His Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth (HMNB Portsmouth) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
(the others being
HMNB Clyde
His Majesty's Naval Base, Clyde (HMNB Clyde; also HMS ''Neptune''), primarily sited at Faslane on the Gare Loch, is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Devonport and HMNB Portsmouth). It ...
and
HMNB Devonport). Portsmouth Naval Base is part of the city of
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
; it is located on the eastern shore of
Portsmouth Harbour
Portsmouth Harbour is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest between Portsmouth and Gosport in Hampshire. It is a Ramsar site and a Special Protection Area.
It is a large natural harbour in Hampshire, England. Geographically it ...
, north of the
Solent
The Solent ( ) is a strait between the Isle of Wight and Great Britain. It is about long and varies in width between , although the Hurst Spit which projects into the Solent narrows the sea crossing between Hurst Castle and Colwell Bay t ...
and the
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...
. Until the early 1970s, it was officially known as Portsmouth Royal Dockyard (or
HM Dockyard
Royal Navy Dockyards (more usually termed Royal Dockyards) were state-owned harbour facilities where ships of the Royal Navy were built, based, repaired and refitted. Until the mid-19th century the Royal Dockyards were the largest industrial c ...
, Portsmouth); thereafter the term 'Naval Base' gained currency, acknowledging a greater focus on personnel and support elements alongside the traditional emphasis on building, repairing and maintaining ships.
In 1984 Portsmouth's Royal Dockyard function was downgraded and it was formally renamed the 'Fleet Maintenance and Repair Organisation' (FMRO). The FMRO was privatized in 1998, and for a time (from 2002 to 2014), shipbuilding, in the form of
block construction, returned.
Around 2000, the designation HMS ''Nelson'' (which until then had been specific to Portsmouth's Naval
Barracks in Queen Street) was extended to cover the entire base.
The base is the headquarters for two-thirds of the Royal Navy's
surface fleet, and employs up to 17,200 people. The base is also home to a number of commercial shore activities (including a ship repair facility operated by
BAE Systems Maritime); naval logistics, accommodation and messing; and personnel support functions (e.g. medical and dental; education; pastoral and welfare) provided by
Defence Equipment and Support
Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) is a trading entity and joint-defence organisation within the UK Ministry of Defence. It began operating on 2 April 2007, following the merger of the MoD's Defence Procurement Agency and the Defence Logistics ...
. Portsmouth has built sections for, and is the home port to, the two Royal Navy aircraft carriers, and . These ships required the harbour to be dredged to allow safe entry and exit. The project was intended to secure the base's future for the next forty years and would revitalise shipbuilding in the city; but, due to budget cuts in 2013 shipbuilding in Portsmouth was closed in favour of BAE keeping its yards in Glasgow open. It has been speculated this was to help retain Scotland in the union during the 2014 Scottish independence referendum and it has been suggested by the BAE chairman that shipbuilding could return to the city if Scotland voted for independence.
Portsmouth naval base is the oldest in the Royal Navy, and it has been an important part of the
Senior Service's history and the defence of the British Isles for centuries. At one time it was the largest industrial site in the world. It is home to one of the oldest surviving
drydocks
A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...
in the world. The former
Block Mills are of international significance, having been the first factory in the world to employ steam-powered machine tools for mass production.
In 1985 a partnership between the
Ministry of Defence and
Portsmouth City Council
Portsmouth City Council is the local authority of the city of Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It provides a full range of local government s ...
created the Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust to manage part of the historic south-west corner of the Naval Base, under a 99-year lease, as a heritage area:
Portsmouth Historic Dockyard
Portsmouth Historic Dockyard is an area of HMNB Portsmouth, HM Naval Base Portsmouth which is open to the public; it contains several historic buildings and ships. It is managed by the National Museum of the Royal Navy as an umbrella organizatio ...
.
It allows members of the public to visit important maritime attractions such as ''
Mary Rose
The ''Mary Rose'' (launched 1511) is a carrack-type warship of the English Tudor navy of King Henry VIII. She served for 33 years in several wars against France, Scotland, and Brittany. After being substantially rebuilt in 1536, she saw her ...
'', and .
Functioning base
Portsmouth naval base is home to two-thirds of the Royal Navy's surface ships, and employs up to 17,200 people.
Senior personnel
![First Sea Lord on HMS Victory](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/First_Sea_Lord_on_HMS_Victory.jpg)
The
Naval Base Commander (NBC) since March 2019
Commodore
Commodore may refer to:
Ranks
* Commodore (rank), a naval rank
** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom
** Commodore (United States)
** Commodore (Canada)
** Commodore (Finland)
** Commodore (Germany) or ''Kommodore''
* Air commodore ...
Jeremy Bailey. The harbour is under the control of the
King's Harbour Master
A King's Harbour Master (abbreviated as KHM, also known as Queen's Harbour Master or QHM during the reign of a female monarch) is a harbourmaster and public official in Canada and the United Kingdom. Their official responsibilities includes enfor ...
(KHM), working to the Naval Base Commander is currently
Commander
Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain.
...
