Canada, Commonwealth. A Second War HMCS Trail Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve Bomber Jacket
(RCNVR) A rare and possibly unique jacket in khaki coloured cotton, with elasticized cotton trim in beige, red and blue stripes around the collar, the cuffs and the bottom of the jacket, faded manufacturer's label in the collar, full-length zipper on the front, side-entry pockets on either side at the waist, an HMCS Trail badge sewn in place on the left pocket, the badge in light blue, navy blue, red, black and yellow felt, with orange, yellow, light blue, mid-tone blue and black embroidery, illustrating a left-facing dog in yellow, bearing a strong resemblance to the Disney cartoon character Pluto, the dog low to the ground, the right ear raised to listen, its rear end raised and its tail extended upward, three rows of waves below the dog, a submarine (U-boat) in black at the left with an exclamation mark in yellow above, two red hydrants at the right, on a circular frame trimmed on either side by light blue rope, inscribed in orange "HMCS TRAIL" above and "RCNVR" below, measuring 400 mm across the shoulders x 530 mm in length, nip in the fabric on the elasticized cotton trim on the bottom of the jacket, lightly soiled, near extremely fine.
Footnote: HMCS Trail (K 174) was a Flower-class corvette that served with the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War. She served primarily in the Battle of the Atlantic as a convoy escort and was named for Trail, British Columbia. Flower-class corvettes like HMCS Trail serving with the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War were different from earlier and more traditional sail-driven corvettes. The "corvette" designation was created by the French for classes of small warships. The Royal Navy borrowed the term for a period but discontinued its use in 1877. During the hurried preparations for war in the late 1930s, Winston Churchill reactivated the corvette class, needing a name for smaller ships used in an escort capacity, in this case based on a whaling ship design. The generic name "flower" was used to designate the class of these ships, which, in the Royal Navy, were named after flowering plants. Corvettes commissioned by the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War were named after communities for the most part, to better represent the people who took part in building them. This idea was put forth by Admiral Percy W. Nelles. Sponsors were commonly associated with the community for which the ship was named. Royal Navy corvettes were designed as open sea escorts, while Canadian corvettes were developed for coastal auxiliary roles which was exemplified by their minesweeping gear. Eventually the Canadian corvettes would be modified to allow them to perform better on the open seas. HMCS Trail was ordered February 14, 1940 as part of the 1939-1940 Flower-class building program. Her keel was laid down by Burrard Dry Dock Company Limited at Vancouver, British Columbia on July 20, 1940. She was launched on October 16, 1940 and was commissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy at Vancouver April 30, 1941. Her stats included: Pennant: K 174; Displacement: 950 tonnes; Length: 205.1 feet; Width: 33.1 feet; Draught: 11.5 feet; Speed: 16 knots; Compliment: 6 Officers and 79 Crew; Arms: 1-4" Gun, 1-2 pdr, 2-20mm, Hedgehog. After commissioning, Trail was reassigned to the east coast of Canada and left Esquimalt, British Columbia on May 31, 1941. She arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia on June 27th after transiting through the Panama Canal. In August 1941, she was assigned to Newfoundland Command, departing St. John's on August 23rd, to escort convoy HX.146 to Iceland. During her service with this unit, she was part of escort groups 17N, N11, N13 and N12. On January 20, 1942, she left St. John's to join SC.65 for the first of two round trips to Londonderry, Northern Ireland. She remained with Newfoundland Command until April 2, 1942, when she returned to Halifax, and was then sent to Liverpool, Nova Scotia for a refit, the first of three major refits. After returning to service, HMCS Trail joined Halifax Force for Northern Waters in June 1942. Between July and November, she was employed to escort convoys between Labrador and Quebec City, also calling at Gaspé and Hamilton Inlet. During her time with Halifax Force, on August 27, 1942, HMCS Trail picked up survivors from the American passenger ship Chatham, that had been torpedoed and sunk by German U-boat U-517 in the Strait of Belle Isle between Newfoundland and Labrador (51°53'N, 55°48'W). One week later, on September 3, 1942, together with another Flower-class corvette, the HMCS Shawinigan (K 136), the two ships rescued seventeen survivors from the Canadian merchant ship Donald Stewart, which had been torpedoed and sunk by the same U-517 north-east of Cape Whittle, Labrador in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (50°32'N, 58°46'W). In November 1942, she arrived in Halifax and was reassigned to the Western Local Escort Force (WLEF), followed by an assignment to escort group W-6 in June 1943. In April 1944, she was assigned to group W-5 just before departing for her last major refit. In December 1944, after working up, HMCS Trail joined escort group W-4, which she remained with for the rest of the war.She underwent a refit at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia from mid-July to September 3, 1943, followed by workups at Pictou, Nova Scotia and a further refit at Liverpool, between mid-July and the completion date of October 23, 1944. While at Liverpool, she had an extension of her fo'c's'le (AKA forecastle: the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters). She underwent additional repairs at Halifax, then proceeded to Bermuda to work up in December and left there on January 7, 1945 for Boston, Massachusetts, to resume service with WLEF, until paid off (decommissioned) on July 17th at Sorel, Quebec. Over the course of her existence, commanders for HMCS Trail (K 174) included: Lieutenant George Stanley Hall, RCNR (April 30, 1941 - Oct 8, 1943); Lieutenant George Mitchell Hope, RCNVR (October 9, 1943 - August 20, 1944); Lieutenant David George Bruce Hueston, RCNVR (August 21, 1944 - October 9, 1944); and Lieutenant Donald James Lawson, RCNVR (October 10, 1944 - July 17, 1945). HMCS Trailwas sold for scrap in August 1950 and broken up at Hamilton, Ontario.