HMCS ''Discovery'' is a Royal Canadian Navy Reserve division and based in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, British Columbia, Canada. Created during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

from the Vancouver Half Company of the Royal Naval Canadian Volunteer Reserve, it was used for recruitment and training, and provided almost 8,000 personnel during the war. It continued its training role after the war, and is also headquarters for several Cadet units. The

stone frigate A stone frigate is a naval establishment on land. 'Stone frigate' is an informal term which has its origin in Britain's Royal Navy (RN), after its use of Diamond Rock, an island off Martinique, as a 'sloop of war' to harass the First French ...

takes its name from , the ship used by

George Vancouver Captain (Royal Navy), Captain George Vancouver (; 22 June 1757 – 10 May 1798) was a Royal Navy officer and explorer best known for leading the Vancouver Expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern West Coast of the Uni ...

to chart most of North America's northwestern coast. Originally based at the Stanley Park Barracks, in 1944 it moved to its current location on Deadman Island, in Coal Harbour, adjacent to

Stanley Park Stanley Park is a public park in British Columbia, Canada, that makes up the northwestern half of Vancouver's Downtown Vancouver, Downtown peninsula, surrounded by waters of Burrard Inlet and English Bay, Vancouver, English Bay. The park bor ...

History

World wars

''Discovery'' traces its history to the creation of the "Number 2 (Vancouver) Company" of the Royal Naval Canadian Volunteer Reserve at the beginning of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. This small group was composed of 87 members of the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club who served and were demobilized at the end of the war. It was not until May 1924 that Lieutenant-Commander J.W. Hobbs was given permission to form the first "Vancouver Half Company" of the Naval Volunteer Reserve.

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...

's schooner '' Casco'' was used for a time to train cadets in the 1920s. During the Second World War, the role of the reserves increased, reflecting the need to maintain sufficient manpower for the war effort. On 1 November 1941, the division was newly commissioned as HMCS ''Discovery'' and it moved into Stanley Park Barracks. In 1944, the unit was permitted to occupy Deadman Island in

and turn this property into a training facility. During the Second World War, ''Discovery'' was one of the greatest sources of naval recruits in Canada, having enrolled 372 officers, 6,974 ratings and 650 Wrens (

Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service The Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service (WRCNS or "Wrens") was an element of the Royal Canadian Navy that was active during the Second World War and post-war as part of the Canadian Forces Naval Reserve, Royal Canadian Naval Reserve until unificat ...

– WRCNS). Of those, 61 were killed in action. At the end of the war, ''Discovery'' became the discharge centre for the whole of the British Columbia mainland, and 8,378 men and women were discharged through the base.

Modern era

HMCS ''Discovery'' continues to serve as a training facility, force-generating personnel for Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) operations. ''Discovery'' personnel have been deployed to Korea, the Persian Gulf, Egypt, Bosnia, Iraq, Japan, Golan Heights and Afghanistan. The facility provided support for the 1997 APEC meeting in Vancouver. It was the Olympic Maritime Operations Centre for the

2010 Winter Olympics The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...

and conducted port-security around the country. It is also the site of the Western Region Diving Centre, coordinating the efforts of the various port inspection diving teams at Naval Reserve Divisions in Western Canada. The unit continues to serve as host and ambassador to dozens of foreign vessels visiting the Port of Vancouver. In addition to the Naval Reserve, ''Discovery'' houses Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Corps Captain Vancouver and Navy League Cadet Corps Captain Rankin. ''Discovery'' is also the site of the Naval Museum of Vancouver and Vancouver Naval Veterans Association.

Badge

Sir Arthur W. Cochran, Clarenceaux King of Arms, suggested that the

badge A badge is a device or accessory, often containing the insignia of an organization, which is presented or displayed to indicate some feat of service, a special accomplishment, a symbol of authority granted by taking an oath (e.g., police and fir ...

of HMCS ''Discovery'' take the form of a

rebus A rebus ( ) is a puzzle device that combines the use of illustrated pictures with individual letters to depict words or phrases. For example: the word "been" might be depicted by a rebus showing an illustrated bumblebee next to a plus sign (+ ...

. It depicts a gold disc on top of a shake-fork that looks like the letter ''Y''; a "disc over ''Y''".

Citations

References

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External links

HMCS ''Discovery'' - official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Discovery, HMCS Canadian Forces Naval Reserve Military units and formations of Canada in World War II Stanley Park