Steve Hopper, who is the regulatory authority of the Dockyard Port of Portsmouth, an area of approximately that encompasses Portsmouth Harbour and the Eastern Solent. KHM Harbour Control is based in the
Semaphore Tower
An optical telegraph is a line of stations, typically towers, for the purpose of conveying textual information by means of visual signals. There are two main types of such systems; the semaphore telegraph which uses pivoted indicator arms and ...
building. Shipping movements are handled by a team of admiralty pilots headed by the Chief Admiralty Pilot, Nick Randall.
In 1836 the
Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth
The Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, was a senior commander of the Royal Navy for hundreds of years. The commanders-in-chief were based at premises in High Street, Portsmouth from the 1790s until the end of Sir Thomas Williams's tenure, his succes ...
was given accommodation within the Dockyard (in Admiralty House) and in 1889 he was given ''
HMS Victory
HMS ''Victory'' is a 104-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, ordered in 1758, laid down in 1759 and launched in 1765. She is best known for her role as Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805.
She ...
'' to be his ceremonial
flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...
. These privileges were inherited by the
Commander-in-Chief Naval Home Command in 1969 and by the
Second Sea Lord
The Second Sea Lord and Deputy Chief of Naval Staff (formerly Second Sea Lord) is deputy to the First Sea Lord and the second highest-ranking officer to currently serve in the Royal Navy and is responsible for personnel and naval shore establish ...
in 1994. The latter continued (as Commander-in-Chief Naval Home Command) to fly his flag from HMS ''Victory'' (the oldest commissioned warship in the world) until 2012. Since then, the post of
Commander-in-Chief has reverted to the
First Sea Lord
The First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff (1SL/CNS) is the military head of the Royal Navy and Naval Service of the United Kingdom. The First Sea Lord is usually the highest ranking and most senior admiral to serve in the British Armed Fo ...
, and with it the use of ''Victory'' as flagship. The Second Sea Lord is now at
Henry Leach Building on
Whale Island, which is also the headquarters of the
Fleet Commander
The Fleet Commander is a senior Royal Navy post, responsible for the operation, resourcing and training of the ships, submarines and aircraft, and personnel, of the Naval Service. The Vice-Admiral incumbent is required to provide ships, submarine ...
.
List of based ships
Ship of the line
*
''Queen Elizabeth''-class aircraft carriers
![HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/HMS_Queen_Elizabeth_%28R08%29.jpg)
*
*
Type 45 destroyers
* – in refit
*
*
* – in refit
*
*
Type 23 frigates
![HMS St Albans-02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/HMS_St_Albans-02.JPG)
* (planned to transfer to HMNB Devonport)
* (Currently forward deployed to Bahrain for 3 years from 2022)
* (currently in LIFEX refit)
* (planned to transfer to HMNB Devonport)
In changes to base porting arrangements announced in November 2017, HM Ships ''Westminster'', ''Richmond'', ''Kent'' and ''St Albans'' will move to the
HMNB Devonport by 2023; HM Ship will move in the opposite direction. and were also to move to Portsmouth. However, under terms of the 2021 defence white paper ''Monmouth'' retired in that year and ''Montrose'' will follow in 2023. ''Richmond'' becomes a Devonport ship on completion of her refit. ''St Albans'' moved to Devonport in July 2019 in preparation for her major refit.
Hunt-class mine countermeasures vessels
![HMS Chiddingfold (M37)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/HMS_Chiddingfold_%28M37%29.jpg)
*
*
*
* – assigned to
9 Mine Countermeasures Squadron operating from
HMS Jufair
The United Kingdom Naval Support Facility is a Royal Navy base established in Bahrain on 13 April 1935, as part of the port at Mina Salman. In 1950, the United States Navy leased space in HMS ''Jufair'' and following Bahraini independence in 197 ...
in Bahrain
* – assigned to 9 Mine Countermeasures Squadron operating from HMS Jufair
*
River-class patrol vessels
![HMS Mersey-Portsmouth-02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/HMS_Mersey-Portsmouth-02.JPG)
*
*
*
* – forward deployed to the Falklands as guard ship since 2019
* – forward deployed to the Caribbean since 2020
* – forward deployed to
Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
since 2021
* – forward deployed to the Indo-Pacific region since 2021
* – forward deployed to the Indo-Pacific region since 2021
''Archer''-class patrol vessels
* – Southampton Universities Royal Naval Unit
* – Birmingham Universities Royal Naval Unit
* – London Universities Royal Naval Unit
* – Sussex Universities Royal Naval Unit
* – Oxford Universities Royal Naval Unit
Experimental vessel
* (since 2022) – experimental vessel in RN service
Portsmouth Historic Dockyard
![Portsmouth Historic Dockyard - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Portsmouth_Historic_Dockyard_-_geograph.org.uk_-_548109.jpg)
"
Portsmouth Historic Dockyard
Portsmouth Historic Dockyard is an area of HMNB Portsmouth, HM Naval Base Portsmouth which is open to the public; it contains several historic buildings and ships. It is managed by the National Museum of the Royal Navy as an umbrella organizatio ...
