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Battlecruisers, Corruption and Frenchmen
With the Great White Fleet setting out on its journey across the world, Laurier put Brodeur back in the hot seat to investigate the possibility of a Canadian naval militia. While this had been attempted many a time in the past, Brodeur had noticed Laurier’s intensely inflamed interest in naval matters as of late and quickly procured a report. As this was going on though, the opposition within Parliament was on the attack. The Conservatives pushed the Liberals regarding the money being spent on the upkeep of Halifax and Esquimalt, how it was being used and future purposes for these bases. Questions about Canadian contributions to imperial defense, its relation to the Fisheries Protection Force and the potential for naval instruction of militiamen in Canada. Coming off the recent Colonial Conference and his newly minted report, Brodeur was fresh on the topic and successfully held the Conservatives at bay for the moment however, their recent uptick in interest pointed towards the need to do something substantial sooner rather than later.
Conveniently enough, Brodeur would be approached soon after this parliamentary scuffle by a Frederick Hamilton. Hamilton was a member of the Toronto Navy League executive committee and a member of the press gallery within the House of Commons. Providing a newspaper snippet regarding an address he had given to a local club on “Canadian Coastal Defense”, the potential for a Canadian Navy was heavily covered. This snippet was a compact yet well worded summary of Canada’s maritime lifelines and their vulnerability to disruption or attack without guaranteed coverage by Royal Navy assets. The conclusion of the paper reads as such, “the establishment of a naval militia, whereby our sailors and fishermen could be trained to handle naval artillery, torpedoes, etc. This militia should be under our own control, as is our land militia. This should lead up to the establishment of flotillas of torpedo boats, destroyers, or submarines at suitable points on our coastline. These should be manned by our own people, and under our own control.” This was somewhat radical but even so, Brodeur was impressed enough to grant an interview to Hamilton to discuss his and the governments proposal. Brodeur would say to Hamilton, “our ideas are not dissimilar, and I believe that we are quite in accord upon the principle of the establishment of a naval reserve in Canada” however, he also made sure to remind him that “we are not, perhaps, going as fast as certain persons would like, in the spending of millions of dollars for the establishment of a naval militia of which no immediate pressing need seems to exist.”
While Brodeur was originally planning to take any naval development slow as per usual, the public, House and Prime Ministers increased interest in naval developments caused him to expedite his efforts. During the department's yearly estimates to Parliament, Brodeur brought up the possibility of a naval militia. Due to the fact that he only requested enough funding to pay for the wages of Canada’s crew, Conservative members of Parliament questioned the sincerity of this motion, wanting specific details regarding the force type, size, and equipment they would need. Brodeur resorted to his tired and played out response of “this force will merely be the nucleus of a naval militia.” His main goal was to not rush and slowly create a force fitting Canada’s increasing autonomy in their own defense. Brodeur would state “the naval militia is based upon the fisheries protection service. Some day, instead of only having special boats for the fisheries protection service, I hope to have the naval militia take part in that work. At the time when the Canada was built, there was no organization except some boats like the Curlew and the Vigilant to patrol the coast. But it was thought we should have a boat on which a certain number of young men would be trained under the rules of the British Admiralty. This has been done for the last few years with satisfactory results. I should like our organization to be made in such a way.”
Digital reproduction of one of the many flags all branches of the Navy League used in their campaigning in the 1900's.
As was customary with anything regarding Canadians and naval matters, a large wrench was promptly thrown directly into this good progress at the worst possible time. The Department of Marine and Fisheries had been under heavily scrutiny over the last few years with the sudden death of Prefontaine. The previous minister while hard working and head strong was also somewhat of a messy figure. There had been excessive spending on frivolous things, stacking of incompetent figures throughout the echelons of the department and a multitude of corrupt actions over his tenure as Minister. Brodeur had been working very hard to fix these issues however, the timing of the recent Colonial Conference and his large swaths of time spent outside of the country had angered the public and parliament alike. Governor General Grey had directly intervened multiple times on this issue within the previous years, warning Laurier and Brodeur of the oncoming situation they were about to endure. Various officials could not be easily fired due to the fact that they were politically connected and 'knew too much' about previous sensitive department endeavors. One of the main issues was that Commander Spain while seen as fairly competent, him leaving the Royal Navy at the rank of Lieutenant made him rather unsuited to the role of nationwide leadership required with policy creation and such, his alcoholic tendencies and sour departure from the Royal Navy also tainted his record. While Grey wanted to keep Spain in a subordinate position however, it was desired to have an actual naval officer with significant experience to fill the position especially if a naval militia or navy itself is desired in the future.
