Established near Dartmouth, Nova Scotia in 1942, Naval Radio Station (NRS) Albro Lake call sign CFH, served as a naval radio communications station for the Atlantic Coast. The station was divided into a receiving site at Albro Lake and a transmitter site at Newport Corner, Nova Scotia. Set up under a veil of secrecy during the height of the North Atlantic U-boat threat, this small village near Halifax became the home of an invaluable weapon during the Battle of the Atlantic. Despite a price tag of more than $6 million, an exorbitant expense in those days, the facility more than paid for itself in Allied shipping saved. Its signal could be heard and read from Murmansk to the Falklands and half way around the world. Renamed HMC NRS Albro Lake on July 1, 1956, the station served under that name until her closure.
The growth of Dartmouth from a small town into a city created problems for receiving radio signals at Albro Lake. The Navy decided to relocate the radio station and as a result, Albro Lake closed in 1968.
The Halifax explosion of July 18, 1945 put Albro Lake off the air but only temporarily. Spud Roscoe of Halifax relates the following story about his friend George who was on duty when it happened.
"Trained Operator Telegraphist George D. Crowell, from Liverpool, Nova Scotia, was working the Atlantic Broadcast at the Albro Lake radio station on the evening shift of July 18th, 1945. Around 18:30 local time there, was a lull in this broadcast and George got up to walk around and chat with any of those on duty who were not busy.
The war in Europe had terminated about eight weeks previous to this and nearly all RCN ships were ordered to the Bedford Basin Naval Powder Ammunition Depot to discharge their ammunition as fast as possible. Some of the ships were to be refitted for the war in the Pacific while the rest were to be laid up. There was political pressure to get these ships unloaded and their crews back home as soon as possible. For this reason, many of the rules and regulations were ignored. As a result, this magazine was literally overloaded with explosives of every kind imaginable. They were piled anywhere and everywhere within the magazine compound.
The ammunition depot was less than three miles west of the Albro Lake station and the station itself was situated on a hill. When George got up, he looked out the window towards the magazine and immediately saw the mushroom cloud from the explosion. What timing! Immediately he yelled "EXPLOSION" and instructed everyone to hit the deck. George dove in under a desk with Janie the dog, the station's mascot. One of the staff, believed to be Quigley, had been on the Murmansk run to Russia, and brought this dog back. They claimed she was a Russian wolfhound but George said she looked like a Staffordshire terrier.
Those in the immediate vicinity of George heeded his warning. When the blast struck the station, it blew in all the windows and also severed the control lines from Albro Lake to the Newport Corner transmitter site. These lines ran past the magazine. Albro Lake had been left with receiving but no transmitting capability.
Below, in the photograph of the Operations Room, one can see a Canadian Marconi CM11 transmitter in the upper left corner and it's believed that this is the same one that was installed in 1945. This radio was designated to communicate with the Newport Corner transmitter site in case of emergency. Lieutenant Dill was in command of the Albro Lake station and was on premises when this explosion took place. He ordered George to contact Newport Corner using this CM11.
George kept calling and calling, but did not make contact with Newport Corner. It was the perception that the duty watch at Newport Corner was not paying attention. They did not hear George call nor did they notice that no one was keying the transmitters.
The rest of the Albro staff were to head to the dormitory on the upper floor of the Operations building, collect their personal effects and prepare to abandon the station. It was late in the evening and quite dark when they boarded an army truck. This truck took them to an army camp past the RCAF station at Eastern Passage. They spent the night in an army hut with no bunks or cots and had to sleep on the floor. Later I asked George what became of Janie the dog and he couldn't remember. He suspects someone located her and took her to the camp. After the explosion, most dogs in this area became very nervous whenever hearing thunder-like sounds.
The precise reason for the explosion has never been officially determined. It is believed that a fire, intentionally started on a barge as personnel prepared their evening meal, ignited the grass and brush around the jetty and spread to the wharf where earlier in the afternoon, a corvette had put all of her ammunition ashore.
After the explosion, there was an exodus of the population from Halifax, Dartmouth and all around Halifax Harbour and Bedford Basin. Nearly everyone wanted to get as far from this explosion as possible because there were a series a smaller explosions which occurred after the main blast. Most of the population left their doors and windows wide open to prevent further damage from the secondary blasts. For those who opted to stay behind, they left their broadcast radios on full volume. Radio broadcasting normally shut down at night but the local stations were kept on the air all night with their announcers providing the latest bulletins. To their credit, they kept the population informed and did everything possible to prevent further panic.
The magazine continued rumbling from one small explosion after another all night and put on a magnificent display of fire works. Much of the exploding ammunition was tracer bullets, the ones that leave a visual streak. The last large explosion was heard at 03:55 on the morning of July 19th. The police and army continually patrolled the area to assist with the evacuation and to prevent looting. Dartmouth was closed and evacuated west of Ochterloney Street. This included the Albro Lake station that was two miles west of this street in the direction of the magazine. The north end of Halifax was closed and evacuated.
Photo by Hugh LaFleur
Photo by J. Hayward
Site of the former Naval Radio Station Albro Lake:
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