" is the name given to the portion of the base which is open to the public; it plays host to:
* The raised wreck of the
Tudor carrack
A carrack (; ; ; ) is a three- or four- masted ocean-going sailing ship that was developed in the 14th to 15th centuries in Europe, most notably in Portugal. Evolved from the single-masted cog, the carrack was first used for European trade fr ...
''
Mary Rose
The ''Mary Rose'' (launched 1511) is a carrack-type warship of the English Tudor navy of King Henry VIII. She served for 33 years in several wars against France, Scotland, and Brittany. After being substantially rebuilt in 1536, she saw her ...
'' viewable in a new (2013)
Mary Rose Museum
The Mary Rose Museum is a historical museum located at Historic Dockyards in Portsmouth in the United Kingdom run by the Mary Rose Trust.
Overview
The museum is dedicated to the 16th-century Tudor navy warship ''Mary Rose'' as well as the hist ...
building.
* , Nelson's flagship at Trafalgar, which (whilst still being
in commission) is also open to the public
* , the first ocean-going
Ironclad (built at
Blackwall on the
River Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...
in 1860 and now moored in the dockyard).
* , a
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
monitor
Monitor or monitor may refer to:
Places
* Monitor, Alberta
* Monitor, Indiana, town in the United States
* Monitor, Kentucky
* Monitor, Oregon, unincorporated community in the United States
* Monitor, Washington
* Monitor, Logan County, West ...
(opened to the public in 2015)
* The
National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth
The National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth, formerly known as the Royal Naval Museum, is a museum of the history of the Royal Navy located in the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard section of HMNB Portsmouth, Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. The ...
, one of the world's leading maritime museums. Exhibits include the Trafalgar Sail (the foretop sail of ''Victory'' used at the
Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (180 ...
, 1805)
* Action Stations, a centre containing interactive exhibits demonstrating various aspects of naval science as well as a number of simulators
* The Dockyard Apprentice exhibition, telling the story of the Dockyard itself and working life within it.
* Portsmouth Harbour Tours
* Boathouse 4 (opened 2015), which tells the 'forgotten story' of the small boats of the Navy and is an active boat building and restoration site.
The
Royal Marines Museum
The Royal Marines Museum is a museum on the history of the Royal Marines from their beginnings in 1664 through to the present day. A registered charity, it is also a designated service museum under the terms of the National Heritage Act 1 ...
is due to relocate to the Historic Dockyard from Eastney; it was scheduled to reopen in 2019 in Boathouse 6, but due to a funding shortage this has been delayed, probably until 2022. Following the relocation of a boatbuilding exhibit (to Boathouse 4), Boathouse 5 is being refurbished as a new 'orientation and ticketing facility'.
The Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust has long sought to extend the area of the Historic Dockyard to cover Dry Docks 4 and 5 and the historic
Block Mills building among others. In 2015 an architectural design competition for the project was won by
Latz+Partner;
however the Ministry of Defence subsequently indicated that property to the north of the Mary Rose will not be ceded for several years at least, due to the site's proximity to the proposed berth of the new
Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier
The ''Queen Elizabeth'' class is a class of two aircraft carriers of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy which are the central components of the UK Carrier Strike Group. The lead ship, , was named on 4 July 2014, in honour of Elizabeth I. She wa ...
s.
History
Along with
Woolwich
Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich.
The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained throu ...
,
Deptford
Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, within the London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century to the late 19th it was home to Deptford Dock ...
,
Chatham
Chatham may refer to:
Places and jurisdictions Canada
* Chatham Islands (British Columbia)
* Chatham Sound, British Columbia
* Chatham, New Brunswick, a former town, now a neighbourhood of Miramichi
* Chatham (electoral district), New Brunswic ...
and
Plymouth
Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west.
Plymouth ...
, Portsmouth has been one of the main
Royal Navy Dockyards
Royal Navy Dockyards (more usually termed Royal Dockyards) were state-owned harbour facilities where ships of the Royal Navy were built, based, repaired and refitted. Until the mid-19th century the Royal Dockyards were the largest industrial c ...
or Bases throughout its history.
Medieval period
Richard I
Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was ...
ordered construction of the first dock on the site in 1194, while his successor
John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Secon ...
added walls around the area in 1212. The docks were used by various kings when embarking on invasions of France through the 13th and 14th centuries, including the
Saintonge War
The Saintonge War was a feudal dynastic conflict that occurred between 1242 and 1243. It opposed House of Capet, Capetian forces supportive of Louis IX of France, King Louis IX's brother Alphonse, Count of Poitiers and those of Hugh X of Lusigna ...
in 1242.
Edward II
Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327), also called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir apparent to t ...
ordered all ports on the south coast to assemble their largest vessels at Portsmouth to carry soldiers and horses to the
Duchy of Aquitaine
The Duchy of Aquitaine ( oc, Ducat d'Aquitània, ; french: Duché d'Aquitaine, ) was a historical fiefdom in western, central, and southern areas of present-day France to the south of the river Loire, although its extent, as well as its name, fluc ...
in 1324 to strengthen defences.
