 
Left: Unofficial badge. Right:
Official Admiralty badge, approved in 1943
Page 1 of 2
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HMS SMITER ferrying aircraft, July 1944 |
Dedication Ceremony
Burrard's Dry Dock Company, Vancouver, British Colombia
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Above & below: The officers and men of HMS SMITER attend a
dedication ceremony on the flight deck - the church service
was led by The Right Reverend Sir Francis Heathcote, Bishop
of New Westminster B.C and was attended by senior members of
the Burrads staff.
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Above & next two image: Captain L. G. Richardson
RN commanding officer HMS SMITER addresses the
ships company and guests |
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Civilian and other military guests
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Captain L. G. Richardson entertaining guests o
the hanger deck after the service. |
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Officials and managers from the Burrads Dry Dock
company, the yard that carried out the programme
of modifications to the ship before she entered
service with the RN. |
Esquimalt, Vancouver
Island, British Colombia
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Esquimalt, Vancouver Island, British Colombia
April 1944: The Governor of Canada, Major
General Alexander Cambridge, Earl of Athlone and
his wife Princess Alice and party on the flight
deck during their visit to the ship. |
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Esquimalt, Vancouver Island, British Colombia
April 1944: The Governor of Canada, Major
General Alexander Cambridge, Earl of Athlone
with Captain Richardson (left); the Ship’s
Doctor is in the foreground. |
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Esquimalt, Vancouver Island, British Colombia
April 1944: The Guard of Honour awaits the
arrival of the Governor of Canada and party on
their official visit to the ship. |
Esquimalt, Vancouver Island,
British Colombia April 1944: Visit to the ship by the Governor of Canada,
Major General Alexander Cambridge, Earl of Athlone and his wife Princess
Alice. The ship’s company and senior officers on the flight deck; Captain
Richardson is seated to the right of Princess Alice, Commander Pelly to the
left of the Governor.
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Ferry Duties
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SMITER homeward bound with a consignment of
Chance-Vought Corsairs © IWM (A 24437) |
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Electrical Team - Atlantic, 1944 Standing (l to
r): Gilbert Husk, Jack Wilson, Fred Foster
Sitting (l to r): Bill Barford, Buck Hibben,
Terry Oxley |
Operations as a Deck
Landing Training Carrier
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Full circle: a Swordfish of 768 Squadron takes
off form SMITER in the Clyde exercise area,
circles the ship and then approaches for a deck
landing. This sequence of photos shows how
limited the pilot’s view of the deck is as he
comes in to land. |
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The Observers view from a Swordfish of 768
Squadron just after take off form SMITER in the
Clyde exercise area. A second machine waits
ready to follow at the start of a session of
deck landing practice. |
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Above 8 next three pictures: Take offs and
landings by Corsairs, a Firefly and aBarracuda. |
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Dedication ceremony photographs courtesy of Mark Rosenthal, his
father Lt. Michael Rosenthal RNVR
was the Navigating Officer; all other photographs on this page are
from the album of Terry Oxley.
Additional information from Sam Howard whose Grandfather is in a
number of these images.
Special thanks to Fabio Peña, manager
of the
Navsource
Aircraft Carriers & Escort Carriers
Archive for his assistances
Page last edited:
02 December 2018
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