We're Ganging-up on the U-Boats
Photographs of the Toronto shipyard and a finished escort vessel surround a typed letter from yard workers to 'the men of the Merchant Service', signed by named tradesmen. The tell is the borrowed voice of identified ordinary workers addressing the sailors directly, with a postscript that some of the ships are already at sea.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1943
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Department of Munitions and Supply for Canada; letter from the Yard Council of Toronto Shipbuilding Company Limited
- Region
- North America
- Country
- Canada
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Mackenzie King Government
- Leader
- William Lyon Mackenzie King
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Reassure
- Themes
- Labor, War and the military, Home front
- Event
- World War II
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Foreign Posters, retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (Canadian Crown copyright, 50 years from publication, expired; no URAA restoration)
Department of Munitions and Supply, Canada, 1943. U.S. National Archives (NAID 44267913).
Text on the object
We're ganging-up on the U-Boats Toronto Shipbuilding Company Limited 445 FLEET STREET WEST TORONTO — CANADA ELGIN 4421 PLEASE MARK YOUR REPLY ATTENTION: June 1st, 1943. TO THE MEN OF THE MERCHANT SERVICE: Our job is to build escort vessels for you men of the Merchant Service. We've turned out lots of them already and you'll see our ships in almost every part of the world. We're told that they're smart fighting ships. We thought that these pictures would let you know that we're backing you up in the tough job you're doing in the Merchant Service. Night and day - winter and summer - the work goes on in our yards, turning out escort vessels that can fairly scoop up the subs. Very soon a whole new batch of them will be sailing with you and we know you'll like them. We're just one of many naval shipyards in Canada, but this is a fair sample of the job of backing up the grand work of the Merchant Service. Good luck to you all. Yours sincerely, YARD COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVES. [handwritten signatures with trades:] George D. Ward, Secty., Electrician; J. A. Kennedy, President, Electrician; W. Dawson, Vice-Pres., Pipe-fitter; T. J. O'Brien, Pipe-fitter; [illegible] Hale, Ship Finisher; [illegible] Mason, Sheet Metal Worker; Charles Macdonald, Painter; Sam Lawrie, Painter; L. F. Bertrand, Hoisting Engineer; Andrew Hartman, Sheet Metal Worker P.S. BY THE TIME YOU READ THIS SOME OF THESE FIGHTING SHIPS WILL BE AT SEA This message is issued by the Department of Munitions and Supply for Canada
