In the early months of my war years I commenced a simple and general record of events which later led me to maintaining a more continuous diary. This history, in four small booklets, lay dormant for many years until I resurrected and transformed it into typed copy. I was then urged by Lt.Cdr. H.C. Wallace, Information Services, Ottawa, to attempt further elaborating it for publication. After many years of spare-time research and writing, my efforts have culminated in this book.
For helping to bring it to fulfillment, by way of additional material and letters, I am deeply indebted to the Director of History, Canadian Armed Forces, Ottawa, especially Mr. Philip Chaplin, and to Prof. Dr. Jurgen Rohwer, Director of the Library for Contemporary History, Stuttgart.
Also I wish to express my gratitude to Clifford LeClair, Stanley MacKenzie, Emile Beaudoin, Ernie Binnie, Eckart Joschko, Marion Cornett, Reg Hill and the many other Canadian Naval veterans who have corresponded with me. Their willingness to help was a continuous incentive to press on and complete my manuscript.
As this account of the war at sea evolves mainly from a telegraphy viewpoint, I have included as many names of sparkers (telegraphists) as possible. I feel justified in doing this, for the names of ratings - unlike statesmen, Admirals and Generals - are not easily honoured in the chronicles of war, and ships by themselves do not fight a war.
The names of many officers also are entered. Generally, on the initial appearance of a Canadian ship the name of the Commanding Officer appears after it in parentheses (), and on subsequent appearances of the same ship the Commanding Officers name is not repeated, unless there has been a change of command.
Postwar revelations have prompted additions and other changes to my journal, but throughout these insertions I have strived diligently to be factual. If there are any deviations from true happenings, they can only be the result of my own misinterpretations.
Allan Riley
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