Brodeur brushed off the advice of Grey until his department was embroiled in an investigation by the Civil Service Commission, largely for misuse of funds and general inefficiency. This overall investigation covered every single major government department however, most of the departments only received minor critiques, Brodeur’s department was comparatively hammered. A drawn out and scathing report was published labeling the department as undertaking “near constant blundering and confusion with no sign of an intelligent purpose, unless it be that of spending as much money as possible.” A cloud of criticism and calls for Brodeur’s removal hung over the department like a wet blanket and with Governor Grey looking on with contempt that Laurier had not heeded his warnings, he queried Laurier that he should consider completely dissolving the department itself from the ground up. Laurier was confident that administration could comfortably take the damage and keep sailing however, the prospect of losing one of the most senior and arguably most important departments in the government itself was untenable. To control some of the damage, Laurier formed a royal commission to look into the “very grave statements”, this was quickly followed by suspensions and retirements of several officers within the department and the deputy minister himself. George J. Desbarats was put into the Deputy Minister position and almost immediately went to work attempting to put the administration back on track. With the removal of Commander Spain from his position, the newly promoted Rear-Admiral Kingsmill took over his position as leader of the Enforcement section of the department. Even with his previous rocky patch with the Admiralty, Kingsmill was recommended wholeheartedly by the Royal Navy as a leader for the Fisheries department and potentially a future naval militia.
Rear Admiral Kingsmill poses for his official government photograph, sometime before WWI.
The placing of a Canadian born and relatively high ranked Royal Navy trained officer at the head of the Fisheries Service did quite a bit to smooth down the previous issues, signifying a substantial increase in prestige, capability and likely the future plans for the department. Kingsmill’s new position was somewhat of a downgrade though in the grand scheme of things. With the nearest equivalent to his new position being the Commander of a station with the Royal Navy, her annual salary of $3,000 was nowhere near the $8,000 plus allowances given to him by the Royal Navy. The difference was clearly buffered by the fact that his realistic prospects within the Royal Navy were effectively over and returning to his home nation was rather appealing overall. The Toronto Globe perhaps went a bit too far with it’s announcement of Kingsmill’s promotion with “CANADA TO HAVE NAVAL MILITIA – A CANADIAN ADMIRAL HAS ALREADY BEEN APPOINTED”. The contents of the paper was rather muted in comparison to it’s eye catching title, “it is understood that his appointment presages an advance in the movement towards the development of the naval militia. This was begun some years ago under Commander Spain, and there are now seamen in training along British naval lines on the cruiser Canada and on some other vessels of the fleet of protective cruisers. However, the development of the naval militia will be gradual, and will keep pace with the advance of public opinion in respect to assuming a large share in imperial defense.”
This wait for public opinion would soon be put to the test in July 1908 at the Quebec City tercentenary where the Royal Navy Channel Squadron would be joined by various elements of the American and French navies for a display, allowing tours and spreading goodwill during the event. USS New Hampshire, HMS Russel, HMS Venus, HMS Minotaur, HMS Exmouth alongside the French cruisers Amiral Aube and Léon Gambetta. The main attraction of the event though was HMS Indomitable, the first battlecruiser ever built which had brought the Prince of Wales across the Atlantic to Canada. Alongside the powerful new warship, CGS Canada was proudly displayed in a full ceremonial dress of flags. The Toronto Globe would feature her prominently on their front pages with the title of “CANADA’S ARMY AND NAVY AT QUEBEC.” Canada’s captain and one of her cadets were both showcased as well, labeled as “Canada’s naval commander and her first cadet.” Rear-Admiral Kingsmill was well and truly present for the events and festivities, trying his best to convey Canada’s good will to her allies in this time of celebration. Although the Admiralty had embarked Julian Corbett at the request of the new director of naval intelligence for the Admiralty. Fisher had a keen interest in Kingsmill and the development of a Canadian naval militia or navy, largely due to his recent run in with Kingsmill and his previous posting as the North American station commander. Fisher went on record with his new director, confiding that “I know the Canadian people and that they are an unpatriotic grasping people who only stick us for the good that they can get out of us, and we ought to do nothing whatsoever for them.” Fisher was obviously not particularly confident that Canada would develop much of a force by itself.
