HMCS Nonsuch

HMCS Nonsuch
Active	1927 - Current
Country	Canada
Branch	Royal Canadian Navy
Type	Stone Frigate
Role	Reserve Unit
Garrison/HQ	Edmonton, Alberta
Motto(s)	A Campis Ad Maria (From the prairies to the sea)
Colours	Gold and Scarlet
Battle honours	First Anglo-Dutch War Kentish Knock, 1652 Portland, 1653 Gabbard, 1653 Franco-Dutch War Texel, 1673 American Revolutionary War St. Lucia, 1778 The Saints, 1782 World War I Jutland, 1916

HMCS Nonsuch is a Naval Reserve Division of the Royal Canadian Navy, based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Referred to as a "stone frigate", Nonsuch is a land-based training establishment.

HMCS Nonsuch

Operations

Nonsuch is properly referred to as a ship, being commissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy. She is part of the Reserves, and therefore operations are usually held on weekdays and certain weekends. However, her sailors may participate in any operation run by the Canadian Armed Forces year round, if they so choose.

History

Nonsuch was formed on March 23, 1927, as a RCN Reserve Half-Company. On November 1, 1941 she was commissioned as a tender to HMCS Naden, now part of CFB Esquimalt. She was commissioned as the independent unit, HMCS Nonsuch, on September 1, 1942. During World War 2, over 3500 sailors, and 114 officers were enlisted at Nonsuch. After the war she transitioned into a peacetime force, and was paid off on November 30, 1964. She was recommissioned on September 26, 1975.

The ships motto is A Campis Ad Maria (From the prairies to the sea).

Battle Honours

Kentish Knock - 1652, Portland - 1653, Gabbard - 1653, Texel - 1673, St Lucia - 1778, The Saints - 1782, Jutland - 1916

HMCS Nonsuch carries on the battle honours of the Royal Navy ships bearing her name in the past.

Etymology

Nonsuch's name comes from the French word "non pareil" meaning "of no equal". Besides being used as a name for many former RN warships, Nonsuch was also the first ship into Hudson Bay in 1688.