Naval Radio Section Newport Corner (NRS Newport Corner) is a

Canadian Forces } The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; french: Forces armées canadiennes, ''FAC'') are the unified military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air elements referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and Royal Canadian Air Force. ...

naval radio station located in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

. Founded in 1942, it is still in operation today but remotely controlled from

CFB Halifax Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Halifax is Canada's east coast naval base and home port to the Royal Canadian Navy Atlantic fleet, known as Canadian Fleet Atlantic (CANFLTLANT), that forms part of the formation Maritime Forces Atlantic (MARLANT). I ...

History

NRS Newport Corner was established by the

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack subma ...

(RCN) in 1942 in the St. Croix River valley in Newport Corner, 50 kilometres northwest of

NRS Albro Lake Naval Radio Station Albro Lake (NRS Albro Lake) was a naval radio station operated by the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN). Established in 1942 surrounding Albro Lake, then several kilometres north of the town of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. NRS Albro Lake w ...

in Dartmouth. NRS Newport Corner was a sub-unit of NRS Albro Lake and functioned as the primary transmitting facility, while the receiving facility was located at Albro Lake. A landline connected the two operations. A secondary transmitter was co-located at NRS Albro Lake should the connection to NRS Newport Corner fail. The callsign for NRS Albro Lake (which was responsible for both facilities) was "CFH" and the combined construction cost was $6 million. NRS Newport Corner was a critical component in the success of the RCN and its allies in the

Battle of the Atlantic The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allies of World War II, ...

; it could transmit to locations halfway across the world, stretching from

Murmansk, Russia Murmansk ( Russian: ''Мурманск'' lit. " Norwegian coast"; Finnish: ''Murmansk'', sometimes ''Muurmanski'', previously ''Muurmanni''; Norwegian: ''Norskekysten;'' Northern Sámi: ''Murmánska;'' Kildin Sámi: ''Мурман ланнҍ'' ...

to the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouze ...

. The powerful radio transmissions regularly leaked into passing car radio which would pick up routine Morse Code naval traffic and disrupted local television reception. Transmitters were often moved to low-power during the

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...

hockey playoffs as a courtesy to nearby residents. NRS Albro Lake and its sub-unit NRS Newport Corner was renamed HMCS ''Albro Lake'' on July 1, 1956. Permanent married quarters (PMQs) were constructed on the site during this time. Dartmouth's growth during the post-war years degraded radio reception in

Albro Lake Albro Lake is a lake of Halifax Regional Municipality, in Nova Scotia, Canada in the community of Dartmouth. The lake lends its name to the surrounding Albro Lake neighbourhood of Dartmouth. There are several public parks along the shores of ...

as the town became a city by the early 1960s. Unification of the

in 1968 resulted in the Albro Lake location closing and the unit HMCS ''Albro Lake'' was recommissioned as

CFS Mill Cove Canadian Forces Station Mill Cove (CFS Mill Cove) is a former Canadian Forces Station and currently a naval radio station located near Hubbards, Nova Scotia. Built in 1967, it is remotely operated by the Canadian Forces from CFB Halifax. History ...

when the new receiving facility opened at Mill Cove, approximately 50 kilometres west of Halifax in 1967. NRS Newport Corner functioned much as before, as a detachment of CFS Mill Cove instead of HMCS ''Albro Lake''. Defence cutbacks in the late 1990s saw both the Newport Corner transmitter and the Mill Cove receiver automated from

, eliminating the requirement for a separately administered Canadian Forces Station, thus CFS Mill Cove was decommissioned and both facilities were renamed as "Naval Radio Section". Both the NRS Newport Corner transmitter and NRS Mill Cove receivers are operated remotely from HMCS ''Trinity'' at CFB Halifax and function as detachments of the base.

References

Bruce Forsyth, "Abandoned Canadian Military Bases: Nova Scotia", ''Canadian Military History''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Newport Corner Buildings and structures in Hants County, Nova Scotia Royal Canadian Navy bases Canadian Forces bases in Nova Scotia