HMCS Royal Roads
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HMCS Royal Roads is a Canadian naval training centre commissioned on 13 December 1940. This was the first of a series of related institutions to be set up by the Department of National Defence at Hatley Park in Esquimalt, British Columbia.
Designed to support Canada's naval war effort, it was operated as an Officer Training Establishment until October 1942. Many of the 600 volunteer reserve officers who underwent training during this time served in the Battle of the Atlantic. The HMCS Royal Roads was used to train short-term probationary Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve (RCNVR) sub-lieutenants to serve in World War II.
[edit] History
The name Royal Roads was drawn from geography. The name refers to an anchorage located in Juan de Fuca Strait between the city of Victoria, British Columbia and Albert Bay. The HMCS Royal Roads was located on a property originally purchased by James Dunsmuir in 1902. Dunsmuir was a former British Columbian Premier and Lieutenant-Governor. The Hatley Park Estate originally comprised 650 acres. The Dunsmuir family added Hatley Castle, which was completed in 1908. The Canadian Department of National Defence purchased Hatley Park, almost in its entirety, in 1940, for $75,000. This sum was roughly the value of the fence surrounding the property.
As Executive Officer, Commander Reginald Amand (Jumbo) Webber D.S.C., C.D. served there till late 1942.
