Royal Canadian Navy Monument, War memorial in Richmond Landing, Canada.
The Royal Canadian Navy Monument is a small memorial park at the tip of Richmond Landing, a peninsula projecting into the Ottawa River. Its centrepiece is a shallow turf Roman theatre about 25 m in diameter, facing downriver to the east. The open end focuses on an inclined, sail-like form five to eight metres high, clad in mottled white marble and topped by a 1.5 m gilded sphere. A white mast with yard, gaff and rigging stands south of the open area.
Inaugurated in 2012, this memorial grew from a design competition held in 2009 to mark the centennial of the Royal Canadian Navy. The project brought national attention to the contributions of naval service throughout Canadian history.
The motto "Ready Aye Ready" and its French version "Prêt Oui Prêt" are carved into the upper corner of the sail's western face, while the theatre honours of the Royal Canadian Navy appear on the eastern face. The white, black and gold of the design are the colours of the Royal Canadian Navy.
The monument stands at the tip of Richmond Landing, a short peninsula east of Victoria Island and the Chaudière Falls, surrounded by the Ottawa River on three sides. It is reached by an entrance cut through the western bank of the turf theatre, lined with pale grey granite. The theatre is about 25 m across and faces downriver to the east.
The sail is topped by a 1.5 m gilded sphere set slightly off-centre, and a second small gilded sphere crowns the white mast to the south. The designers intended these gold spheres to stand for celestial bodies and the navy's reach across the globe.
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