On this day in the Canadian Navy!
JUNE
In June 1911 Commander (later Rear-admiral) Walter Hose (1875-1965) is lent to the Canadian Naval Service and assumes command of the cruiser HMCS Rainbow.
In June 1918 Air patrols are added to supplement the activities of the east coast patrols with the establishment of the Royal Canadian Naval Air Service.
Canadair CP-107 Argus (DND Photo)
In June 1974 A Canadair CP-107 Argus from Canadian Forces Base Comox, British Columbia, sets a Canadian air endurance record for non- refueled flight; it flew for 31 hours and 1 minute.
June 01, 1943 HMCS Conestoga, the WRCNS training establishment, commissions at Galt, Ontario. Originally named HMCS Bytown Division II when the building was requisitioned in October 1942, her first commanding officer is Lieutenant-Commander Isabel Macneill. In that capacity, she becomes the first Canadian woman, other than a member of the Royal Family, to be entitled to a ‘pipe’.
June 01, 1943 Canadian minesweepers clear the first enemy minefield from the Halifax approaches.
June 01, 1954 After being converted into Prestonian Class escort, the frigate HMCS Penetang (316) re-commissions into the Royal Canadian Navy. She is paid off on 25 January 1956 and loaned to the Norwegian Navy.
June 03, 1943 The destroyer HMCS Gatineau (H61) commissions into the Royal Canadian Navy. She is paid off 10 January 1946.
June 03, 1944 The River Class frigate HMCS Eastview (K665) commissions into the Royal Canadian Navy. She will be paid off 17 January 1946.
June 05, 1941 The Flower Class corvette HMCS Buctouche (K179) commissions into the Royal Canadian Navy. She is paid off 17 June 1945.
June 05, 1944 The 31st Minesweeping Flotilla, commanded by Acting Commander A. H. G. Storrs, RCNR, and consisting of HMCS Caraquet, Fort William, Wasaga, Cowichan, Minas and Malpeque are part of an overall group of 16 Canadian minesweeper involved in clearing the English Channel and the approaches to the Normandy beaches for D-Day.
June 05, 1999 The Kingston Class minesweeper HMCS Brandon (710) commissions. She is still serving and stationed in Esquimalt, British Columbia.
June 06, 1944 110 ships and vessels and 10,000 personnel of the Royal Canadian Navy take part in the Normandy landings.
June 06, 1944 The River Class frigate HMCS Kokanee (K419) commissions into the Royal Canadian Navy. She will be paid off 21 December 1945.
HMCS Terra Nova in 1991 (DND Photo)
June 06, 1959 The destroyer HMCS Terra Nova (259) commissions into the Royal Canadian Navy. She is paid off 1st July 1998.
June 07, 1958 HMCS Restigouche (257), first-of-class and the 8th of the post war destroyer escort programme commissions. She is paid off 31 August 1994.
June 09, 1944 The destroyers HMCS Haida (G63), Huron (G24) and HMS Ashanti sink German destroyers Z32 and ZH-1.
June 10, 1931 The destroyer HMCS Skeena (D59 and later I59) commissions into the Royal Canadian Navy. She is wrecked in a storm 25 October 1944.
June 10, 1942 The first German U-boat, U-553, makes its appearance in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and sinks two ships.
June 10, 1943 Canadian 55th, 61st, 80th and 81st Canadian Landing Craft flotillas participate in landings in Sicily. By the end of operations on the 5th of August, the 80th and 81st flotillas will land 40,959 men, 8,937 vehicles and 40,181 tons of supplies.
June 11, 1940 The destroyers HMCS St. Laurent (H83) and HMCS Restigouche (H00), evacuating personnel from Le Havre, France, exchange first shots of the war for Canadian ships with German artillery.
June 13, 1941 By June 1941, a Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) base is established at St. John’s Newfoundland. Canadian ships overseas are withdrawn to become part of what is called the Newfoundland Escort Force (NEF). Commodore L. W. Murray, RCN is made Commander-in- Chief St. John's bringing Newfoundland’s sea defences under Canadian control.
June 14, 1944 The River Class frigate HMCS Runnymede (K678) commissions into the Royal Canadian Navy. She will be paid off 19 January 1946.
June 14, 1997 The Kingston Class minesweeper HMCS Shawinigan (704) commissions in Trois-Rivières, Québec. She is still serving and stationed in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
June 15, 1920 The Royal Naval Canadian Volunteer Reserve (RNCVR) is disbanded. During the period of its existence, over 6,000 men had joined, serving primarily in the Atlantic Patrol Service of WWI
June 15, 1938 The destroyers HMCS Ottawa (H60) and Restigouche (H00) commission into the Royal Canadian Navy. HMCS Ottawa is torpedoed and sunk 14 September 1942. HMCS Restigouche is paid off 6 October 1945.
