Kings County Vignettes
HMCS Kentville
by Daniel Sanford
When the Second World War broke out in September of 1939, the town of Kentville quickly mobilized its resources to aid the Canadian government in the fighting of the war. Many local men joined local military units such as the King's Canadian Hussars (disbanded early on in the war) and the West Nova Scotia Regiment. Thousands of troops were trained at Camp Aldershot, just outside of Kentville. The people who remained at home contributed by purchasing Victory Bonds and sending both scarce raw materials and aid packages to Great Britain. As a result of this and other contributions throughout the country, the Canadian government in 1942 decided to present small Canadian towns with the honour of having a warship of the Royal Canadian Navy named after it. The following story gives a brief history of the ship that was named after the town of Kentville, the H.M.C.S. Kentville.
The H.M.C.S. Kentville was a Bangor class mine-sweeper that was launched from the Port Arthur shipbuilding yards on April 18, 1942. It was commissioned on October 10, 1942 and sent to Sydney to become a coastal escort vessel which entailed the escorting of all vessels that moved in local waters. It was not terribly exciting work but work that was important regardless. As a result of this duty, the H.M.C.S. Kentville called at the ports of Halifax, Sydney, Louisbourg, Saint John, Bay Bulls, St. John's, Argentia, Cornerbrook, Port Aux Basques, Boston, and New York.
As well as convoy escort duty, the H.M.C.S. Kentville also had the obvious role of minesweeping (for which it had been originally designed) and the role of an emergency rescue ship. The H.M.C.S. Kentville fulfilled this latter function twice during the war when it rescued the freighter Imperial Monarch from heavy seas and the ship Foundation Franklin which had struck a mine off the Grand Banks. There was little excitement for the crew of the H.M.C.S. Kentville but things heated up in January of 1945 when a convoy that the H.M.C.S. Kentville was escorting came under attack, losing two ships. This would be the only time that the H.M.C.S. Kentville saw combat.
The H.M.C.S. Kentville was connected to Kings County in more ways than in name. Many future H.M.C.S. Kentville sailors took leave in Kentville to rest and relax. J.E. Schinbein of Prince Rupert, British Columbia, who served on the H.M.C.S. Kentville recalled, "I remember Kentville, not only the ship but spending leave at the Cornwallis Inn as a young, adventurous, ordinary seaman. The town of Kentville certainly welcomed those under training at H.M.C.S. Cornwallis with open arms. One member of the H.M.C.S. Kentville, Lieutenant James McGilian, made a closer connection to the area by marrying Lillian Rood of Berwick who was Queen Annapolisa IX. They met at the 1943 festival and married in 1944.
At the end of the war in 1945, the H.M.C.S. Kentville went into "strategic reserve" which was basically putting the ship into mothballs where it stayed until 1952 when the Royal Canadian Navy decided to reclaim her. This was done and the H.M.C.S. Kentville was commissioned again on May 10, 1954. This reactivation by the Royal Canadian Navy was only temporary because in September 1954, the H.M.C.S. Kentville was paid off into the Reserve and put into mothballs again at Port Edward Naval Base.
In 1957, it was decided that a number of ships including the H.M.C.S. Kentville would be transferred to the Turkish navy under the program of Mutual Aid which would fulfil part of Canada's obligation to N.A.T.O. This was done in late November of 1957 and the H.M.C.S. Kentville was renamed Bartin and remained in service with the Turkish navy until 1972. All that remains of the H.M.C.S. Kentville are the memories of those who served aboard her and the ship's bell which is on display at the Old Kings Courthouse Museum.
The H.M.C.S. Kentville did not have a glamorous service record but did an important job nontheless. One could say that the H.M.C.S. Kentville represented the war effort as it was practised by the town of Kentville and Kings County for that matter; nothing flashy but still vital. The people of Kentville should be proud to have had a ship named after them that did indispensable work in time of war and peace.