Commissioned in 1942, Cornwallis was built to augment the RCN efforts during WWII. During the war years, HMCS Cornwallis was the largest naval training base in the British Commonwealth. After the war, the base became a discharge centre and then was declared surplus closing February 28, 1946.HMCS Cornwallis was re-commissioned in November of 1948 and began new training, this time to meet the demands of the Cold War. more... See more text