Tudors
![AnthonyRoll-14 Sweepstake](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/AnthonyRoll-14_Sweepstake.jpg)
The first recorded dry dock in the world was built in Portsmouth by
Henry VII in 1495. The first warship built here was the ''
Sweepstake
A sweepstake is a type of contest where a prize or prizes may be awarded to a winner or winners. Sweepstakes began as a form of lottery that were tied to products sold. In response, the FCC and FTC refined U.S. broadcasting laws (creating the ...
'' of 1497; of more significance were the carracks ''Mary Rose'' of 1509 and ''
Peter Pomegranate'' of 1510—both were rebuilt here in 1536. The wreck of the ''Mary Rose'' (which capsized in 1545, but was raised in 1982), is on display in a purpose built museum. A fourth Tudor warship was the
galleass
Galleasses were military ships developed from large merchant galleys, and intended to combine galley speed with the sea-worthiness and artillery of a galleon. While perhaps never quite matching up to their full expectations, galleasses neverthel ...
''Jennett'', built in 1539 and enlarged as a galleon in 1558.
The appointment of one Thomas Jermyn as Keeper of the Dock at Portsmouth is recorded in 1526, with a Clerk of the Stores being appointed from 1542. Contemporary records suggest that the dry dock was enlarged and rebuilt in 1523 in order to accommodate the ''
Henry Grace à Dieu
''Henry Grace à Dieu'' ("Henry, Thanks be to God"), also known as ''Great Harry'', was an English carrack or " great ship" of the King's Fleet in the 16th century, and in her day the largest warship in the world. Contemporary with '' Mary Ros ...
'' (the largest ship of the fleet at that time); but a hundred years later it is described as being filled with rubble.
Following the establishment of
Chatham Dockyard
Chatham Dockyard was a Royal Navy Dockyard located on the River Medway in Kent. Established in Chatham in the mid-16th century, the dockyard subsequently expanded into neighbouring Gillingham (at its most extensive, in the early 20th century, ...
in the mid-1500s, no new naval vessels were built here until 1648, but ships from Portsmouth were a key part of the fleet that drove off the
Spanish Armada
The Spanish Armada (a.k.a. the Enterprise of England, es, Grande y Felicísima Armada, links=no, lit=Great and Most Fortunate Navy) was a Spanish fleet that sailed from Lisbon in late May 1588, commanded by the Duke of Medina Sidonia, an aris ...
in 1588. There are no on-site remains of the Tudor Dock and Yard.
Seventeenth century
![The mast pond in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/The_mast_pond_in_Portsmouth_Historic_Dockyard_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1723815.jpg)
Naval shipbuilding at Portsmouth recommenced under the
English Commonwealth, the first ship being the eponymous
Fourth-rate
In 1603 all English warships with a compliment of fewer than 160 men were known as 'small ships'. In 1625/26 to establish pay rates for officers a six tier naval ship rating system was introduced.Winfield 2009 These small ships were divided i ...
frigate
''Portsmouth'' launched in 1650. (Portsmouth had been a
parliamentarian town during the
civil war
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
). A resident
Commissioner
A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something).
In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...
was first appointed in 1649 (fifteen years later the Commissioner was provided with a house, and extensive gardens, at the centre of the yard).
A new double dry dock (i.e. double the standard length so as to accommodate two ships at once) was built by the Commonwealth government in 1656, on what was then the tip of land at the north-west corner of the yard. It was joined by a single dry dock, just to the south; the yard's one shipbuilding slip (completed in 1651) stood between the two docks. These would all have been built of timber, rather than stone.
By 1660 the dockyard had, in addition to these large-scale facilities for shipbuilding and repairs, a new ropery (1,095 ft in length) and a variety of small storehouses, workshops and dwellings arranged around the site, which was now enclosed by a wooden
palisade
A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a fence or defensive wall made from iron or wooden stakes, or tree trunks, and used as a defensive structure or enclosure. Palisades can form a stockade.
Etymology
''Palisade' ...
. After
the Restoration
Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to:
* Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage
** Audio restoration
** Film restoration
** Image restoration
** Textile restoration
* Restoration ecology
...
, there was continued investment in the site with the building of a new mast pond and mast house in the 1660s.
Dummer's pioneering engineering works
![HMS Illustrious along side in Portsmouth Naval Base](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/HMS_Illustrious_along_side_in_Portsmouth_Naval_Base._MOD_45144951.jpg)
As France began to pose more of a military threat to England, the strategic importance of Portsmouth grew. In 1689, Parliament ordered a new dry dock to be built there, large enough to accommodate the latest
first-rate
In the rating system of the British Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a first rate was the designation for the largest ships of the line. Originating in the Jacobean era with the designation of Ships Royal capable of carrying ...
and
second-rate
In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a second-rate was a ship of the line which by the start of the 18th century mounted 90 to 98 guns on three gun decks; earlier 17th-century second rates had fewer gun ...
ships of the line (which were too big for the existing docks). Work began in 1691; as with all subsequent extensions to the dockyard, the new works were built on
reclaimed land
Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new land from oceans, seas, riverbeds or lake beds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamati ...
(on what had been mud flats, to north of the old double dock) and the civil engineering involved was on an unprecedented scale.
