HMCS Oriole

Type

Sail Training Ketch

Period

20th Century

Nation

Canada

Overview: HMCS Oriole is a sail training ketch of the Royal Canadian Navy, currently based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She is the oldest commissioned vessel in the RCN and also the longest serving commissioned ship in the fleet, used to give junior officers and sailors their introduction to life at sea. Specifications: Built as a steel-hulled ketch with a standard displacement of 68 long tons (92 long tons full load), she is 102 ft (31.1 m) long overall with a 19 ft (5.8 m) beam and a 9 ft (2.7 m) draught. She carries roughly 11,000 sq ft of sail in a Marconi ketch rig, with a mainmast around 94 ft tall, and is fitted with an auxiliary diesel engine for a top speed near 8 knots under power, with a complement of about six crew plus 18 trainees. Service History: Originally launched on 4 June 1921 as the private yacht Oriole IV for George H. Gooderham, Commodore of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club, she served as the club's flagship from 1924 to 1928. She was chartered by the Royal Canadian Navy as a training vessel during the Second World War, returned to private hands afterward, then re-acquired and officially commissioned as HMCS Oriole on 19 June 1952; she moved to Esquimalt, British Columbia in 1954 and remained the RCN's Pacific coast sail trainer for six decades before shifting her homeport back to Halifax in 2018. Notable Facts: Oriole is nicknamed the "last of the Orioles," being the fourth and final vessel in a line of Royal Canadian Yacht Club flagships bearing that name. She has taken part in numerous tall ship festivals, Great Lakes and East Coast training deployments, and ceremonial events, including Canada's 150th anniversary Tall Ships Regatta in 2017 and a cross-Atlantic style tour marking her 100th year of service in 2021.