Antigonish Regional Library
Canadian WWII Merchant Ship Losses by the Naval Museum of Manitoba
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BooksSeven Sailors by Commander Kenneth EdwardsBiographies of seven great Royal Navy commanders: Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay, Captain William Agnew, Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser, Rear Admiral Leonard Murray, Captain Robert St Vincent Sherbrooke, Vice Admiral Sir Edward Neville Syfret, and Rear Admiral Thomase Hope Troubridge. 255 pages, published 1945 in London, England U-boats Against Canada: German Submarines in Canadian Waters by Michael Hadley, 362 pages published 1990 by McGill-Queen's University Press |
Admiral Leonard Murray memorial Pictou
Sailor's Statue, Sackville Landing Halifax
Walmsley Lodge 1785 monument Pictou Landing
82nd Regiment 1779-1783, plaque Little Harbour
Westray Miners Memorial Park New Glasgow
Miners Memorial monument 1891 Westville
Workers Monument Trenton
Sobeys Industrial Monument Stellarton
New Glasgow war memorial New Glasgow
Pictou Highlanders obelisk New Glasgow
Stellarton war memorial Stellarton
Westville war memorial Westville
Stellarton WW1 memorial plaque Stellarton
Pictou County Acadians, 1700s River John
Pictou County Acadians, 1700s Caribou Island
Baird Family memorial Caribou Island
River John war memorial River John
Legion Remembrance Gardens River John
Dawson plaques Pictou
Memorial Field Antigonish
