Hunter Boats built Fairmile class patrol boats in Orillia for the Royal Canadian Navy during WW2.

At the outset of the Second World War, the Royal Canadian Navy had less than a dozen combat boats.
There was an urgent need for boats that could be equipped to detect and combat enemy submarines.
For patrol of homeland waters in the St. Lawrence and off the coast of B.C., Canada followed the lead of the British Admiralty and chose a design that had originally been developed as a motor launch by British boat builder, Fairmile Marine.

The Fairmile design utilized prefabrication of many components which allowed production to be spread across several smaller suppliers. It could also quickly be reconfigured for different roles once in service (torpedoes, mine-sweeping, mine-laying, anti-submarine patrol, convoy support, ambulance duty)

In January 1941, orders for the first 24 Canadian Fairmile B's were signed with boat builders in Ontario, British Columbia, and Halifax. In Ontario, there were seven boat builders with contracts: Midland Boat Works (Midland), Taylor & Sons (Toronto), Greavette (Gravenhurst), Minett-Shields (Bracebridge), Mac-Craft (Sarnia), Grew (Penetaguishene) and Hunter Boats (Orillia).

Employment at Hunter quickly grew from 6 to 125 to deal with the contract. To expedite construction, Hunter shared patterns for underwater fittings with other boat builders.

All of the Canadian Fairmile B's were given a pennant that began with "Q", followed by 3 digits.
The boats were 112 feet in length and propelled by two 650hp engines.

Q060 was the first Fairmile completed by Hunter - and was known as the Mariposa Belle.
Q116 exploded while under construction at Orillia's waterfront on Oct. 13, 1943, resulting in loss of life.

In total, 88 Fairmiles were produced in Canada with 8 being supplied to the U.S. Navy.
Hunter produced 7 Fairmiles. 

Hunter also assisted the war effort with construction of pontoons used by the army to build temporary bridges during the advance across Europe.

By the end of the war in 1945, the Royal Canadian Navy was the world's 5th largest.

For more information, visit Wikipedia link for Canadian Fairmile B.