HILLMAN WWII GALLERY
HMCS PRINCE ROBERT
CAUGHT IN THE NET I
In our ongoing search of the InterNet we have found the following interesting information and websites which we feel will be of interest to our readers:
NOTE: These links were collated many years ago and some of them have since disappeared from the Internet.
Visit our monthly newsletter
WAR YEARS: MOTES & QUOTES
Where you can read this month's edition
and peruse the back issues in our archivesLINKS
Navy Museum
Hawaii Navy News Online
US Navy: Welcome Aboard
Royal Australian Navy
RAN External Links
HMS Belfast
Naval Jargon and Slang
RCN Recollections
Toronto Naval Club Links
RCN Fact Sheet
Links Naval Museum of Manitoba
Naval Museum of Manitoba
Royal Canadian Navy
Navy Links
Navy Jargon and Slang
A Sailor's Life: My Time in the Canadian Navy
Mac's Navy Links: Online Photo Gallery
Canadian Heroes
Ship's Wake
http://www.greencis.net/~sandysq/vet_note.htm#listNavy Ships History Ring
http://www.ussiowa.org/navships/particip.htmUnofficial History of the Royal Canadian Navy
http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/6650/rcn_history/index.htmlWWII In the Pacific
http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Bunker/4929/main.htmNaval War in the Pacific
http://members.xoom.com/morioregis/pacific/index.htm
HMCS Prince Robert References
Caught in the Net
Excerpts from recommended links
From:
Chronology of Events in the History of World War IISeptember 25, 1940
RCN armed merchant cruiser Prince Robert captures German merchant ship Weser off Manzillo, Mexico. [27.17]November 16, 1941
Canada's Winnipeg Grenadiers and Royal Rifles of Canada arrive in Hong Kong to aid in the defence of the island. RCN armed merchant cruiser Prince Robert escorted the troopship Awatea. [5.60] [27.19]
Canadian Naval Vessels in Plymouth Sound in World War II
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Launchpad/1071/can.htm
In the Second World War, Plymouth Sound was home to many vessels from the Allied countries. Canada had several vessels based out of Devonport Dockyard in Plymouth, Devon, England UK. I am a little unsure but I believe some were outright Canadian Naval vessels, while others were British Royal Naval vessels crewed by Canadians. Here we have a small collection and does not represent them all, however it does plug a gap in our naval history as photos like these are hard to come by.
HMCS PRINCE ROBERT 1942
Ships of the Royal Canadian Navy - Naval Museum of Alberta
http://www.navalmuseum.ab.ca/ships.htmlHMCS UGANDA
http://www.navalmuseum.ab.ca/uganda.html"HMCS Uganda HMS Uganda was a Royal Navy Colony class cruiser that was launched on August 7, 1941, and commissioned on December 17, 1943. The Colony class ships were named after various colonies, such as Fiji, Newfoundland, Kenya, Bermuda, Jamaica, etc. The ships were 8,800 tons and carried a main armament of nine 6" guns, eight 4" dual purpose rapid-firing guns, three sets of four-barreled pom-poms as well as 20mm Oerlikans. It had two hangers for Walrus aircraft
that were designed for reconnaissance work.""On May 7, (1945) the vote was held on the Uganda and 605 crew refused to volunteer for the Japanese war. The British Admiralty was furious, and said they could not replace the ship until July 27. An embarassed RCN in Ottawa offered to replace HMCS Uganda with HMCS Prince Robert, an Anti-Aircraft flak ship, that was being refitted in Vancouver." "...the Uganda became known as "The Ship That Voted Itself Out Of The War."
"Had the ship (Uganda) remained in the Pacific, it would likely have steamed into Tokyo Bay on August 30 to witness the official surrender. There were no Canadian ships present at the surrender ceremonies. HMCS Prince Robert, an AA cruiser, was en route to join the BPF but had only reached Sydney when the war ended. It was routed to Hong Kong to bring back the Canadian troops that had spent nearly four years in captivity on the island."
HMCS Prince Davidhttp://www.navalmuseum.ab.ca/david.html 
"The Prince David was one of three CNR passenger liners that were converted to Armed Merchant Cruisers at the beginning of the war, and for three years were the largest ships in the RCN. From 1940 until Pearl Harbor, they served with the West Indies station in Bermuda, but were transferred to Esquimalt when hostilities with Japan broke out.""They patrolled the West Coast and were part of the joint US-Canadian convoys to Dutch Harbor and the Aleutian Island campaign in 1942. In 1943, the Prince Robert was converted to an anti-aircraft ship, and the Prince Henry and Prince David were converted into Landing Ships Medium. LSM's carried eight landing craft for invasions. The two ships participated in D-Day (JUNO Beach), Southern France (Operation Anvil-Dragoon) and the Prince David liberated Greece."
THE WORLD'S WARSHIPS PRINCE CLASS
http://www.warships1.com/CANf56_Prince.htmThese ships were former CPR small coastal liners. They were very fast for merchant ships and were acquired by the RCN at the beginning of the war for conversion to AMC's. In their initial role they were the most powerfully armed ships in the navy until the arrival of the light cruisers. They remained in service until war's end as anti-aircraft cruiser and landing ships. This class served in the Carribbean, the Aleutians, D-Day, Dragoon, Italy, Greece, and the repariation of Canadian prisoners-of-war in Asia after the war. The Prince Robert served on the New Zealand staion for part of the war.
