Please accept this invitation to attend the event on Saturday August 8, 2026 at Confederation Park Naval Memorial Garden.

The service runs from 6:00pm – 6:45pm. Parking is onsite at the Edgewater Pavilion. 

The event marks the loss of 53 sailors who went down with two United States schooners, USS Hamilton & USS Scourge, during the War of 1812, the single greatest loss of life on the Great Lakes during the war.

Members of the American Legion Post 18 (Hamilton/Burlington, Canada) form the Flag Party as part of the ceremony, which includes the storytelling of local historian Commander Robert J. Williamson, CD RCNR Rtd.

Sea Cadets place flags and flowers at each stone. The singing of the national anthems will be performed by tenor Jason Hales, and music provided by bugler and piper.  

This year, the reproduction of the USS Hamilton’s ship’s boat will be onsite. The boat’s builder, Gill Bibby will be on hand to answer questions.   

A fantastic day at HMCS STAR and HMCS HAIDA. Sailors from both coasts and all NRDs, the combined bands of NADEN & STADACONA augmented by YORK & STAR, guests like Admiral Daryl Caudle, the US Chief of Naval Operations and Admiral Kevin Lunday, the Commandant of the US Coast Guard. The weather was perfect, the sailors, all in high collar whites looked smart, and when the band broke into their version of Stan Roger’s North West Passage, it was emotional. HAIDA, dressed overall, in its role as Ceremonial Flagship of the RCN, flew the Admiral’s flags. All this was followed by a great reception in the messes at STAR.

Best wishes to VAdm Angus Tophsee as he prepares to take on his new role as VCDS and congratulations to VAdm Dan Charlebois on becoming the 39th CRCN.

Congratulations to STAR for a great job of organizing a tremendous event. Bravo Zulu.

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
• 1/16^th 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