English: The Grilse was a converted yacht (the Winchester), outfitted with two 12-pounder guns and one 14-inch torpedo tube. She was 61.5 metres long and could make 32 knots (59 kilometres an hour) at full speed. Canada had a weak navy at the start of the war, but after German U-Boats began to sink civilian ships on the Atlantic, the government scrambled to build new vessels. It also asked civilians to donate their own ships. Looking forward along HMCS Grilse's long, narrow hull, war artist Arthur Lismer's print captures Grilse's destroyer-like shape and high speed. Armed with two 12-pounder guns, one of which is seen in the foreground, and a 14-inch torpedo tube, Grilse was often described as a torpedo boat. Grilse and other small Canadian naval vessels carried out coastal patrols and escorted ships out into the Atlantic, but could not cross the ocean. Such convoy work helped discourage U-Boats that might be waiting for ships leaving the major ports of Halifax, Saint John, or Sydney.