HMCS CC-1 - Royal Canadian Navy Service

Royal Canadian Navy Service

The ship was assigned to the west coast in the home port of Esquimalt, British Columbia, and conducted training operations and patrols for three years. Together with HMCS Rainbow, CC-1 and CC-2 were the only Canadian or British ships defending the west coast of Canada between 1914 and 1917. Britain had tasked the defence of British Columbia to the Imperial Japanese Navy's North American Task Force. In 1917 the submarine was transferred to the east coast. The transfer to the east coast was for both submarines of this class, with their mother ship, the submarine tender HMCS Shearwater. Its transit through the Panama Canal was the first time a Canadian warship transitted the Panama Canal under the White Ensign. It arrived in Halifax for preparation to send the two subs to the Mediterranean and Europe. Deemed unsafe for transatlantic crossing, the submarine was held in Halifax as a Training Assistance Boat. Her veteran crew were highly valued but were not able to conduct any other operations than training. Her continued use was too expensive, and her unseaworthiness resulted in her being paid off, and disposed of in 1920.