HMCS Cartier

There have been 2 units named Cartier in the Royal Canadian Navy.

HMCS Cartier (Z02)

Originally built as a hydrographic survey vessel Cartier for the Department of Marine and Fisheries she was taken into naval service in 1917. She was commissioned as HMCS Cartier in the Royal Canadian Navy and served as an armed patrol vessel on the East coast during the First World War, from 1917 to 1919. She was paid off and reverted to government service.

At the outbreak of the Second World War she was re-commissioned as HMCS Cartier on September 18, 1939, and served as a training ship at Halifax, Nova Scotia. She was renamed HMCS Charny on December 9, 1941, so that the name "Cartier" could be used for the Francophone Division of the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve in Montreal, Quebec.

• Builder: Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson, Newcastle, United Kingdom.
• Launched: 1910
• First commission: circa 1917
• Paid off: circa 1919
• Second commission: December 18, 1939
• Paid off: November 1, 1941
• Displacement: 556 tons
• Dimensions: 50 m x 8.8 m x 3.3 m
• Speed: 12 knots
• Crew: 60
• Armament: three 12-pound (5.45 kg) guns (3 single mounts)

HMCS Cartier (Naval Reserve Division)

In Montreal, two Half-Companies (totaling 50 officers and sailors each) were formed for the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve (RCNVR) and were established on June 28, 1923. They were named the Montreal (English) Half-Company and the Montreal (French) Half-Company, RCNVR. These titles would be abbreviated to Montreal "E" and "F" Half-Companies. Again in January 1927, they were changed to "A" and "B" respectively. One year later they would be amalgamated to form the Montreal Company, RCNVR. After several years another name change was due so in 1935, the term "Division" would replace "Company".

The separation along language lines would be reintroduced in June 1939, when the Francophone Cartier Division was established. On November 1, 1941, it would be commissioned as HMCS Cartier, and at the same time the Anglophone Montreal Division would be commissioned as HMCS Montréal. The Anglophone unit would go through one more name change in 1943 and become HMCS Donnacona so that the name "Montréal" could be used for the newly built River-class frigate. At the end of the Second World War, we would see a reorganization of the Reserves in Canada. On September 15, 1945 HMCS Cartier would be paid off and merged with HMCS Donnacona.

• Commission: November 1, 1941
• Paid off: September 15, 1945