# HMCS Protector

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For the Royal Canadian Navy auxiliary oil replenishment ship, see [HMCS Protecteur (AOR 509)](/source/HMCS_Protecteur_(AOR_509)). For other Commonwealth ships similarly named, see [HMS Protector](/source/HMS_Protector).

[Royal Canadian Navy](/source/Royal_Canadian_Navy) base **HMCS *Protector***, also known as the **Point Edward Naval Base**, was located next to [Sydney Harbour](/source/Sydney,_Nova_Scotia), on [Nova Scotia](/source/Nova_Scotia)'s [Cape Breton Island](/source/Cape_Breton_Island).[1] It was founded in 1940 and used by the navy during the [Second World War](/source/World_War_II), mainly to provision, protect and repair [merchant marine](/source/Merchant_marine) convoys to Quebec, Halifax, and the United Kingdom. It was a main combat zone during the [Battle of the St. Lawrence](/source/Battle_of_the_St._Lawrence) and the more general [Battle of the Atlantic](/source/Battle_of_the_Atlantic). It continued to be used during the [Cold War](/source/Cold_War)'s early stages. In 1964, it was decommissioned and became the first facility to house the [Canadian Coast Guard College](/source/Canadian_Coast_Guard_College). Today, the Sydport Industrial Park uses the base's former piers and land.

## Second World War 1939–1945

In the months before the Second World War was declared in 1939, the [RCMP](/source/Royal_Canadian_Mounted_Police) Patrol Vessel *Protector* was stationed at Sydney for various policing duties. On 28 August 1939 the Royal Canadian Navy established a small shore facility on the Sydney waterfront. On 22 July 1940, this facility was commissioned as HMCS *Protector*, taking its name from Patrol Vessel *Protector*. At the time, navy regulations stated that a naval shore base's designation must use a seaborne ship's name.

HMCS *Protector* saw intensive use during the war, as Sydney Harbour became the assembly port for the [SC (Slow Convoy) series](/source/SC_convoys) Atlantic convoys, as well as convoys to other major ports in Canada: Halifax (SH) and Quebec (SQ).[2] Other convoys that were marshaled by *Protector* were Sydney-Corner Brook (SB), Sydney-Port aux Basque (SPAB) and Sydney-Greenland (SG).[2] It was the base for the warships that escorted the SC convoys in the western Atlantic.[3] *Protector* was the focal point for the extensive Sydney Harbour defences against German [U-boat](/source/U-boat) attack.[4]

HMCS *Protector* was initially stationed on the Sydney waterfront and used commercial wharves and buildings along Esplanade Street, where the present armouries and marine terminal are located.[5] On 15 March 1943, a new custom-built shore facility and extensive piers was opened at [Point Edward](/source/Edwardsville,_Nova_Scotia) on the opposite western shore of the harbour, and was named **HMCS *Protector II***, while the original was then renamed **HMCS *Protector I***.[6] A [Canadian National Railways](/source/Canadian_National_Railways) line linked this new base to the mainline to [Point Tupper](/source/Point_Tupper,_Nova_Scotia).[7] Numerous convoy supply ships and warships were loaded and serviced at *Protector* by [ship chandlers](/source/Ship_chandler) such as Sydney Ship Supply;[8] at the same time, the navy maintained use of the commercial facilities on the eastern shore in Sydney proper.[5] The base specialised in repair and fitting.

## Post-war era: 1945 to the present

After the war's end, the navy stopped using the commercial facilities on the Sydney waterfront (eastern side of the harbour). It continued to use HMCS *Protector* at Point Edward, on the western side of the harbour.[1] During the 1950s, the base was renovated and it became Sydney's second largest employer, after the [Dominion Steel and Coal Company](/source/Dominion_Steel_and_Coal_Company)'s steel plant, with about 650 personnel stationed there.[9] The [Progressive Conservative](/source/Progressive_Conservative_Party_of_Canada) [Diefenbaker](/source/John_Diefenbaker) government tried to close it in 1958, but it was deemed useful by [NATO](/source/NATO) allies during the early stages of the Cold War.[9] It was finally decommissioned in 1964. In 1965, following the base's closure, the [Canadian Coast Guard College](/source/Canadian_Coast_Guard_College) was located in some of the unused navy facilities, and used the base's jetties.[10] The college continued to use these facilities throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, until a custom-built campus opened on an adjacent property in Edwardsville in 1981.[10]

