Archana Cini, Lookout Newspaper
Contributions by Gerald Pash and the Naval Association of Canada, Vancouver Island Branch

  • HMCS Robert Hampton Gray is the sixth and final Harry DeWolf-class Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessel. Named after Lt Robert Hampton Gray, the last Canadian awarded the Victoria Cross. 
  • Simultaneous ceremonies were held in Halifax, Victoria, and Japan, on Aug 9. 
  • Commissioning will take place in 2026 at CFB Esquimalt, when the vessel joins the Pacific Fleet. 

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On Aug 21, the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) officially accepted His Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Robert Hampton Gray.

The vessel is the sixth and final in a new fleet of Harry DeWolf-class Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessel (AOPV). Built under the National Shipbuilding Strategy, Robert Hampton Gray will safeguard Canadian waters, strengthen Arctic sovereignty, and deploy abroad. Notably, the AOPV is capable of operating in first-year ice of 120-centimetre thickness, allowing the RCN unescorted access to previously inaccessible areas of the Arctic.

However, Robert Hampton Gray’s acceptance carries weight far beyond steel and ceremony — its name is an act of remembrance for Lieutenant (Lt) Robert Hampton Gray, the last Canadian to be awarded the Victoria Cross. On Aug 9, 1945, Lt Gray climbed into the cockpit of his Corsair fighter from the aircraft carrier His Majesty’s Ship Formidable, leading an attack on Japanese ships in Onagawa Bay. Despite flying straight into concentrated anti-aircraft fire and taking a hit, he continued with his attack by releasing a bomb on the destroyer Amakusa while flying very low to ensure a successful hit. Struck by his bomb, the vessel capsized and sank. Lt Gray’s flaming aircraft then crashed into the sea. Only 27 years old when he passed, Lt Gray’s body was never recovered.

Exactly 80 years after his passing, on Aug 9, 2025, HMCS Robert Hampton Gray was named in an East Coast ceremony at Halifax Shipyard, Nova Scotia.

At the same time, Canadians also gathered on the West Coast to honour Lt Gray in a Vancouver Island remembrance ceremony at the British Columbia (B.C.) Aviation Museum. Here, representatives of the RCN and the Royal Canadian Airforce (RCAF), members of the Vancouver Island Branch of the Naval Association of Canada, and museum supporters all gathered to remember the navy pilot.

Lt Gray was also honored on Aug 9 in Japan at a memorial raised in Onagawa — the only monument dedicated to a foreign service member on Japanese soil.

With Canada’s Harry DeWolf-class vessels being the first in RCN history to all be named after Canadian war heroes, it is fitting that the final vessel of the fleet bears the name Robert Hampton Gray. The vessel’s commissioning ceremony will take place in 2026 after its arrival to Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Esquimalt, after which it will officially join the Pacific Fleet. Importantly, Robert Hampton Gray reminds us that our navy’s strength rests not only in its ships, but in the courage and commitment of those who serve aboard them.