Canada builds merchant ships

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Mike Kelly

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

Canadian Production of War Materials was massive, and still very much underrated.

https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/rememb...heets/material

"There were 348, ten thousand-ton, merchant ships built in Canada during the war. Large and relatively slow, but reliable and easily adapted to a variety of cargoes, these ships and those who sailed on them ensured the delivery of much of Canada's war production.

During 1941, the first of the large 10,000 ton merchant ships were taking an average of 307 days to build (and up to 426 days in one case). One year later, average production time had dropped to 163 days (with one ship being produced in a record 112 days).
Some 57,000 individuals were employed in merchant shipbuilding and a further 27,000 worked in naval shipbuilding, which included building vessels like destroyers, frigates, corvettes, and minesweepers."