Canada builds merchant ships

[Ed Storey]

Originally Posted by Mike Kelly

I had no idea that Canada built so many Merchant ships during WW2.

That is because we as Canadians have never done a very good job of telling what we accomplished during the war. Basically three-quarters of our wartime production went to our Allies.

[maple_leaf_eh]

It is one thing to have a design, but from the locations of the shipyards, supplying them with steel plate, rivets, bronze and brass fittings, all the electricals and the propulsion, I would be more curious where the supplies came from. From the page, 83 of the 182 ships were built on the West Coast in BC. That is a very long way away from the traditional heavy industrial areas of Ontario and Quebec.

[Ed Storey]

Perhaps the steel came from one of the mills situated in California.

[Mike K]

Originally Posted by Ed Storey

Perhaps the steel came from one of the mills situated in California.

That's entirely possible.

When I was rebuilding the little C8 CMP truck years ago, I found a ink stamp on the cab sheet metal. The stamp read something like 'USS steel Illinois'

Interesting that some of the Park ships were coal burners, even by 1940 standards, this was considered to be obsolete technology.

The SS Taronga Park launching https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1AdXEgxmoI

[David Dunlop]

Another consideration is that during the war, the Federal Government had full control of what goods were shipped where, and when and at what cost.

David

[Ed Storey]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

Another consideration is that during the war, the Federal Government had full control of what goods were shipped where, and when and at what cost.

True, but at the same time there was a lot of wartime trade between Canada and the U.S., so 'Made in Canada' did not necessarily mean that the materials used were sourced in Canada.