Although the (Royal) Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve was formed on 31 January 1923, units are dated from the appointment of their first Commanding Officer.  Lt Ralph Howard Yeates, a Hamilton lawyer, was appointed CO of the Hamilton Half Company of what was to become the RCNVR on 15 March, 1923, making STAR the second oldest naval reserve division in the country (Montreal Company’s CO, Lt Frank Meade, was appointed the day previously). Yeates had served in the First World War, initially in the army and then later in the Royal Naval Air Service and became a Lieutenant in the RNCVR after the war.  He served as Commanding Officer for six and a half years.  Initially operating out of the Navy League offices at Main and Hughson Streets, the unit moved into the old W.W. Grant Sail Loft at 469 Bay Street North, less than a kilometre from our present home, later that year.