The Navy List

The Canadian Navy List was published from 1910 to 1965. These lists are a useful tool for researchers who are trying to track the career of an officer in the Canadian Navy. They provide information about which ships and/or shore establishments individual officers served in, as well as their career advancements and promotions. (Enlisted personnel, however, are only to be found in either Crew or Nominal Lists).

CFB Esquimalt Naval & Military Museum has a near-complete set of Navy Lists for reference here at our museum archives in Esquimalt BC. A project to digitize these hard copy publications, to make them accessible and to preserve them, was co-initiated by Dr. Richard H. Gimblett, who was then Acting Director of Navy History and Heritage in Ottawa, and museum staff member Clare Sharpe in 2011. The project continues.

Royal Naval College of Canada (RNCC) students, from the period when the College was based in Esquimalt Dockyard, following its relocation from Nova Scotia in the aftermath of the Halifax explosion. The students pictured represent a ‘Who’s Who’ of Canada’s early naval leadership.

To address gaps in our set of original Navy List copies, we approached the Directorate of History and Heritage in Ottawa, the Naval Museum of Halifax, and the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. We’re still working on making the publications from our project partners available, but this museum’s collection of Navy List books has been fully scanned and digitized and is available below in searchable PDF format.

Canada’s

Naval Leaders

CFB Esquimalt Naval and Military Museum - Publications - The Navy List - Kingsmill

Rear-Admiral

Sir Charles Edmund Kingsmill

Rear-Admiral Sir Charles Edmund Kingsmill became the first director of the Department of the Naval Service of Canada, after playing a prominent role in establishing the Royal Canadian Navy in 1910. Along with Walter Hose, he is considered the father of the Royal Canadian Navy.

CFB Esquimalt Naval and Military Museum - Publications - The Navy List - Hose

Rear-Admiral

Walter Hose

Rear-Admiral Walter Hose is credited with saving the Royal Canadian Navy. During his watch as Director of the Naval Service (DNS), then as Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), 1921-1934, Hose waged many battles to ensure the RCN’s survival.

CFB Esquimalt Naval and Military Museum - Publications - The Navy List - Jones

Commander

George C. Jones

Commander (later Vice-Admiral) George C. Jones was Leonard Murray’s chief rival and competitor throughout his career. The Murray-Jones feud was common knowledge within the tight-knit family that was the early Royal Canadian Navy.

Rear-Admiral

Victor Brodeur

Victor Brodeur (later Rear-Admiral Brodeur) served in the RCN for 38 years, from 1909 to 1947. His father, Louis-Philippe Brodeur, was Canada’s first naval minister. His son Nigel Brodeur is a retired Admiral of the Royal Canadian Navy. Together, the three men represent an RCN dynasty.

CFB Esquimalt Naval and Military Museum - Publications - The Navy List - H G De Wolf

Vice-Admiral

Harry G. DeWolf

Vice-Admiral Harry G. DeWolf is a legendary figure in the RCN’s history because of his extraordinary achievements at sea as Captain of HMCS HAIDA. He was also an extremely capable Chief of the Naval Staff.

CFB Esquimalt Naval and Military Museum - Publications - The Navy List - Murray

Rear-Admiral

Leonard Warren Murray

Rear-Admiral Leonard Warren Murray, whom historian Marc Milner considers the most important operational commander in the Canadian Navy’s first century.

The Navy List

Naval Leaders

Sir Charles Edmund Kingsmill

Walter Hose

George C. Jones

Victor Brodeur

Harry G. DeWolf

Leonard Warren Murray

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