The cruiser HMCS Uganda was a modified Fiji class light cruiser which served with the Royal Navy in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, and with the Royal Canadian Navy in the Pacific. She was paid off in 1947, then recommissioned as HMCS Quebec in 1951 to play a role in the Cold War. She had a fascinating story with a curious twist. Malcolm Butler’s presentation on 10 February used the history of this ship to illustrate the development of the Royal Canadian Navy from a token coastal force in 1939 to a global presence supporting Allied operations in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Pacific. and later Arctic.
Malcolm grew up along the shores of Lake Ontario in Ajax, Ontario, Canada. With both hometown and family connections to the Royal Navy and the Royal Canadian Navy, Malcolm enlisted in the Royal Canadian Navy in November 1990. After twenty-five years’ service as both a Rating and Officer, Malcolm retired in December 2015 with the rank of Lieutenant-Commander and, the more important titles of Shellback and Cape Horner. Moving to Luxembourg in 2018, he took up a position in the Naval Support Section at the NATO Support and Procurement Agency. Having completed the M.A. in Naval History programme at the University of Portsmouth in 2022, Malcolm is continuing his research into the Royal Canadian Navy’s operations in the Pacific Theatre during the Second World War.
Malcolm was followed by Mark Brady on the Design-development of the RN ‘V&W’ class destroyers of the Great War era. The V and W class was the ultimate evolution of British destroyer design in the First World War, embodying the lessons of wartime experience to achieve an ‘almost ideal’ mix of characteristics. Many ships survived to make an extensive contribution to the Second World War effort as convoy escorts.
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