This fine silver collectable coin commemorates the first submarines employed by Canada during the First World War. In the summer of 1914, amidst increasing concerns about Canada’s defensive vulnerabilities, Sir Richard McBride, the Premier of British Columbia, made the decision to purchase two submarines using provincial funds, for a total of $1,150,000. On August 4, 1914, just hours before war was declared, the submarines quietly slipped out to sea under the cover of darkness and fog, and arrived at Esquimalt, B.C. on the morning of August 5. The affair was conducted so quickly that a formal approval had not yet been received from Ottawa. On August 7, the Government of Canada purchased the submarines from the Government of British Columbia, and the Royal Canadian Navy now had its first submarines.