CFB Cornwallis

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.

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.

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.

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.

CFB Cornwallis continued in this role through to its closure in 1994, when the base was identified as surplus to the requirements of the shrinking post-Cold War Canadian Forces.

The residences and permanent married quarters (PMQs) on the hill overlooking the Annapolis Basin were sold or rented to civilians, with the community being marketed as ideal for seniors and retirees with a "million dollar view."

Other parts of the base were transformed into an industrial park with some companies being established as call centres, and others processing recycled tires, or lumber and forest products.