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CNTHA ChairmanRAdm (ret.) M.T. Saker

SecretaryGabrielle Nishiguchi

Directorate of History and HeritageLiaisonMichael Whitby

DGMEPM LiaisonCapt(N) P. Hoes

Maritime Engineering JournalLiaisonBrian McCullough

Newsletter Editing and ProductionServices, Layout and DesignBrightstar Communications,Kanata, Ont.

CNTHA News is the unofficial newsletter of theCanadian Naval Technical History Association.Please address all correspondence to the pub-lisher, attention Michael Whitby, Chief of theNaval Team, Directorate of History and Heritage,NDHQ Ottawa, K1A 0K2. Tel. (613) 998-7045,fax 990-8579. Views expressed are those of thewriters and do not necessarily reflect officialDND opinion or policy. The editor reserves theright to edit or reject any editorial material.

Preserving Canada’s Naval Technical Heritage

CANADIAN NAVAL TECHNICAL HISTORY ASSOCIATION

SUMMER 2003

CNTHA News Est. 1997

Special Issue: It has been more than 50 yearssince the first entry of naval

technical apprentices enrolled inthe Royal Canadian Navy. Now,as the last serving graduate of theplan nears retirement (CPO1 JimReece, MMM, CD is the forma-tion general safety officer forMaritime Forces Pacific) it seemsappropriate to look back at an ap-prentice training program thatserved the navy’s post-wartimetechnical needs.

The navy’s Technical ApprenticeTraining Plan was created duringthe economic boom following theSecond World War. At the timecivilian-trained tradesmen weredifficult to recruit, so in 1951 theNaval Board approved the estab-lishment of an RCN trades schoolwith an apprenticeship trainingscheme for young men. Of thenearly 650 men who commencedapprentice training, roughly halfwent on to complete the program.

After new entry training atHMCS Cornwallis and two yearsof basic trades training, appren-tices were selected for thebranches for which they showedaptitude. Thus would begin twoyears of branch training at navalschools, at sea and at a tradestraining centre. A permanent Na-val Trades Training Centre wouldeventually be built at HMCSNaden in Esquimalt in 1958, but inthe meantime the 10,000-tonmaintenance ship HMS Flambor-ough Head was re-commissionedas HMCS Cape Breton and se-

cured at HMC Dockyard Halifaxto provide living quarters, work-shops and classrooms.

A target entry of 100 appren-tices was set for the first twoyears. By May 1952 a programwas running to recruit men 16 to19 years of age who had com-pleted Grade 10, and who hadpassed both a mechanical aptitudetest and an interview board. Thatfall, limited space in the schemewas offered to men already en-listed in any branch who couldmeet the requirements. Appren-tices who successfully completedtraining would be qualified to tradegroup level three and hold the rankof petty officer second class. Thelength of their initial engagementwas seven years.

The first entry of 66 ordinaryseaman apprentices (OSAPs)commenced training in CapeBreton on Feb. 2, 1953 in fivetrades: engineering, shipwright,air, ordnance and electrical. Bymid-1955 it was found that train-ing 50 students as one group over-whelmed the facilities, so for 1956and 1957 there were two intakesof 30 candidates each.

In 1958 a decision was made tomove the training to the WestCoast and to discontinue the pro-gram in trades other than engi-neering and shipwright. The lastapprentices of the other tradesjoined in January 1959 and gradu-ated in April 1962.

The Navy’s Technical ApprenticeTraining Plan

(Cont’d on p. 4)

The Navy’s Technical Apprentices

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CNTHA News — Summer 2003

Preserving Canada’s Naval Technical Heritage

Then...

Naval Apprentices:

“Measure twice…” CPO Perry instructs anapprentice on board HMCS Cape Scott . (DNDphoto 68104)

Naval apprentices on board the fleetmaintenance ship HMCS CapeBreton in the mid-1950s. (DND photo0-5328)

Able seamen Doug Harding, Cliff Chamberlain, Dick Newmanand Earl Dawson enjoy shore leave in Tijuana, Mexico inearly 1960.