The work was entrusted to
Edmund Dummer, naval engineer and
surveyor to the Navy Board. His new dry dock (the "Great Stone Dock" as it was called) was built to a pioneering new design, using brick and stone rather than wood and with an increased number of 'altars' or steps (the stepped sides allowed shorter timbers to be used for shoring and made it much easier for shipwrights to reach the underside of vessels needing repair). Extensively rebuilt in 1769, the Great Stone Dock is now known as No.5 dock.
Along with the new dock, Dummer proposed that two
wet docks (non-tidal basins) be built: the first ("Lower") Wet Dock was entered directly from the harbour and provided access to the Great Stone Dock; since much expanded, it remains in place (now known as "No. 1 Basin"). The second ("Upper") Wet Dock was entered by way of a channel. To empty the dry dock, Dummer designed a unique system which used water from the Upper Wet Dock to drive a water-wheel on the
ebb tide
Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another.
Tide tabl ...
, which in turn powered a set of pumps. (At high tide, an auxiliary set of pumps was used, powered by a
horse gin
A horse mill is a mill, sometimes used in conjunction with a watermill or windmill, that uses a horse engine as the power source. Any milling process can be powered in this way, but the most frequent use of animal power in horse mills was for grin ...
.)
In 1699 Dummer adapted the channel leading to the Upper Wet Dock, enabling it to be closed off at each end by a set of gates, thus forming a second dry dock (called the "North Stone Dock" after it was rebuilt with stone altars in 1737, and known today as No 6 dock). Severed from the harbour, the Upper Wet Dock became a reservoir into which water from various nearby dry docks could be drained; it was vaulted and covered over at the end of the eighteenth century, but still exists today underground.
By 1700 a shipbuilding slip had been constructed off the (Lower) Wet Dock, parallel with the dry dock (roughly where No 4 dry dock is today).
Eighteenth century
![View of Portsmouth Dockyard, J & J Boydell, 1790](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/View_of_Portsmouth_Dockyard%2C_J_%26_J_Boydell%2C_1790.jpg)
Between 1704 and 1712 a brick wall was built around the Dockyard, following the line of
the town's 17th-century fortifications; together with a contemporary (though altered) gate and lodge, much of the wall still stands, serving its original purpose. A terrace of houses for the senior officers of the yard was built at around this time (Long Row, 1715–19); later in the century it was joined by a further terrace (Short Row, 1787). In 1733 a
Royal Naval Academy
The Royal Naval Academy was a facility established in 1733 in Portsmouth Dockyard to train officers for the Royal Navy. The founders' intentions were to provide an alternative means to recruit officers and to provide standardised training, educa ...
for officer cadets was established within the Dockyard, the Navy's first shore-based training facility and a forerunner of
Britannia Royal Naval College
Britannia Royal Naval College (BRNC), commonly known as Dartmouth, is the naval academy of the United Kingdom and the initial officer training establishment of the Royal Navy. It is located on a hill overlooking the port of Dartmouth, Devon, En ...
in
Dartmouth.
The 'Great Rebuilding'
The second half of the eighteenth century was a key period in the development of Portsmouth (and indeed of the other Royal Dockyards). A substantial planned programme of expansion and modernisation was undertaken from 1761 onwards, driven (as would be future periods of expansion) by increases both in the size of individual ships and in the overall size of the fleet. In the 1760s the Lower Wet Dock (by then known as the Great Basin) was deepened, the Great Stone Dock was rebuilt and a new dry dock (known today as No 4 dock) was built alongside it over a five-year period from 1767. During 1771-76 the former Upper Wet Dock was reconfigured to serve as a reservoir into which water from the dry docks could be drained by way of culverts (enabling ships to be dry docked much more speedily). From 1789 work was begun on replacing the old wooden South Dock with a modern stone dry dock (known today as No 1 dock, it currently accommodates the museum ship HMS ''M33'').
![A plan of His Majesty's dock yard at Portsmouth, 1774](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/A_plan_of_His_Majesty%27s_dock_yard_at_Portsmouth%2C_1774.jpg)
North of the reservoir a channel was dug leading to a new boat basin, beyond which several
shipbuilding slips were constructed on
reclaimed land
Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new land from oceans, seas, riverbeds or lake beds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamati ...
at what became known as the North Corner of the dockyard.
The rest of the reclaimed land was given over to storage space for timber with
saw pit
A saw pit or sawpit is a pit over which timber is positioned to be sawed with a long two-handled saw, usually a whipsaw, by two people, one standing above the timber and the other below. It was used for producing sawn planks from tree trunks, whi ...
s and
seasoning sheds alongside, as shown in the dockyard model of 1774.
The open ground between the Basin and the officers' terrace was likewise used to store timber.
Several of Portsmouth Dockyard's most notable historic buildings date from this period, with several older wooden structures being replaced in brick on a larger scale. The three great storehouses (Nos 9, 10 & 11) were built between 1764 and 1785 on a wharf, alongside a deep canal (or
camber
Camber may refer to a variety of curvatures and angles:
* Camber angle, the angle made by the wheels of a vehicle
* Camber beam, an upward curvature of a joist to compensate for load deflection due in buildings
* Camber thrust in bike technology
* ...
