London's main gun

Photos by Mike Maloney/London Community News/Twitter: mdmaloneyphoto A piece of Canadian naval history will now forever call London home. On Monday (Oct. 1), the three-inch 50 caliber main gun from the St. Laurent class destroyer HMCS Fraser was lifted from the back of a flatbed truck and lowered onto a specially prepared base overlooking the Battle of the Atlantic Memorial located at HMCS Prevost (London’s Naval Reserve Division). The gun, which left Halifax last week, was originally scheduled to arrive in London on Thursday (Sept. 27) but was delayed after being rerouted due to construction on the 401. Despite its later than expected appearance, Lt-Cmdr. Ian Findlater, commander of HMCS Prevost, was one of the many glad to finally have the historic artifact in London. “It has been a couple years of hard work and dedication getting it here,” he said. Pointing to the many people on hand for the gun’s arrival and helping with it’s installation, the commander noted that there has been a large team involved with the acquisition of this historic artifact. “It is quite a piece of naval history and we are glad to have it here at Prevost to augment our Battle of the Atlantic Memorial and Naval Gardens.” Commissioned in 1957, the HMCS Fraser was one of seven St. Laurent class destroyers, the first fully Canadian designed and built major class warships. Classed first as destroyer escort (DDE), then re-classed as destroyer helicopter escort (DDH) in 1965, the Fraser served with the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) until being decommissioned from active service in 1994. Find us on Facebook: London Community News