June 16, 1943 HMCS Waskesiu (K330), the first of 60 frigates built in Canada for the Royal Canadian Navy, commissions at Yarrows Shipyard in Esquimalt, British Columbia. She is paid off on 29 January 1946.
June 19, 1951 The destroyer HMCS Cayuga (218) sails for her second tour of duty in United-Nations Korean operations.
June 20, 1923 A Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve (RCNVR) Half Company is raised in Saint John, New Brunswick. This unit would later become HMCS Brunswicker.
June 21, 1917 The submarines CC-1 and CC-2, along with the sloop HMCS Shearwater, set out for Halifax, Nova Scotia, from Esquimalt, British Columbia.
HMCS Fraser at Arachon, France, June 1940 (DND Photo)
June 21, 1940 The destroyer HMCS Fraser (H48) evacuates Free French troops and Lieutenant-Colonel G. P. Vanier (later Governor General) from Arachon, France.
June 21, 1942 The minesweeper HMCS Georgian (J144) sinks British submarine P-514 off Newfoundland, after the submarine failed to respond to her challenge. All hands were lost.
June 21, 1997 The Kingston Class minesweeper HMCS Edmonton (703) commissions. She is still serving and stationed in Esquimalt, British Columbia.
June 22, 1940 The training establishment HMCS Stone Frigate graduates its third and final course of Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve (RCNVR) officers.
June 23, 1995 The Halifax Class frigate HMCS Winnipeg (338) commissions. She is still serving and stationed in Esquimalt, British Columbia.
June 24, 1943 HMCS Sault Ste. Marie (J334), the first of the Algerine Class minesweepers commissions. She is paid off on 1st October 1958.
June 24, 1944 In an operation which commenced with an attack on a U-boat by a Czech 311 Squadron Liberator Bomber, the destroyers HMCS Haida (G63) and HMS Eskimo sink the submarine U-971 off of Land’s End, UK.
Victoria Cross (VC)
June 24, 1944 The only Victoria Cross won by a Canadian during the Battle of the Atlantic was awarded to Flight Lieutenant David E. Hornell, Royal Canadian Air Force, of 162 Squadron. Hornell’s Catalina aircraft is badly damaged during the attack which sinks the submarine U-1225. Though Hornell survives the ditching of the aircraft, he and the rest of his crew were not rescued for 20 hours. Shortly after his rescue, Hornell dies from his injuries, and is posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.
June 24, 1996 The Halifax Class frigate HMCS St.John’s (340) commissions. She is still serving and stationed in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
June 25, 1940 The destroyer HMCS Fraser (H48) (ex: HMS Crescent) is lost after colliding with the cruiser HMS Calcutta in low visibility during evacuation of Dunkirk. 47 crewmembers are lost. Fraser’s bridge remained impaled on Calcutta's bow.
June 25, 1963 HMCS Assiniboine (234) re-commissions in Esquimalt, British Columbia, as the first helicopter-carrying destroyer in the Royal Canadian Navy. She is paid off 14 December 1988.
June 26, 1923 A Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve (RCNVR) Half Company is raised in Regina, Saskatchewan. This unit would later become HMCS Queen.
June 26, 1959 Ships of Atlantic Command take part in the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway.
June 28, 1957 The destroyer HMCS Fraser (233) commissions into the Royal Canadian Navy. She is paid off on 5 October 1994.
June 29, 1944 The River Class frigate HMCS Lasalle (K519) commissions into the Royal Canadian Navy. She is paid off on 17 December 1945.
June 29, 1992 HMCS Halifax (330), first of class for the Canadian Patrol Frigates (CPF), commissions in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She is still serving and stationed in Halifax.
The submarine HMCS Corner Brook (DND Photo)
June 29, 2003 The Victoria Class submarine HMCS Corner Brook is commissioned in Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador. She is still in service and stationed in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
June 30, 1922 The submarines CH14 and CH15 are paid off and later sold for scrap in 1928.
June 30, 1941 HMCS Wasaga (J162), the first Canadian built Bangor Class minesweeper commissions into the Royal Canadian Navy. She is paid off on 6 October 1945.
June 30, 1941 The Flower Class corvette HMCS Camrose (K154) commissions into the Royal Canadian Navy. She is paid off 18 July 1945.
June 30, 1950 The Canadian Parliament unanimously supports the motion to help the United Nations counter the North Korean invasion of the south.