) which allowed transport and merchant vessels to moor and load or unload goods; the camber was rebuilt in
Portland stone between 1773 and 1785.
On the other side of the camber, on newly reclaimed land, two more sizeable brick storehouses were built to serve as a sail loft and a rigging store; the reclaimed land was later named Watering Island after a fresh water supply was provided for ships mooring alongside.
The Double Ropery, over 1,000 ft in length dates from the same period; it is, however, the sixth
ropehouse (since 1665) to have stood on the site. Both its immediate predecessors were destroyed by fire (in 1760 and 1770) and the current building was itself gutted by fire in 1776 as the result of an
arson attack
Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, water ...
. It is called a 'double' ropery because the spinning and laying stages take place in the same building (on different floors) rather than on two separate sites. Other buildings associated with ropemaking (including
hemp
Hemp, or industrial hemp, is a botanical class of ''Cannabis sativa'' cultivars grown specifically for industrial or medicinal use. It can be used to make a wide range of products. Along with bamboo, hemp is among the fastest growing plants o ...
houses, a
hatchelling house,
tarring house and storehouses) were laid out alongside and parallel to the ropehouse; they largely date from the same period.
Later, in 1784, a large new house was built for the Dockyard Commissioner. Unusually for the time it was designed by a civilian architect (
Samuel Wyatt
Samuel Wyatt (8 September 1737, Weeford, Staffs. – London, 8 February 1807) was an England, English architect and engineer. A member of the Wyatt family, which included several notable 18th- and 19th-century English architects, his work was prima ...
, with
Thomas Telford
Thomas Telford FRS, FRSE, (9 August 1757 – 2 September 1834) was a Scottish civil engineer. After establishing himself as an engineer of road and canal projects in Shropshire, he designed numerous infrastructure projects in his native Scotla ...
as clerk-of-works); most other dockyard buildings were designed in-house. The dockyard
chapel
A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...
, built eighty years earlier, was demolished to make way for the new Commissioner's house and a new chapel was built nearby. After the old Commissioner's House had been demolished, four identical quadrangular buildings were built, flanking the timber ground east of the Basin; as well as providing storage space, they accommodated workshops for a variety of trades, including joiners, wheelwrights, wood-carvers, capstan-makers and various other craftsmen. At the same time a set of offices for the senior officers of the yard was built overlooking the docks and basin; it continues to provide office space to this day.
Samuel Bentham and industrial revolution
![Looking across Basin Number 1 - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/Looking_across_Basin_Number_1_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1405317.jpg)
In 1796
Samuel Bentham
Sir Samuel Bentham (11 January 1757 – 31 May 1831) was a noted English mechanical engineer and naval architect credited with numerous innovations, particularly related to naval architecture, including weapons. He was the only surviving siblin ...
was appointed Inspector General of Naval Works by
the Admiralty
The Admiralty was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy until 1964, historically under its titular head, the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of it ...
with the brief of modernising the Royal Dockyards. As such, he took on responsibility for overseeing the continued rebuilding at Portsmouth and initiated further key engineering works. A prolific inventor and precision engineer, Bentham's initiatives at Portsmouth ranged from instituting new management principles in the manufacturing departments to developing the first successful steam-powered
bucket dredger, which began work in the harbour in 1802.
His other projects included the following:
The 1761 rebuilding plan had envisaged the old wooden double dock being refurbished, but Bentham instead proposed expanding the Basin (building over the double dock in the process) and adding a further pair of single docks built entirely of stone (unlike previous 'stone docks' which had had timber floors). The proposal was accepted; the new docks (now known as Nos 2 and 3 docks) were completed in 1802-3 and are still in place today (accommodating HMS ''Victory'' and the ''Mary Rose'' respectively). While constructing a new entrance to the Basin, Bentham introduced the innovation of an inverted masonry arch to tie together the walls on either side. He went on to use the same principle in constructing the new dry docks attached to the basin; it soon became standard for dock construction around the world. In constructing the docks and basin he made pioneering use of
Smeaton's waterproof
cement
A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mix ...
. He also designed a "
ship caisson" to close off the entrance to the basin (another innovation which soon became a standard design).
To deal with the increasing number of docks, Bentham in 1797 proposed replacing one of the horse pumps above the reservoir with a steam engine. His plan was that the engine should be used not only to drain the reservoir (by night) but also to drive a sawmill and woodworking machinery (during the day); he also envisaged linking it to a freshwater well, to enable water to be pumped through a network of pipes to various parts of the dockyard. A
table engine
A table engine is a variety of stationary steam engine where the cylinder is placed on top of a table-shaped base, the legs of which stand on the baseplate which locates the crankshaft bearings. The piston rod protrudes from the top of the cylinder ...
