What kind of navy could Canada have afforded during the interwar years?
Short answerAbout four cruisers, eighteen destroyers, and eighteen sloops, divided into balanced Atlantic and Pacific forces.
NotesThe proposed force is large enough to provide real two-ocean capability without matching a great power fleet. Each coast receives a pair of cruisers, a destroyer flotilla, and a sloop flotilla. That produces about four cruisers, eighteen destroyers, and a similar number of sloops. Canadian resources could afford this when compared with the naval effort Australia was able to sustain.