In 1938 Canada’s navy comprised a handful of ships and barely 1000 personnel with no ship-building industry to speak of. By 1945, Canada’s Navy included 775 vessels and 90,000 personnel. Historians consider the growth and participation of the Royal Canadian Navy in the Battle of the Atlantic and other campaigns as nothing short of remarkable.

Little is known of the comparable growth in the shipbuilding industry and its provision of ships of many types to not only the Canadian Navy but the Royal Navy and the United States Navy as well. David Shirlaw’s book is an effort to address that shortfall in the nation's history.