Specifications
History
Prince Robert and the Royal New Zealand Navy
The Canadian Navy of Yesterday & Today World War II ~
Canadian Ship ListingPRINCE Class armed merchant cruiser
Originally liners for Canadian National Steamships, these formerly 3-funnelled ships were purchased in 1939-40 and extensively converted. All three spent some time intercepting merchant traffic, and PRINCE DAVID and PRINCE ROBERT were put under US command for operations in the Aleutians. DAVID and HENRY were converted to Troop Landing Ships and served on D-Day and the invasion of Southern France, as well as additional service in the Mediterranean. ROBERT was converted to an AA ship, and escorted convoys in the Mediterranean. In July, 1945, she went to join the British Pacific Fleet, and in August arrived in Hong Kong in order for her Captain to represent Canada at the surrender ceremonies. DAVID hit a mine off Greece ending her wartime service, HENRY (as a British ship) and ROBERT repatriated soldiers, and DAVID and ROBERT were sold back into mercantile service.
HMCS PRINCE ROBERT before her 1943 conversion. PRINCE ROBERT spent her time from commissioning until 1943 in the Pacific, primarily looking for enemy merchant shipping. In 1943 she was refitted with AA armament, and transferred to the Atlantic and Mediterranean to escort convoys before refitting at Esqimalt until June 1945. She was then assigned to the British Pacific Fleet until the end of the war. DND photo, Courtesy of Bill Croshaw.
Al Brown: Mr. Navy had sea water in veins
Calgary Herald ~ Monday 19 July 1999
by Brian BrennanAl Brown saw wartime action in the Pacific aboard the battle cruiser HMCS Prince Robert. It was dispatched in 1941 to escort the Australian liner Awatea toHong Kong. Al recalled barely escaping one of the major attacks of the war on the return journey to Canada. "We came out of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 5th, 1941 and they (the Japanese) bombed in on the Dec. 7th."Al remained with HMCS Prince Robert until 1943, and recalled that, "as seaman torps (torpedo gunners), we lived like kings." The warship was damaged in the Aleutians, then shipped back to Esquimalt for repairs. ("She endured more reconstruction and facelifts than a Hollywood star," commented friend Harald Gunderson.)
Welcome to Bob Pearson's Aviation Page. On this and the next pages I'll try to present some of the results of my research from the past decade and show off my work in the process. For the past ten years I have been researching the markings of WW1 aircraft, and this has led to my present work with FLYING MACHINES PRESS, OVER THE FRONTand recently INTERNET MODELER. My work at Internet Modeler has branched out from the WW1 time frame and samples of this may be seen at the PROFILEART site . .. however this is a 1913-1920 site.
Visit my other pages: WW1 Aircraft CD-ROM ~ FEATURED ARTICLE ~
PROFILE ~ PHOTO ~ PORTRAIT ~ WHAT'S NEW ~ LINKSEditor's note: Bob has provided a tremendous amount of research material for our HMCS Prince Robert sites. We are deeply indebted.
This site is dedicated to the study of Commonwealth Orders of Battle during the period of the Second World War. I am interested in contacting other researchers who are willing to exchange information on the British Commonwealth and Empire during this period. Contact me at dryan@snet.net. Related order of battle links are shown below. The site is organized around each of the major Commonwealth countries.
David A. Ryan
The Winnipeg Grenadiers ~ Hong Kong ~ Dec 6-25 1941
Erik Growen
The unit whose actions will be followed and analyzed in this paper is the battalion of the Winnipeg Grenadiers during their two week struggle in the battle for Hong Kong 1941 against elements of the Japanese Imperial Army. The battle only lasted from the 8th of December with the initial Japanese attacks on the mainland forces defending Kowloon to Christmas day when Major General C.M. Maltby surrendered the remaining Commonwealth forces that were still attempting to hold the island. The Canadian battalions, the Winnipeg Grenadiers and the Royal Rifles, accounted for the bulk of the fighting and of the 1 975 men who embarked for Hong Kong from Vancouver only 1 418 survived the battle and subsequent years as Japanese POWs.
SEASONED SAILORS ~
CANADA'S NAVAL HERITAGE IN VIDEO
~ The Recollections of a few of the many Outstanding Survivors from Canada's Wartime Navy
Seasoned Sailors, is a series of videos, each running less than an hour and focussed on one or another of Canada's band of gallant World War II naval figures. The purpose is to let Canadians see these persons and hear what they did for Canada and to gain a fuller appreciation of the Canadian Navy's contribution in that long past war. Viewers may thereby better understand and thus be able to comprehend how the wrenching strains and stresses that the nation underwent in World War II - have come to be forged into the very fabric of the Canada of today.Canadian Navy
Welcome aboard my unofficial website...
"Ready Aye Ready"
Navy League Cadets of Canada
Corps Locator
Kamloops:
NLCC Name: Prince Robert #102
The CPO Anchor Chain was formed to link together CPO member's web pages. The Ring is for all those who are interested in viewing pages dealing with Naval and/or Nautical themes. All Chief Petty Officers "World Wide," both active duty and retired are eligible for membership in this ring. (Once a Chief always a Chief)
Steam ahead to Pt. 9. Caught In The Net II
Webmaster: William G. Hillman
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