Sudbury marks Battle of the Atlantic

Cannon fire echoed through downtown Sudbury on Sunday as the city remembered the thousands of men and women who lost their lives in the Battle of the Atlantic.

Each year on the first Sunday in May, Canada's naval community commemorates those lost at sea. During these ceremonies, navy cadets and officers uphold the legacy of the Battle of the Atlantic by pledging themselves to face today's security challenges with pride and professionalism.

Sea cadets from Sudbury and Espanola kicked off the event by parading from Tom Davies Square to the cenotaph at Memorial Park, a tradition that started in Sudbury in 1946.

Cadets from RCSC Hero in Espanola, Admiral Mountbatten Sea Cadet Corps in Sudbury and the Sudbury Navy League Cadet Corps joined representatives from the Royal Canadian Navy Association, the Merchant Navy, Manitoulin and North Shore Naval Veterans Association, Royal Canadian Legion Branch 76 and Veterans Affairs Canada for the ceremony.

“It's important for these young people to show their respect all these years later for those who served,” said Comm. (Ret.) Gerald Bradley.

Representatives from each group laid wreaths in recognition of what was the longest campaign of the Second World War.

The Battle of the Atlantic lasted 2,075 days,.Lt. (N) Sean Pretty told those in attendance. It pitted allied navies against German and Italian naval forces in a battle to safeguard the essential flow of shipping between North America and Europe.

On any given day, 125 merchant vessels sailed in convoy across the North Atlantic. It was during these times that Canada's navy matured and won the mantle of a professional service, said Pretty. Canada's navy escorted 25,343 merchant vessels across the Atlantic.

Those merchant vessels carried 181,643,180 tons of cargo to Europe — the equivalent of 11 lines of freight cars, each stretching from Vancouver to Halifax.

Without those supplies, the war effort of the Allied forces would have collapsed, he said.

Although it was largely unprepared for war in 1939, Canada's navy grew at an unparalleled rate, eventually providing 47 per cent of all convoy escorts.

By 1945, the Royal Canadian Navy was comprised of 378 fighting ships and 95,000 uniformed men and women. Between Sept. 3, 1939 and May 7, 1945, 2,204 men lost their lives serving in the navy. A total of 34 warships were lost.

During the course of the Battle of the Atlantic, 2,278 merchant vessels were lost, and more than 30,000 merchant seamen of all allied nations died.

The Royal Canadian Navy also destroyed or shared in the destruction of 33 U-boats and 42 enemy surface craft.

During the ceremonies at Memorial Park, the name of each ship lost in the Battle of the Atlantic was read.

A ringing bell accompanied each name. A cannon that has been used for more than 30 years during these ceremonies pierced an otherwise solemn occasion.