HMCS Royal Roads (establishment)

The Canadian Government acquired the former Dunsmuir Estate, Hatley Castle, located in Colwood, British Columbia, in 1940 for use as military college. Part of the college, HMCS Royal Roads, was the naval officers training establishment for the rapidly-growing wartime Navy. The estate property extended down to the shoreline at Royal Roads, an anchorage convenient to Esquimalt and Victoria that had been names by Spanish explorers in the 18th century. The estate was commissioned as HMCS Royal Roads in December 1940 to train officers for the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve and, in 1942, it became the Royal Naval College of Canada to train officers for the permanent force. In 1947, it became an RCN-RCAF College and in 1948, it became Royal Roads Military College, training officers for all three services.

See also: Royal Roads University