About Us
We are the Museum of Naval History- but you might know us better by the name of our Cold War warrior, HMCS OJIBWA: an Oberon Class Submarine, and the largest artifact in our collection. How a small museum in Southwestern Ontario came to have a submarine 90 meters (295 ft.) long and five storeys high is a story in itself.
The Elgin Military Museum - in St. Thomas, Ontario is a private not for profit institution established in 1979 by local veterans from all services. This highly respected military museum managed to double its size twice in thirty years without government support. So, already in possession of two M113 APCs, in 2009, they asked National Defence for an old tank as the local Elgin Regiment had been a Tank Delivery Regiment during WW II. The reply came back that there were no tanks available; would EMM be interested something with many tanks i.e., a submarine? And so began Project Ojibwa.
Project OJIBWA - The story of how HMCS OJIBWA came to Port Burwell is spectacular because of the size of the prize, the mountains of red tape, tons of dredged materials, and the vagaries of Mother Nature that threw challenges at our team. The story's success is a credit to the skill of the museum engineering team who never gave up, the steadfast volunteers, and most of all because a small museum in an inland community in Southwestern Ontario identified a need tell the story of the Royal Canadian Navy in a part of the country 1,200 nautical miles from the sea. The thousands of people who turned out in all kinds of weather, all day and through the night to see HMCS OJIBWA make her way from Halifax to Port Burwell proved us right.
The Elgin Military Museum - in St. Thomas, Ontario is a private not for profit institution established in 1979 by local veterans from all services. This highly respected military museum managed to double its size twice in thirty years without government support. So, already in possession of two M113 APCs, in 2009, they asked National Defence for an old tank as the local Elgin Regiment had been a Tank Delivery Regiment during WW II. The reply came back that there were no tanks available; would EMM be interested something with many tanks i.e., a submarine? And so began Project Ojibwa.
Project OJIBWA - The story of how HMCS OJIBWA came to Port Burwell is spectacular because of the size of the prize, the mountains of red tape, tons of dredged materials, and the vagaries of Mother Nature that threw challenges at our team. The story's success is a credit to the skill of the museum engineering team who never gave up, the steadfast volunteers, and most of all because a small museum in an inland community in Southwestern Ontario identified a need tell the story of the Royal Canadian Navy in a part of the country 1,200 nautical miles from the sea. The thousands of people who turned out in all kinds of weather, all day and through the night to see HMCS OJIBWA make her way from Halifax to Port Burwell proved us right.
A Part of ME
Welcome to ME. Museums Elgin is the combined term for the Elgin Military Museum in St. Thomas, Ontario and its 'SUB' station HMCS Ojibwa our Cold War Oberon Class Submarine located in nearby Port Burwell on the north shore of Lake Erie. HMCS Ojibwa is the largest artifact in the Museum of Naval History which will be built alongside the submarine.
The Elgin Military Museum, 30 Talbot St., St. Thomas, Ontario
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HMCS Ojibwa, Museum of Naval History, 3 Pitt St., Port Burwell, Ontario
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