Warships illuminated outside of Quebec City at night, CGS Canada can be seen fully illuminated as the second last ship on the right.
Corbett’s mission was to “discover whether there was any Canadian disposition to take the defense of her frontier in hand and towards starting a naval militia.” In the opinion of the Admiralty, “Anything in relation to pushing Canada towards naval development must be done very carefully and slowly without ostentation and parade, but if it is effectively carried out, Canada will add enormously to the strength of the Empire as a whole and assist the navy quite as much or more than if she went in for battleships or cruisers.” When Corbett finally met with Kingsmill himself for a discussion, he found that Kingsmill had turned relatively melancholy and frustrated in the face of what he saw in Canada, his inability to help correct the misgivings of his predecessors weighed heavily on his conscience. Corbett would report that:
“Kingsmill’s pessimism was derived from two opinions. One was that the reservoir of, and facilities for, turning out competent officers were limited, and unhappily they were only available from the lower deck. There was a total absence of any sense of discipline and he supposed this impossible in inoculate without a fixed service system. The other discouraging feature was the prevalence of political patronage that was bound to frustrate the sound building of an officer corps. Concretely, he proposed introducing some permanence to the service, employing personnel for at least a three year period, and taking the climate into consideration by employing the hands in the dockyard in the winter. He was clearly not hopeful and seemed to feel all of this was only a poor substitute for monetary contributions to the Royal Navy at this point.”
After Corbett interviewed Governor General Grey and received the box standard 'we’re working on it' reply the Admiralty had been privy to for quite sometime, he stumbled upon Major General Percy Lake. Lake was the Chief of the General Staff of the Canadian Militia and was considered the generally the most well-versed figure in the Canadian defense circle. He described to Corbett in a rather candid assessment of the politics surrounding the issue and stated that the idea of a local navy or militia was not nearly as much of a waste as Kingsmill or the Grey had thought however, large sections of the department ministers and party members were corrupt. A naval militia bill had existed in draft form for over three years however, it was being delayed until after the next election. Although Lake was generally positive and very helpful, he made sure to stress to Corbett that this was all on shaky ground and could fall apart rather quickly if rushed. Therefore, Corbett returned to Britain with a somewhat more positive view than they expected. Lake himself would go onto shake the boat somewhat later in 1908, proposing multiple new powers to the department of Marine and Fisheries. These included restriction of trade with enemy nations, examination of vessels in and around defended ports to sniff out disguised raiders and blockade runners, censorship of overseas communications and the gathering of intelligence on American interest on the lakes. The Militia Minister Sir Frederick Borden supported this however, Brodeur was against the rapid militarization of the force.
Even so however, the Canadian government was not standing completely idle on these issues. Aboard CGS Canada, a new intake of naval cadets had been issued. These cadets were specifically taken in for seamanship and navigational training in preparation for some kind of future service, militia or naval. Although as Kingsmill had predicted though, the political patronage was completely at play here. All of the cadets had major political connections, the most jarring being Victor Brodeur, the son of Minister Brodeur himself. None of these cadets wrote entrance exams and their method of selection was more on a whim than anything else. Even so however, this handful of cadets would prove invaluable to the future of the Royal Canadian Navy. The tenders for the much-anticipated West Coast sister-ship to CGS Canada were issued in June of 1908 and the aging fisheries cruiser Constance was transferred to the Canadian Customs service, freeing up crew and resources for the expected new ship. Kingsmill and Desbarats went to work trying to raise discipline levels within the service and squash corruption wherever it was found, yet the decades it had been festering made it rather difficult to remove. Brodeur was also cleared of any misconduct in the earlier departmental investigation, leaving the entire organization in a fairly good position.
