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.

Canadians & the FAA Corsair

What's New?
Vought Corsair

Royal Canadian Legion Branch 622, 12 King Street East, Stoney Creek

Our LWOTM (Last Wednesday of the Month) on February 29th at 11:30 features a presentation by Cdr (Ret’d) Robert Williamson.

Rejected by the U.S.N. and declared totally unsuitable for Carrier use in 1942 by the Royal Navy’s Chief Test Pilot, the Admiralty invested money they could ill afford in creating a flying program and facilities similar to the Canadian BCATP to train colonials to fly the dangerous Chance Vought F4U Corsair.   

   What was the FAA thinking?

Cost $20.00/person

Please pay by ETF using:  hna@hamiltonnaval.ca and RSVP to: r.dewolfe2023@outlook.com by Friday Feb 23rd so we can order meals.

OTD – 6 February 1810

OTD

06 February 1810     Sailors from HMS STARR a 16 gun ship of the MERLIN class, form part of a Naval Brigade that establishes gun batteries to bombard the capital of Guadeloupe, the last French colony in the West Indies.  The surrender of Guadeloupe markedly diminishes the slave trade, made illegal by Britain in 1807.  In 1847, participants are eligible to apply for the Naval General Service Medal with the clasp, Guadeloupe, and STAR received the battle honour Guadeloupe. 

line plan of HMS STAR
Naval General Service Medal with Guadaloupe bar

Book Launch

What's New?

What:            Launch event and party for The Wind From All Directions, by Ron Thompson, to be released by military publisher Double Dagger Books

When:           Thursday March 14, evening.

Location:       The Pilot Tavern (Yonge & Cumberland, in Yorkville) in Toronto.

 The Wind From All Directions is set in 1792, during the encounter in Nootka Sound between the RN’s Lieutenant George Vancouver and the Spanish commodore Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra. Quadra and Vancouver were sent to the Pacific northwest to resolve the Nootka Crisis, a territorial dispute that had brought their two countries to the brink of war.