The good ship HMCS Brandon saluted for 25 years of service

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This article was published 06/06/2024 (731 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brandon’s namesake ship was honoured on Wednesday at city hall with a flag-raising ceremony and a proclamation declaring the ship’s 25 years of service to the Royal Canadian Navy.

The HMCS Brandon 710 was one of 12 maritime coastal defence vessels built in 1992 and was commissioned on June 5, 1999.

“For 25 years, the HMCS Brandon has carried our city’s name proudly to places very far from here,” Coun. Jason Splett (Ward 8) said at the proclamation ceremony. “And the sailors on board have represented us with distinction.”

Originally built to conduct coastal patrols, minesweeping, law enforcement, pollution surveillance and response, and search and rescue duties, HMCS Brandon has participated in a variety of national and international navy operations, including training and helping both RCMP and Customs Canada with their duties.

George Haggerty, a member of Brandon Salutes who was on the 17-person commission committee for the ship, said even though the ship is now tied up in Esquimalt, B.C., it served Canada well for more than two decades and its crews contributed to the Wheat City’s community when they were able to.

“Hopefully someday they’ll get crews back on her and she’ll start serving Canada again,” Haggerty told attendees at the proclamation ceremony. “But it’s been a good 25 years … she has done a wonderful job for us and for the country.”

Haggerty spoke about HMCS Brandon’s missions — from the Arctic to the Caribbean to help the U.S. Coast Guard deal with drug smuggling. He also told the Sun how throughout the years, members of the ship’s crew would come to Brandon and do community service work, such as serving at the soup kitchen and volunteering with Habitat for Humanity. They also participated in Freedom of the City marches, he told the Sun.

Stories were also shared about Betty Coleman, who was chosen as the sponsor of the HMCS Brandon. Coleman was a Brandonite who knew every sailor on board by name and made sure to give them a Christmas gift, like a toque or a coffee mug with the Wheat City’s crest on it.

She also christened the ship in Halifax, though she missed hitting the ship with the wine bottle the first time.

“Of course, Betty being Betty, she just turned and said, ‘That was my practice one’ and boom, the next one hit the ship and broke the bottle,” Haggerty recalled.

The former navy lieutenant, who served in the reserves, also shared his own memories of having the opportunity to attend a day sail on the ship, saying he was impressed by the ability of the small kitchen galley to produce enough food to feed a large amount of people lunch on short notice.

“It’s amazing what they can do,” Haggerty said. A typical crew for the ship would be about 37 people.

A previous ship named after Brandon, the HMCS Brandon K149, was commissioned in 1941 and served during the Second World War. The ship was broken up after the war in 1945.

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