Royal Canadian Navy Firearms – pics and information
I just acquired the Colt New Service pictured below. Still in the original .455 Eley chambering, with quite a tale of travel to tell it would appear.
S/N dates it to 1917 production.
Pistol features British acceptance proofs, Canadian C-broad arrow stamp, DCP proof stamps on the back of the cylinder and C-arrow-N markings; twice on the frame and once on the cylinder, so was in service with the Royal Canadian Navy at some point.
Clive Law, in his Canadian Military Handguns 1855-1985 (pg. 43) states “The Royal Canadian Navy, mostly because they fought as self-contained units within which pistols were considered low priority, were issued .455 cal. and .45 cal. pistols. These pistols were usually surplus left over from the First World War.”
My revolver is configured and marked just as this one held by the Canadian War Museum .
The Museum entry states these revolvers were used by the British military in the Great War, they were transferred to the Canadian Army inter-war, and then used by the RCN in the Second World War. “The Royal Canadian Navy issued pistols like this Colt revolver to members of the Naval Police, guards, and personnel in boarding parties.”
The picture below, which can be found on the Canadian Military Police Museum (http://mpmuseum.org/index3.html) shows what looks like what might be the big Colt crammed into a P37 holster.
Here’s another photo showing a Canadian wielding a New Service. This from a great site about HMCS Prince Robert, a Canadian armed merchant cruiser/anti-aircraft escort on hand for the surrender of the Japanese in Hong Kong on VJ day, and which brought Canadian POWs back to Canada. ([url]http://www.hillmanweb.com/rcn/[/URL])
The photo shows a member of the Prince Robert’s crew, James W. (Judd) Whittall, Colt in hand, accepting the the surrender of a Japanese soldier in Hong Kong.
The Canadian War Museum has an excellent Virtual Exhibition online carrying over from the Navy’s centennial in 2010. The link below will take you to a section in the exhibition that focuses on small arms used by the RCN. There are entries here ranging from Long Lees, through Ross rifles and Lanchester SMGs, to the FN C1D. All objects are zoomable. It’s very cool.
http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/navy/objects_photos_search-e.aspx?section=4-C
Let's see some more RCN arms photos or information. And perhaps the mods would consider making this a sticky thread?
I just acquired the Colt New Service pictured below. Still in the original .455 Eley chambering, with quite a tale of travel to tell it would appear.
S/N dates it to 1917 production.
Pistol features British acceptance proofs, Canadian C-broad arrow stamp, DCP proof stamps on the back of the cylinder and C-arrow-N markings; twice on the frame and once on the cylinder, so was in service with the Royal Canadian Navy at some point.
Clive Law, in his Canadian Military Handguns 1855-1985 (pg. 43) states “The Royal Canadian Navy, mostly because they fought as self-contained units within which pistols were considered low priority, were issued .455 cal. and .45 cal. pistols. These pistols were usually surplus left over from the First World War.”
My revolver is configured and marked just as this one held by the Canadian War Museum .
The Museum entry states these revolvers were used by the British military in the Great War, they were transferred to the Canadian Army inter-war, and then used by the RCN in the Second World War. “The Royal Canadian Navy issued pistols like this Colt revolver to members of the Naval Police, guards, and personnel in boarding parties.”
The picture below, which can be found on the Canadian Military Police Museum (http://mpmuseum.org/index3.html) shows what looks like what might be the big Colt crammed into a P37 holster.
Here’s another photo showing a Canadian wielding a New Service. This from a great site about HMCS Prince Robert, a Canadian armed merchant cruiser/anti-aircraft escort on hand for the surrender of the Japanese in Hong Kong on VJ day, and which brought Canadian POWs back to Canada. ([url]http://www.hillmanweb.com/rcn/[/URL])
The photo shows a member of the Prince Robert’s crew, James W. (Judd) Whittall, Colt in hand, accepting the the surrender of a Japanese soldier in Hong Kong.
The Canadian War Museum has an excellent Virtual Exhibition online carrying over from the Navy’s centennial in 2010. The link below will take you to a section in the exhibition that focuses on small arms used by the RCN. There are entries here ranging from Long Lees, through Ross rifles and Lanchester SMGs, to the FN C1D. All objects are zoomable. It’s very cool.
http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/navy/objects_photos_search-e.aspx?section=4-C
Let's see some more RCN arms photos or information. And perhaps the mods would consider making this a sticky thread?