, designed by Bentham's staff chemist
James Sadler, was installed in 1799; it represented the first use of steam power in a Royal Naval Yard. By 1800 a second steam engine (a
Boulton & Watt
Boulton & Watt was an early British engineering and manufacturing firm in the business of designing and making marine and stationary steam engines. Founded in the English West Midlands around Birmingham in 1775 as a partnership between the Eng ...
beam engine) was being installed alongside the first. Meanwhile, Bentham designed and built a series of subterranean vaulted chambers over the reservoir, upon which he erected a pair of parallel three-storey workshops to contain reciprocating and circular saws, planning machines and morticing machines, built to his own designs, to be driven by the two engines (which were accommodated together with their boilers in the south workshop). Tanks installed on the upper floor provided a
head of water for Bentham's aforementioned dockyard-wide pipe network, providing both salt water for firefighting and fresh water for various uses (including, for the first time, provision of drinking water to ships on the wharves) sourced from a newly sunk 274 ft well.
Between the two Wood Mills buildings a single-storey workshop was built in 1802 to accommodate what soon came to be recognised as the world's first steam-powered factory for mass production:
Portsmouth Block Mills
The Portsmouth Block Mills form part of the Portsmouth Dockyard at Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, and were built during the Napoleonic Wars to supply the British Royal Navy with pulley blocks. They started the age of mass-production using ...
.
Marc Brunel
Sir Marc Isambard Brunel (, ; 25 April 1769 – 12 December 1849) was a French-British engineer who is most famous for the work he did in Britain. He constructed the Thames Tunnel and was the father of Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
Born in Franc ...
, father of
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel (; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was a British civil engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history," "one of the 19th-century engineering giants," and "on ...
, famously designed the machines, which manufactured ships'
pulley blocks through a total of fifteen separate stages of production. Having been presented with Brunel's designs, which would be built by
Henry Maudslay
Henry Maudslay ( pronunciation and spelling) (22 August 1771 – 14 February 1831) was an English machine tool innovator, tool and die maker, and inventor. He is considered a founding father of machine tool technology. His inventions were ...
, Bentham incorporated them into his woodworking complex and linked them to the engines by way of
line shaft
A line shaft is a power-driven rotating shaft for power transmission that was used extensively from the Industrial Revolution until the early 20th century. Prior to the widespread use of electric motors small enough to be connected directly to e ...
s.
At the same time as building his Wood Mills, Bentham, with his deputy
Simon Goodrich, was constructing a Metal Mills complex a little to the north-east. Alongside a smithery were a
copper-smelting furnace and
refinery
A refinery is a production facility composed of a group of chemical engineering unit processes and unit operations refining certain materials or converting raw material into products of value.
Types of refineries
Different types of refineries ...
, and a steam engine which drove a
rolling mill
In metalworking, rolling is a metal forming process in which metal stock is passed through one or more pairs of rolls to reduce the thickness, to make the thickness uniform, and/or to impart a desired mechanical property. The concept is simil ...
and
tilt hammer
A trip hammer, also known as a tilt hammer or helve hammer, is a massive powered hammer. Traditional uses of trip hammers include pounding, decorticating and polishing of grain in agriculture. In mining, trip hammers were used for crushing metal ...
s. These facilities were for recycling the
copper sheathing
Copper sheathing is the practice of protecting the under-water hull of a ship or boat from the corrosive effects of salt water and biofouling through the use of copper plates affixed to the outside of the hull. It was pioneered and developed by ...
of ships' hulls; additional facilities for iron work were soon added and a
millwrights
A millwright is a craftsperson or skilled tradesperson who installs, dismantles, maintains, repairs, reassembles, and moves machinery in factories, power plants, and construction sites.
The term ''millwright'' (also known as ''industrial mecha ...
' shop was established nearby. The Wood Mills, Block Mills, Metal Mills and Millwrights' department were all placed under Goodrich's supervision as Mechanist to the Royal Navy.
Nineteenth century
![Portsmouth Dockyard ca](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Portsmouth_Dockyard_ca._1840.jpg)
In 1800, the Royal Navy had 684 ships and the Dockyard was the largest industrial complex in the world. In 1805 Horatio
Nelson
Nelson may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey
* ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers
* ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...
toured the newly opened block mills before embarking from Portsmouth on HMS ''Victory'', leaving Britain for the last time before his death at the Battle of Trafalgar.
From 1814 wooden covers were built over the slips and some of the docks to designs by
Robert Seppings
Sir Robert Seppings, FRS (11 December 176725 April 1840) was an English naval architect. His experiments with diagonal trusses in the construction of ships led to his appointment as Surveyor of the Navy in 1813, a position he held until 1835.
Bi ...
.
From 1815 the system of Dockyard apprenticeship was supplemented by the establishment of a
School of Naval Architecture
A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compul ...
in Portsmouth (for training potential Master Shipwrights), initially housed in the building which faces Admiralty House on South Terrace. Taking on students from the age of 14, this was the forerunner of Portsmouth Dockyard School (later Technical College) which continued to provide specialist training until 1970.
Victorian and Edwardian dockyard expansion
![HMS Victory MOD 45136785](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/HMS_Victory_MOD_45136785.jpg)
The adoption of
steam propulsion for warships led to large-scale changes in the Royal Dockyards, which had been built in the
age of sail. The Navy's first 'steam factory' was built at
Woolwich
Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich.
