Merchant Navy Student Question Sheet
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Name: __________________________
Date: _________________________
Read the 'Canada Remembers the Merchant Navy' historical sheet and answer the following questions.
Section A: True or False
- The Battle of the Atlantic can be described as the struggle between the Allies and the Germans for control of the Atlantic Ocean.
True or False - More than 50,000 merchant ship voyages were made during the Second World War.
True or False - Some merchant crews were given training at special schools such as the Marine Engineering Instructional School in Prescott, Ontario.
True or False - The German production of U-boats was so efficient that for a time, they could turn out U-boats faster than the Allies could sink them.
True or False - The casualty rate of the merchant mariners during the Battle of the Atlantic was one in seven.
True or False
Section B: Multiple choices
- Canada decided to conscript all merchant ships...
- before the beginning of the Second World War.
- the first day of the Second World War.
- six months after the beginning of the Second World War.
- one year after the beginning of the Second World War.
- When the Second World War began, Canada had 38 ocean-going merchant vessels. By war's end, how many merchant ships had been built in Canada?
- 75
- 125
- 410
- 660
- The German Navy continued to improve submarine technology during the war. German scientists invented the schnorkel, a technology that allowed the U-boats to...
- dive deeper than 100 meters for at least fifteen days.
- locate Allied ships in thick fog.
- store and tow 50 torpedoes.
- charge their batteries underwater.
- During the Battle of the Atlantic, German U-boats sank ships in these Canadian waters:
- Gulf of St Lawrence
- Miramichi River
- Saguenay River
- Lake Ontario
- Approximately how many Canadian merchant mariners died during the Second World War?
- 500
- 1,000
- 1,500
- 2,500
Section C: Written answers
- How many Canadian men and women served in the Merchant Navy during the Second World War?
- On August 26, 1939, the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) took control of all shipping. Were merchant crews compelled to sail on the dangerous ocean passages? Please justify.
- What does the term 'U-boat' mean?
- What did the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) do to help protect merchant ships?
- What were the Merchant Aircraft Carriers (MACs)?
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