The original group of cadets present on CGS Canada, some of these men would prove instrumental in the formation of the future Canadian Navy.
Back row from left to right contains Charles T. Beard, P. Barry German, Victor G. Brodeur, Wright. Center row from left to right is Fisheries officers Fortier, Stewart, Woods and finally in the front row from left to right is Henry T. Bate, Percy W. Nelles, John A. Barron.
Kingsmill would leave Ottawa in August of 1908 to inspect the west coast of Canada and in more broad terms, help develop a comprehensive naval requirement plan for Canada. His journey itself was interrupted though in September when the Admiralty announced they had finally been able to come to an agreement to Australia for a naval defense plan. The Australians had beat the Canadians to the punch.
Conveniently enough, Brodeur would be approached soon after this parliamentary scuffle by a Frederick Hamilton. Hamilton was a member of the Toronto Navy League executive committee and a member of the press gallery within the House of Commons. Providing a newspaper snippet regarding an address he had given to a local club on “Canadian Coastal Defense”, the potential for a Canadian Navy was heavily covered. This snippet was a compact yet well worded summary of Canada’s maritime lifelines and their vulnerability to disruption or attack without guaranteed coverage by Royal Navy assets. The conclusion of the paper reads as such, “the establishment of a naval militia, whereby our sailors and fishermen could be trained to handle naval artillery, torpedoes, etc. This militia should be under our own control, as is our land militia. This should lead up to the establishment of flotillas of torpedo boats, destroyers, or submarines at suitable points on our coastline. These should be manned by our own people, and under our own control.” This was somewhat radical but even so, Brodeur was impressed enough to grant an interview to Hamilton to discuss his and the governments proposal. Brodeur would say to Hamilton, “our ideas are not dissimilar, and I believe that we are quite in accord upon the principle of the establishment of a naval reserve in Canada” however, he also made sure to remind him that “we are not, perhaps, going as fast as certain persons would like, in the spending of millions of dollars for the establishment of a naval militia of which no immediate pressing need seems to exist.”
While Brodeur was originally planning to take any naval development slow as per usual, the public, House and Prime Ministers increased interest in naval developments caused him to expedite his efforts. During the department's yearly estimates to Parliament, Brodeur brought up the possibility of a naval militia. Due to the fact that he only requested enough funding to pay for the wages of Canada’s crew, Conservative members of Parliament questioned the sincerity of this motion, wanting specific details regarding the force type, size, and equipment they would need. Brodeur resorted to his tired and played out response of “this force will merely be the nucleus of a naval militia.” His main goal was to not rush and slowly create a force fitting Canada’s increasing autonomy in their own defense. Brodeur would state “the naval militia is based upon the fisheries protection service. Some day, instead of only having special boats for the fisheries protection service, I hope to have the naval militia take part in that work. At the time when the Canada was built, there was no organization except some boats like the Curlew and the Vigilant to patrol the coast. But it was thought we should have a boat on which a certain number of young men would be trained under the rules of the British Admiralty. This has been done for the last few years with satisfactory results. I should like our organization to be made in such a way.”
Digital reproduction of one of the many flags all branches of the Navy League used in their campaigning in the 1900's.
As was customary with anything regarding Canadians and naval matters, a large wrench was promptly thrown directly into this good progress at the worst possible time. The Department of Marine and Fisheries had been under heavily scrutiny over the last few years with the sudden death of Prefontaine. The previous minister while hard working and head strong was also somewhat of a messy figure. There had been excessive spending on frivolous things, stacking of incompetent figures throughout the echelons of the department and a multitude of corrupt actions over his tenure as Minister. Brodeur had been working very hard to fix these issues however, the timing of the recent Colonial Conference and his large swaths of time spent outside of the country had angered the public and parliament alike. Governor General Grey had directly intervened multiple times on this issue within the previous years, warning Laurier and Brodeur of the oncoming situation they were about to endure. Various officials could not be easily fired due to the fact that they were politically connected and 'knew too much' about previous sensitive department endeavors. One of the main issues was that Commander Spain while seen as fairly competent, him leaving the Royal Navy at the rank of Lieutenant made him rather unsuited to the role of nationwide leadership required with policy creation and such, his alcoholic tendencies and sour departure from the Royal Navy also tainted his record. While Grey wanted to keep Spain in a subordinate position however, it was desired to have an actual naval officer with significant experience to fill the position especially if a naval militia or navy itself is desired in the future.
