Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

NAVAL SERVICE OF CANADAService Headquarters in Ottawa. The records ot the Admiralty,of the United States Navy Department, ot Canadianbases and other shore establishments, and ot various headquartersdirectorates, as well as numerous documents tromncn-naval sources, have also been more or less extensivelyused. The types ot document principally consulted compriseperiodical reports which sometimes take the torm ot wardiaries, memoranda on almost every subject imaginable,correspondence, minutes, and signals. Generally speaking thematerial is exceedingly raw, and its mass is mountainous.Interviews with those who possess special knowledge havealso been an indispensable means ot obtaining intormation.Among the special difficulties ot research into happeningsso fresh from the mint is,asking indulgence tor the platitude,that of assessing the intrinsic value of each coin. Moreover,the ubiquitous typist has made writing far too easy. Forobvious reasons, secondary source material islargely lacking.The historian ot modern war must acquire a very wide itverysuperficial technical knowledge, tor ot making many contraptionsthere is no end.During the Second World War the practice of using theinitial letters ot titles and other ciesignations flourished asnever betore. 1 he policy tollowed is to make a trequent useof initial-letter labels especially in the tootnotes, tor the sakeot brevity, and to supply a glossary ot such abbreviations.Unlike itspredecessor this volume is a product ot cooperativeresearqh. Each research worker was assigned to alimited part ot the whole field. He became a specialist in hisown subject, tor which he did the necessary research and thenproduced caretully-prepared drafts of one or more chapters.The chapters in their final form are the latest of these drafts,edited or rewritten as necessary.The work on this volume has been done almost entirely inOttawa, and the director's part in it has chiefiy consisted inassigning the special subjects, making decisions and beingresponsible tor solving research problems, criticizing draftaccounts at various stages ot their development, putting theinto their final torm,chapters and assuming responsibility toreverything that is to be printed.The respective chapters and the research worker who wasassociated with each are as follows: ch. 1, Miss D. E. A.Russell ;chs. 2-4, Lieut.-Cdr. (S.B.) D. G. G. Kerr, R.C.N.^^R. ;xii