The rapid expansion of the
Royal Canadian Navy during the early years of the
Second World War saw many port facilities on the east coast of Canada become quickly taxed by operational requirements, particularly during the
Battle of the Atlantic. In early 1942, the
Department of National Defence (DND) began examining the possibility of transferring naval recruit training to a new facility in southwestern Nova Scotia with convenient access to
Halifax. DND preferred the
South Shore port town of
Shelburne with its large natural harbour and deepwater port under development since fall 1941 at (and an adjacent seaplane patrol base opened in spring 1942 at
RCAF Station Shelburne), however it is presumed that political pressure from
J.L. Ilsley, the federal
Minister of Finance and
MP for
Digby—Annapolis—Kings forced DND to reconsider. A location in Ilsley's riding on the shallower but more protected
Annapolis Basin straddling the western border of
Clementsport and eastern border of
Deep Brook was quickly adopted. While the location for the training base was being sorted out, the actual training establishment was founded at a cost of $9 million at Halifax's
HMC Dockyard on May 1, 1942, and was named '
HMCS Cornwallis''''' in honour of
Edward Cornwallis, the founder of Halifax. by Sir
Joshua Reynolds (1756) With the location of the new base decided, construction began in June of that year with a budget of $15 million. The base occupied a small peninsula jutting into the Annapolis Basin several miles east of the mouth of the Bear River where a gypsum loading facility was located in Deep Brook. The property was relatively level and bisected by the mainline of the
Dominion Atlantic Railway running from
Yarmouth to
Windsor Junction where it connected with
CNR to Halifax and the rest of Canada. New buildings were completed during the winter of 1942-1943 and the training establishment officially moved to the new base from HMC Dockyard on April 14, 1943, the date when HMCS
Cornwallis was commissioned. the English-born architect
Cecil Burgess designed 80 of the buildings constructed between 1942 and 1944. A booklet published ca. 1944 illustrates various aspects of wartime training at HMCS
Cornwallis. The RCN had a tremendous economic impact on the communities in western Annapolis County and eastern Digby County, with training personnel and recruits (when not in basic training) traveling around the local area. Approximately 2,500 personnel initially transferred with the training establishment from Halifax. The base would quickly grow to a peak strength of over 11,000 officers and enlisted personnel and recruits for the duration of the conflict, becoming the largest naval training facility for new recruits in the
British Commonwealth in terms of the number of personnel being trained. The Dominion Atlantic Railway operated special troop trains to the base's station and also relied on scheduled passenger service, connecting with
Canadian Pacific Railway passenger trains from
Saint John,
New Brunswick (recruits would then take a CPR passenger ferry across the
Bay of Fundy to nearby
Digby) as well as
Canadian National Railways passenger trains at
Truro and Halifax. HMCS
Cornwallis extended from the small level peninsula on the Annapolis Basin south up the hillside overlooking the basin, providing suitable room for exercise and marches. A large firing range property was also developed immediately north of the
Annapolis River at
Granville Ferry, opposite the town of
Annapolis Royal. New recruits being trained as sailors for service in the RCN endured boot camp at HMCS
Cornwallis, followed by specific naval training, including seamanship, boat handling, drill, self-defence, ropework, and weapons training. The duration of courses typically varied from 6–8 weeks, however the urgency of war sometimes shortened this period. Very few courses would receive sea training prior to active duty, although several RCN vessels were stationed at Cornwallis at various times for
Anti-submarine warfare (ASW) training. These included Town-class destroyer ;
Bangor-class minesweeper ; armed yachts , , and . The auxiliary warship was also assigned to the base as a training vessel in 1944. Many newly commissioned RCN ships would have as few as a half-dozen experienced sailors on board for the maiden voyage, the bulk being raw recruits from HMCS
Cornwallis. Recruit training slowed and was halted at HMCS
Cornwallis during the spring and summer of 1945 and following the end of World War II, the base was transformed into an opposite role, as a discharge centre for sailors where it assisted in processing thousands of naval personnel transitioning to civilian life. Following this spate of activity in the summer and fall of 1945, the base fell dormant and was declared surplus to the RCN on February 28, 1946, and turned over to the War Assets Corporation for disposal. The disposal of HMCS
Cornwallis was a slow process, given the sheer number of military properties across the nation that were undergoing a similar fate. During this period that the base lay dormant, the post office gave it the new name of
Cornwallis, Nova Scotia for a postal outlet. However the re-emergence of a military threat in the form of the
Soviet Union saw the RCN reconsider using the base once again. The creation of
NATO in 1948 was an impetus for the issuance of a "stop sale" order in June of that year and in September the navy reclaimed possession. Following renovations later that fall, the base was recommissioned as the RCN's training base HMCS
Cornwallis on May 1, 1949. It was envisioned that the new HMCS
Cornwallis would be ramped up to have a maximum of 800 recruits at any one time. Despite the Cold War, the RCN was operating as a peacetime navy, so its first recruits through HMCS
Cornwallis endured a 5-month new entry course. Canada's participation in the
Korean War quickened the training pace, with the navy being mobilized for action in the
Pacific Ocean. By the spring of 1951, recruit levels at HMCS
Cornwallis were at 1,600, double the estimated intake that the reactivated facility was designed for. Recruits with the
Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service (WRCNS - Known as and referred to as "Wrens") started training at HMCS
Cornwallis for the RCN on October 2, 1951. That month also saw the transfer to HMCS
Cornwallis of the Communication Division of the Fleet School at
HMC Dockyard in Halifax. This unit trained seamen and wrens in the communication trade (
morse code and radio), while advanced courses were offered for officers and petty officers. Officer cadets from the University Naval Training Divisions also trained in the summer at HMCS
Cornwallis before
Royal Roads Military College took over all officer training for the RCN. Following the Korean War and through the remainder of the 1950s-1960s, HMCS
Cornwallis functioned as the new recruit training centre for sailors entering the Royal Canadian Navy, with very little additional training for other ranks. ==CFB Cornwallis==