Brodeur brushed off the advice of Grey until his department was embroiled in an investigation by the Civil Service Commission, largely for misuse of funds and general inefficiency. This overall investigation covered every single major government department however, most of the departments only received minor critiques, Brodeur’s department was comparatively hammered. A drawn out and scathing report was published labeling the department as undertaking “near constant blundering and confusion with no sign of an intelligent purpose, unless it be that of spending as much money as possible.” A cloud of criticism and calls for Brodeur’s removal hung over the department like a wet blanket and with Governor Grey looking on with contempt that Laurier had not heeded his warnings, he queried Laurier that he should consider completely dissolving the department itself from the ground up. Laurier was confident that administration could comfortably take the damage and keep sailing however, the prospect of losing one of the most senior and arguably most important departments in the government itself was untenable. To control some of the damage, Laurier formed a royal commission to look into the “very grave statements”, this was quickly followed by suspensions and retirements of several officers within the department and the deputy minister himself. George J. Desbarats was put into the Deputy Minister position and almost immediately went to work attempting to put the administration back on track. With the removal of Commander Spain from his position, the newly promoted Rear-Admiral Kingsmill took over his position as leader of the Enforcement section of the department. Even with his previous rocky patch with the Admiralty, Kingsmill was recommended wholeheartedly by the Royal Navy as a leader for the Fisheries department and potentially a future naval militia.
Rear Admiral Kingsmill poses for his official government photograph, sometime before WWI.
The placing of a Canadian born and relatively high ranked Royal Navy trained officer at the head of the Fisheries Service did quite a bit to smooth down the previous issues, signifying a substantial increase in prestige, capability and likely the future plans for the department. Kingsmill’s new position was somewhat of a downgrade though in the grand scheme of things. With the nearest equivalent to his new position being the Commander of a station with the Royal Navy, her annual salary of $3,000 was nowhere near the $8,000 plus allowances given to him by the Royal Navy. The difference was clearly buffered by the fact that his realistic prospects within the Royal Navy were effectively over and returning to his home nation was rather appealing overall. The Toronto Globe perhaps went a bit too far with it’s announcement of Kingsmill’s promotion with “CANADA TO HAVE NAVAL MILITIA – A CANADIAN ADMIRAL HAS ALREADY BEEN APPOINTED”. The contents of the paper was rather muted in comparison to it’s eye catching title, “it is understood that his appointment presages an advance in the movement towards the development of the naval militia. This was begun some years ago under Commander Spain, and there are now seamen in training along British naval lines on the cruiser Canada and on some other vessels of the fleet of protective cruisers. However, the development of the naval militia will be gradual, and will keep pace with the advance of public opinion in respect to assuming a large share in imperial defense.”
This wait for public opinion would soon be put to the test in July 1908 at the Quebec City tercentenary where the Royal Navy Channel Squadron would be joined by various elements of the American and French navies for a display, allowing tours and spreading goodwill during the event. USS New Hampshire, HMS Russel, HMS Venus, HMS Minotaur, HMS Exmouth alongside the French cruisers Amiral Aube and Léon Gambetta. The main attraction of the event though was HMS Indomitable, the first battlecruiser ever built which had brought the Prince of Wales across the Atlantic to Canada. Alongside the powerful new warship, CGS Canada was proudly displayed in a full ceremonial dress of flags. The Toronto Globe would feature her prominently on their front pages with the title of “CANADA’S ARMY AND NAVY AT QUEBEC.” Canada’s captain and one of her cadets were both showcased as well, labeled as “Canada’s naval commander and her first cadet.” Rear-Admiral Kingsmill was well and truly present for the events and festivities, trying his best to convey Canada’s good will to her allies in this time of celebration. Although the Admiralty had embarked Julian Corbett at the request of the new director of naval intelligence for the Admiralty. Fisher had a keen interest in Kingsmill and the development of a Canadian naval militia or navy, largely due to his recent run in with Kingsmill and his previous posting as the North American station commander. Fisher went on record with his new director, confiding that “I know the Canadian people and that they are an unpatriotic grasping people who only stick us for the good that they can get out of us, and we ought to do nothing whatsoever for them.” Fisher was obviously not particularly confident that Canada would develop much of a force by itself.
