Royal Roads Military College : The first naval training college in Canada was the Royal Naval College, established at the Halifax Dockyard in 1911. In 1917, after the Halifax harbour explosion had destroyed most of its buildings, the College was transferred briefly to the Royal Military College (RMC) of Canada in Kingston, Ontario, and then in 1918 to Esquimalt, B.C. In 1922, after graduating 150 naval officers, the College was closed as a result of the reduction in size of the Canadian Navy after the end of the First World War. However, in January 1941 the Department of National Defence established HMCS Royal Roads at Hatley Park in Esquimalt as an officer training establishment designed to support Canada's naval war effort. During the following eighteen months, Royal Roads produced 600 officers for the Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve (RCNVR), many of whom served in the Battle of the Atlantic. In August 1942 the Royal Naval College of Canada was re-established at Royal Roads for the purpose of training Naval Cadets. The College was formally opened on October 21, 1942.
The new College was located on a property originally purchased by former British Columbian Premier and Lieutenant-Governor James Dunsmuir in 1902. The Hatley Park Estate originally comprised 650 acres, to which the Dunsmuir family added Hatley Castle, completed in 1908. The name Royal Roads refers primarily to an anchorage located in Juan de Fuca Strait between the city of Victoria and Albert Bay. In 1947 The College began accepting Royal Canadian Air Force Cadets, changing its name to RCN-RCAF Service College - Royal Roads; in 1948 Royal Roads became a tri-service college, its name being changed to Canadian Services College - Royal Roads. Finally, in 1968, after the merging of the three main branches of the armed forces, Royal Roads adopted the name Royal Roads Military College (RRMC).
Originally, academic instruction at the College included English, French, history, mathematics, mechanics, physics, chemistry, and astronomy, as well as an introduction to engineering appropriate to the needs of a naval engineer officer. Practical and military training included seamanship, pilotage and navigation, gunnery, torpedoing, and signals. In 1947 military studies courses were added. Also in 1947, professional training for the Navy or Air Force was separated from academics and scheduled during the summer, the academic year being shortened to accommodate this training. In 1950 the programme for naval cadets was extended to four years; on graduation cadets became Acting Sub-Lieutenants, and after slightly more than two years of sea training they qualified for the rank of Lieutenant. In 1952 the College began offering a Regular Officers' Training Plan (ROTP), under which cadets enrolled as regular members of the armed forces and were under obligation to serve as commissioned officers in either the Navy, Air Force or Army. The College later added RETP (Reserve Entry Training Plan) and UTPNCM (University Training Plan/Non-Commissioned Officers) programmes.
In 1959 the Province of Ontario gave a charter to RMC in Kingston to grant degrees, after which Royal Roads began to act as a feeder college, offering two-year courses of studies transferrable to RMC. By 1960 the College was offering programmes leading to RMC degrees in general science, honours science, engineering physics, and electrical, mechanical and civil engineering. In 1967 the military studies courses were replaced with a new academic programme entitled Military Leadership and Management, and in 1970 the College began an arts programme, with the class of that year including 20 cadets specifically working toward arts degrees. Finally, in 1975 Royal Roads was given degree-granting status by the provincial government, awarding its first Bachelor degrees (in physics and oceanography) in 1977. In the following years the college added undergraduate degree programmes in physics, computer science, general science, and military and strategic studies. Royal Roads began accepting female recruits in 1984. In 1987, the College initiated a two-year degree programme for Master of Science in Oceanography and Acoustics. The College also developed a strong second-language training programme which attempted to ensure that each cadet graduated with the ability to communicate in both of Canada's official languages. Due to budget cuts the Department of National Defence closed Royal Road and Le Collège Militaire Royal à St-Jean in 1995.
The Chancellor of Royal Roads and the other Canadian military colleges was the Minister of National Defence; however, all three colleges were responsible to the Chief of Personnel Development in the Department of National Defence. The College's Vice-Chancellor and commanding officer was the Commandant. The College was divided into three wings: the Academic Wing, headed by the Principal, which was responsible for all academic activities of the College; the Military Wing, headed by the Vice-Commandant, responsible for military and physical training as well as all other activities involving cadets which were not of an academic nature; and the Administrative Wing, under the control of the Director of Administration, which carried out various support functions. Subordinate to the Military Wing was the Cadet Wing, headed by the Cadet Wing Commander, consisting of a Cadet Wing headquarters and three squadrons of ROTP/RETP Cadets and one of UTPM Cadets, which organized much of the practical military and leadership training of cadets. RG24 General Inventory
