The Vancouver Numismatic Society
A NAVAL REVOLUTION AND CANADIAN POLITICS by Peter N. Moogk
The first illustration is a photograph of H.M.S. Dreadnought. You will see that the 1913 banknote of the Royal Bank of Canada has Dreadnought as its central vignette, flanked by Union Jacks and Canada's red ensigns. This was a statement of imperial loyalty in tune with the Conservative Party's policy. Seldom has a Canadian banknote made a clear reference to a political dispute that divided Canadians in the early 1900s. This is the historical importance of this ten dollar bill and why I value it.
Naval warships of the 1890s were armoured above the waterline to protect them from shellfire. The appearance of an accurate, fast, self-propelled torpedo that could strike a ship below the waterline made existing battleships obsolete. Only warships with fully-armoured hulls and interior bulkheads could face the threat of torpedoes. Such a ship was Britain's H.M.S. Dreadnought, begun in 1906 and completed in 1907. Her name meant that she feared nothing. Dreadnought gave its name to a new class of battleships with belt armour, 30 cm. calibre guns in three turrets while older vessels had an array of guns of different calibres. Her steam turbines allowed the ship to travel up to 21 knots - fast by current standards. Britain's Royal Navy had a large fleet of older ships. Imperial Germany, its rival, was building a fleet of modern battleships, making it imperative for Britain to update its fleet to maintain supremacy at sea. Countries of the British Empire were asked to contribute to the costly rebuilding of the Royal Navy's vessels to the Dreadnought standard. Canada's Conservatives wanted to make a cash contribution.
Sir Wilfrid Laurier's Liberal government, however, took another course. It passed the 1910 Naval Service Bill creating a small Canadian navy, beginning with two light cruisers of the 1890s purchased from the United Kingdom to act as training ships. In an emergency, Laurier said, these ships would be placed under British command. Conservatives ridiculed these ships as "Laurier's tin pot navy." In the September 1911 election the Conservative Party defeated the Liberals and further development of a Canadian navy came to halt, only to resume in the First World War.