The former navy base is now used as an industrial park called Sydport.[11]

## Notes

1. Milner (2010).

1. Sarty (2012), pp. 94–95.

1. Tennyson & Sarty (2000), p. 232.

1. Tennyson & Sarty (2000), pp. 238–244.

1. Tennyson & Sarty (2000), pp. 231–232.

1. Tennyson & Sarty (2000), p. 290.

1. MacDonald (2012), pp. 160–161.

1. Caplan (1976), pp. 27–28.

1. Morgan (2009), p. 139.

1. CCG (2012).

1. Sydney Ports Corp. (2013).

## References

- ["Canadian Coast Guard College History"](https://web.archive.org/web/20130117170410/http://www.ccg-gcc.gc.ca/eng/College/history). *Canadian Coast Guard*. Ottawa: Government of Canada. 2012-01-24. Archived from [the original](http://www.ccg-gcc.gc.ca/eng/College/History) on January 17, 2013. Retrieved 2013-01-09.
- Caplan, Ronald (1976-06-01). ["Sydney Harbour in World War 2"](https://web.archive.org/web/20140922053415/capebretonsmagazine.com/modules/publisher/item.php?itemid=417). *Cape Breton's Magazine*. '***(13): 27–40. Wreck Cove, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia: Breton Books. [ISSN 0319-4639](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0319-4639). Archived from [the original](http://capebretonsmagazine.com/modules/publisher/item.php?itemid=417) on 2014-09-22. Retrieved 2013-01-06.***
- Hague, Arnold (2000). [*The Allied Convoy System 1939–1945*](https://books.google.com/books?id=xHOwAAAAIAAJ&q=HMSC+Protector). St Catharines, Ontario: Vanwell Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-1-861-76147-7.
- MacDonald, Herb (2012). *Cape Breton Railways: An Illustrated History*. Sydney, Nova Scotia: Cape Breton University Press. ISBN 978-1-897009-67-3.
- Milner, Marc (2010). [*Canada's Navy: the first century*](https://books.google.com/books?id=afOEdO8mh1gC&q=HMCS+Protector&pg=PA379). 2nd ed. Toronto: University of Toronto. ISBN 978-0-8020-9604-3.
- Morgan, Robert J. (2009). *Rise Again!: the Story of Cape Breton Island – Book Two*. Ronald Caplan (ed.). Wreck Cove, Nova Scotia: Breton Books. ISBN 978-1-895415-85-8.
- Morison, Samuel Eliot (2001). *History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Volume I The Battle of the Atlantic 1939–1943*. Champaign, Illinois: University of Illinois. ISBN 978-0-252-06963-5.
- Rohwer, Jürgen & Hümmelchen, Gerhard (1992). *Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945*. 2nd revised, expanded ed. Translated by Derek Masters. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-55750-105-9.
- Sarty, Roger F. (2012). *War in the St. Lawrence: The Forgotten U-boat Battles on Canada's Shores*. Toronto: Allen Lane. ISBN 978-0-670-06787-9.
- ["Sydport Industrial Park"](https://web.archive.org/web/20120720004227/http://sydneyport.ca/about-the-ports/sydport-industrial-park). Sydney, Nova Scotia: Sydney Ports Corporation Inc. 2013. Archived from [the original](http://sydneyport.ca/about-the-ports/sydport-industrial-park) on 2012-07-20. Retrieved 2013-01-11.
- Tennyson, Brian Douglas & Sarty, Roger F. (2000). [*Guardian of the Gulf: Sydney, Cape Breton, and the Atlantic wars*](https://archive.org/details/guardianofgulfsy0000tenn). Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-4492-1. Guardian of the Gulf : Sydney, Cape Breton, and the Atlantic wars.
- van der Vat, Dan (1988). *The Atlantic campaign: the great struggle at sea, 1939–1945*. London: Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 978-0-340-37751-2.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [HMCS Protector](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMCS_Protector) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMCS_Protector?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.