All posts by Dinger

About Dinger

A sea cadet at RCSCC LION from 1963 to 1968, I joined the Naval Reserve at HMCS STAR in 1968 as a Bos'n. I was an Officer Cadet in the ROUTP, commissioned in 1971, and awarded my watchkeeping ticket in 1973. I served at sea, at one time or another, in all five Gate Vessels and HMCS FORT STEELE & CHAUDIERE as well as the Coast Guard icebreaker Louis St. Laurent and served as OIC of the patrol vessels RALLY and RAPID. At STAR from 1968 to 2007, I served as XO twice and then as CO from 2002 to 2005. I rounded out my career by serving as SSO Training at NAVRESHQ in Quebec City in 2008, retiring in 2009 as CO of HMCS HUNTER in Windsor. I was Executive Director for the Friends of HMCS HAIDA till 2011 and have been an active volunteer onboard HAIDA since she arrived in Hamilton in 2003.

Canadian Naval Air Remembers

What's New?
a poppy with and anchor and Canadian Naval Air Remembers

The Shearwater Aviation Museum being under renovation, a three day Canadian Naval Air Remembers (CANAR) weekend is being held in Hamilton on the 3rd, 4th and 5th of May at Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum and includes attendance at the Battle of Atlantic commemoration with HMCS STAR alongside HMCS HAIDA on Battle of Atlantic Sunday, 5 May. The Friday Meet and Greet coincides with the Battle of Atlantic Mess Dinner being hosted at LIUNA Station by the Hamilton Naval Association and HMCS STAR.

Canada has a lengthy and distinguished connection with naval air beginning in the First World War and continuing to the present day. The three-day Canadian Naval Air Remembers (CANAR) weekend provides us with an opportunity to rejoin our former shipmates and their families at a museum dedicated to Canada’s military aviation heritage. It is open to all military, Honoraries, and civilian personnel who served at sea or were involved in naval air, including their immediate families.

In addition to a Meet & Greet reception on Friday evening, Saturday will feature presentations on naval aircraft in the museum’s collection as well as the unveiling of a mock-up of a Commemorative Memorial dedicated to those that lost their lives in Canadian naval air operations over the years. Saturday will conclude with a Gala Dinner in the CWHM hangar. On Sunday, 5 May, you are invited to join HMCS Star at their Battle of the Atlantic service alongside the HMCS Haida National Historic Site.

Further details are available from the Shearwater Aviation Museum.

OTD – 5 & 6 March 1944

OTD
CHILLIWACK's whaler alongside U-744
CHILLIWACK’s whaler alongside U-744

On 5 and 6 March, 1944, while part of the escort of the 63 ships of Convoy HX-280 from New York and Halifax to Liverpool HMCS CHILLIWACK, whose mast is on STAR’s quarterdeck, took part in a thirty-two hour attack on U-744, which finally resulted in her capture about 440 nm west of Ireland.  Men from CHILLIWACK boarded U-744 and recovered code materials but much was lost when their whaler capsized.  U-744 had to be sunk as unseaworthy.

CHILLIWACK already had one U-boat to its credit; U-356 on December 27, 1942.