Duffle bag and hammock — basickit for an apprentice. (DND photo46086)

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CNTHA News — Summer 2003

Preserving Canada’s Naval Technical Heritage

Third Naval TechnicalApprentice Reunion

OttawaSeptember 2002

...and Now

Rick Cappell (Entry 17, 1963) and wifeCarole. In charge of the reuniondatabase. Back in Rick’s trainee daysCarole helped transcribe Rick’s notes,causing his instructor to comment,“Do I detect feminine handwriting?”Busted! (Photo by Laura Ozimek)

A life of service – Fred Keizer(Entry 12, 1960, 36 years ofservice) and wife Doreen. Activethese days visiting the poor, theimprisoned and the sick onVancouver Island.

Doug Harding (Entry 9,summer 1958) Chairmanof the 2002 ApprenticeReunion Committee: 450letters went out, 191responses said ‘yes,’ 110actually paid. “The guysreally did good work”getting things ready.

Vic Chan (Entry 17, fleet entry July 1963, 35years’ service, oldest apprentice inducteethree days shy of his 22 nd birthday) with LauraOzimek.

Hugh Millman (Entry 2,autumn 1954), co-chair ofthe reunion committee; 27years of naval service – 45including civilian servicewith the CPF Project.Longest serving memberof PMO CPF as QualityAssurance and TrialsManager, 1978-1998.

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CNTHA News — Summer 2003

Preserving Canada’s Naval Technical Heritage

If you have information,documents or questionsyou’d like to pass along tothe Canadian Naval Tech-nical History Association,please contact the Directo-rate of History and Herit-age, NDHQ, MGen GeorgeR. Pearkes Bldg., Ottawa,Canada K1A 0K2 Tel.:(613) 998-7045/Fax: (613)990-8579

We’d love tohear from you…

In our last issue weforgot to credit CANDIBmember and former MILSystems Engineering Inc.President Jim Williams forhis sidebar informationrelating to the DDH-280TRUMP conversion pro-gram. MIL was theTRUMP Design Con-tractor first to Litton Sys-tems, then later to theDepartment of Supply andServices when the projectwas reorganized. Ourapologies.

In the CANDIB articleon page four, our refer-ence to “Defence DesignProduction” should haveread, “the Department ofDefence Production.”Thanks to Pat Barnhousefor the correction.

For the Record

In 1960 the apprenticeship pro-gram reverted to single annual entrieslimited to 34 candidates who wouldgraduate as leading seamen ratherthan petty officers second class. Thelast apprentices to graduate as PO2scompleted training in April 1963.

The summer of 1963 saw the planmove to biannual intakes, this timeconsisting of a civilian entry beginningin January and a fleet entrycommencing in July. The 39-monthcourse was made up of six terms of22 weeks each, including a sea phaseand a final term of 15 weeks.Candidates graduated either asLeading Seaman EngineeringTechnician Trade Group 3 with amachinist subspecialty, or as LeadingSeaman Hull Technician TradeGroup 3. The last apprenticeship entry,

number 24, began in January 1967and graduated in April 1970.

Most graduates who made thenavy a career went on to becomechief petty officers or commissionedofficers. Most prominent when theDDH-280s were introduced in themid-1970s, the naval technical ap-prentices formed the nucleus of thetechnicians who led the transition fromsteam to a gas turbine fleet.

— Luc Tetrault(Entry 22, January 1966)

(Cont’d from p. 1)

Years and years of service: Bronte (Spook) Spanik (Entry 1 – 39 years in the navy),Clive Pattison (Entry 1 – 35 years), Jerry Perron (Entry 1 – 28 years) and DennyGordon (Entry 2 – 32 years of service).

(Entry 22, August 1965): Bob Smith joined at age 16, the youngest seaman in theRCN; David Valentine is the superintendent of the BC Ambulance Service; CPO1 JimReece is the MARPAC Formation General Safety Officer – the navy’s last servingtechnical apprentice, now in his 39 th year of service; Larry Clark got out of the navyafter his 1969 graduation and joined BC Rail — “After a few years in the navalapprentice program I knew this wasn’t for me.”

[Note: Information for the period 1952 to1964 was extracted in large part from anarticle by Lt. D.W. Wilson, RCN, in theSeptember 1964 issue of The Crowsnest.]