Warships illuminated outside of Quebec City at night, CGS Canada can be seen fully illuminated as the second last ship on the right.
“Kingsmill’s pessimism was derived from two opinions. One was that the reservoir of, and facilities for, turning out competent officers were limited, and unhappily they were only available from the lower deck. There was a total absence of any sense of discipline and he supposed this impossible in inoculate without a fixed service system. The other discouraging feature was the prevalence of political patronage that was bound to frustrate the sound building of an officer corps. Concretely, he proposed introducing some permanence to the service, employing personnel for at least a three year period, and taking the climate into consideration by employing the hands in the dockyard in the winter. He was clearly not hopeful and seemed to feel all of this was only a poor substitute for monetary contributions to the Royal Navy at this point.”
After Corbett interviewed Governor General Grey and received the box standard 'we’re working on it' reply the Admiralty had been privy to for quite sometime, he stumbled upon Major General Percy Lake. Lake was the Chief of the General Staff of the Canadian Militia and was considered the generally the most well-versed figure in the Canadian defense circle. He described to Corbett in a rather candid assessment of the politics surrounding the issue and stated that the idea of a local navy or militia was not nearly as much of a waste as Kingsmill or the Grey had thought however, large sections of the department ministers and party members were corrupt. A naval militia bill had existed in draft form for over three years however, it was being delayed until after the next election. Although Lake was generally positive and very helpful, he made sure to stress to Corbett that this was all on shaky ground and could fall apart rather quickly if rushed. Therefore, Corbett returned to Britain with a somewhat more positive view than they expected. Lake himself would go onto shake the boat somewhat later in 1908, proposing multiple new powers to the department of Marine and Fisheries. These included restriction of trade with enemy nations, examination of vessels in and around defended ports to sniff out disguised raiders and blockade runners, censorship of overseas communications and the gathering of intelligence on American interest on the lakes. The Militia Minister Sir Frederick Borden supported this however, Brodeur was against the rapid militarization of the force.
Even so however, the Canadian government was not standing completely idle on these issues. Aboard CGS Canada, a new intake of naval cadets had been issued. These cadets were specifically taken in for seamanship and navigational training in preparation for some kind of future service, militia or naval. Although as Kingsmill had predicted though, the political patronage was completely at play here. All of the cadets had major political connections, the most jarring being Victor Brodeur, the son of Minister Brodeur himself. None of these cadets wrote entrance exams and their method of selection was more on a whim than anything else. Even so however, this handful of cadets would prove invaluable to the future of the Royal Canadian Navy. The tenders for the much-anticipated West Coast sister-ship to CGS Canada were issued in June of 1908 and the aging fisheries cruiser Constance was transferred to the Canadian Customs service, freeing up crew and resources for the expected new ship. Kingsmill and Desbarats went to work trying to raise discipline levels within the service and squash corruption wherever it was found, yet the decades it had been festering made it rather difficult to remove. Brodeur was also cleared of any misconduct in the earlier departmental investigation, leaving the entire organization in a fairly good position.
The original group of cadets present on CGS Canada, some of these men would prove instrumental in the formation of the future Canadian Navy.
Back row from left to right contains Charles T. Beard, P. Barry German, Victor G. Brodeur, Wright. Center row from left to right is Fisheries officers Fortier, Stewart, Woods and finally in the front row from left to right is Henry T. Bate, Percy W. Nelles, John A. Barron.
Kingsmill would leave Ottawa in August of 1908 to inspect the west coast of Canada and in more broad terms, help develop a comprehensive naval requirement plan for Canada. His journey itself was interrupted though in September when the Admiralty announced they had finally been able to come to an agreement to Australia for a naval defense plan. The Australians had beat the Canadians to the punch.
- RelativeGalaxy7
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