In preparation for the Change of Command for the CRCN, the Historical Collection Committee has created a new display at the east end of the quarterdeck display case.
The Message
- The Great Lakes Training Centre (GLTC) operated at STAR from 1952 to 1964 training as many as fifteen hundred sailors a year, from all over Canada, with accommodations for men & WRCNs with a galley, parade square, drill shed and classrooms.
- Because HMCS STAR in Hamilton has one of the largest naval facilities outside of Halifax and Esquimalt with an almost 900 foot jetty, over the twelve years that GLTC was at STAR, a total of twenty frigates, minesweepers and other vessels operated here during the summer months for training and made cruises throughout the Great Lakes from Kingston in the east to Duluth, Minnesota in the west.
- In 1959, when the St. Lawrence Seaway opened, STAR hosted five Restigouche class destroyer escorts and three Prestonian class frigates at one time, and the Royal Yacht BRITANNIA later
- From 1953 to 1967, Naval Reserve Headquarters, then known as Commanding Officer Naval Divisions (COND), operated out of STAR, and in 1956, a separate unit, known as HMCS PATRIOT, was commissioned to for that purpose. The cornerstone of the HQ building was laid in 1954 by Rear Admiral Walter Hose, the “Father of the Naval Reserve”.
The Exhibit
- Sailor in white uniform wearing HMCS PATRIOT cap tally
- 1/16th Replica of the 72 foot naval mast that was at GLTC flying the White Ensign of the period, COND & GLTC on the signal halyards and a Commodore’s pennant at the masthead (built by LCdr (Ret’d) Don Williamson)
- Brass plaque that was on the mast by the Reviewing Stand, giving the details:
- Cap tallies of some of the ships that operated from STAR
- Trowel used by RAdm Walter Hose to lay the cornerstone of the COND building.
- Large STAR and PATRIOT badges & smaller badges of ships that operated out of STAR
- Aerial picture of STAR in 1959 with 5 destroyer escorts and three frigates alongside
- View of the east end of the parade square showing the mast
- Pictures of ships coming alongside at STAR and sailors joining Fairmiles for training cruises
