Members of Canada's naval community are gathering across the country today to commemorate the 71st anniversary of the end of the Battle of the Atlantic.

It was the longest continuous battle in the Second World War, spanning from 1939 to 1945.

It is remembered each year on the first Sunday of May.

About 2,210 Canadians died in the battle to keep the sea lanes to Great Britain open in the face of attacks on merchant vessels by German submarines.

There will be ceremonies at naval divisions in all of the provinces, and there will be a national ceremony on Parliament Hill.

The Naval Association of Canada held a gala dinner at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa on Thursday to mark the occasion.