The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained throu ...
in 1839; but it soon became clear that the site was far too small to cope with this revolutionary change in ship building and maintenance. Therefore, in 1843, work began in Portsmouth on further
reclamation of land
Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new land from oceans, seas, riverbeds or lake beds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamat ...
to the north of the then Dockyard to create a new 7-acre
basin (known today as No 2 Basin) with a sizeable factory alongside for manufacturing
marine steam engine
A marine steam engine is a steam engine that is used to power a ship or boat. This article deals mainly with marine steam engines of the reciprocating type, which were in use from the inception of the steamboat in the early 19th century to their ...
s. The Steam Factory, on the western edge of the basin, housed a series of workshops: for construction and repair of boilers, for
punching
Punching is a forming process that uses a punch press to force a tool, called a ''punch'', through the workpiece to create a hole via shearing. Punching is applicable to a wide variety of materials that come in sheet form, including sheet meta ...
and
shearing
Sheep shearing is the process by which the woollen fleece of a sheep is cut off. The person who removes the sheep's wool is called a '' shearer''. Typically each adult sheep is shorn once each year (a sheep may be said to have been "shorn" or ...
and for heavy
turning
Turning is a machining process in which a cutting tool, typically a non-rotary tool bit, describes a helix toolpath by moving more or less linearly while the workpiece rotates.
Usually the term "turning" is reserved for the generation ...
; there was also an erecting shop for assembling the finished engines. The upper floor housed
pattern
A pattern is a regularity in the world, in human-made design, or in abstract ideas. As such, the elements of a pattern repeat in a predictable manner. A geometric pattern is a kind of pattern formed of geometric shapes and typically repeated l ...
shops, fitting shops and other light engineering workshops.
Line shaft
A line shaft is a power-driven rotating shaft for power transmission that was used extensively from the Industrial Revolution until the early 20th century. Prior to the widespread use of electric motors small enough to be connected directly to e ...
s throughout were powered by an 80
hp steam engine accommodated to the rear. New Brass and Iron Foundries were also built soon afterwards, on the southern edge of the basin, and in 1852 the Great Steam Smithery was opened alongside the Steam Factory (where Bentham's Metal Mills had formerly stood), containing a pair of
steam hammers designed by
James Nasmyth
James Hall Nasmyth (sometimes spelled Naesmyth, Nasmith, or Nesmyth) (19 August 1808 – 7 May 1890) was a Scottish engineer, philosopher, artist and inventor famous for his development of the steam hammer. He was the co-founder of Nasmyth, ...
. Three new dry docks were constructed over the next 20 years, opening off the new basin, and another was built on reclaimed land west of the basin alongside the shipbuilding slips, which were now five in number (Slips 3-5 were covered by interlinking metal roofs, believed to have comprised the widest iron span in Britain when built in 1845).
Meanwhile, facilities for building wooden hulls continued to be updated with a large sawmill having been built behind the slips in 1843. It transpired, however, that developments in shipbuilding technology led to several of the new amenities having to be rebuilt and expanded almost as soon as they were finished.
![UK Defence Imagery Naval Bases image 02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/UK_Defence_Imagery_Naval_Bases_image_02.jpg)
Technological change affected not only ships' means of propulsion, but the materials from which they were built. By 1860 wooden warships, vulnerable as they were to modern armaments, had been rendered largely obsolescent. The changeover to metal hulls not only required new building techniques, but also heralded a dramatic and ongoing increase in the potential size of new vessels. The Dockyards found themselves having to expand in kind. At Portsmouth, plans were drawn up in the late 1850s for further land reclamation north and east of the new Steam Basin, and from 1867 work was begun on a complex of three new interconnected basins, each of 14–22 acres. Each basin served a different purpose: ships would proceed from the repairing basin, to the rigging basin, to the fitting-out basin, and exit from there into a new tidal basin, ready to take on fuel alongside the sizeable
coaling wharf there. Three dry docks were also constructed as part of the plan, as well as parallel pair of sizeable locks for entry into the basin complex; the contemporary
pumping station
Pumping stations, also called pumphouses in situations such as well drilling, drilled wells and drinking water, are facilities containing pumps and equipment for pumping fluids from one place to another. They are used for a variety of infrastru ...
which stands nearby not only served to drain these docks and locks, but also delivered compressed air to power cranes, caissons and capstans. This "Great Extension" of Portsmouth Dockyard was largely completed by 1881.
In 1860 policing of the dockyard was also transferred to the new
No. 2 Division of the Metropolitan Police, a role it fulfilled until 1933.
![Aerial Photograph of Portsmouth Dockyard and Surrounding Area](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Aerial_Photograph_of_Portsmouth_Dockyard_and_Surrounding_Area._MOD_45144950.jpg)
Before the end of the century, however, it was recognised that there would have to be still further expansion across all the Royal Dockyards in order to keep pace with the increasing likely size of future naval vessels. At Portsmouth two more dry docks, Nos 14 & 15, were built alongside the Repairing Basin in 1896; within ten years these, together with the adjacent docks 12 & 13, had to be extended, and by the start of World War I Dock No 14 was over 720 ft in length. The largest Naval ships were now too large for the interlocking basins, so to guarantee access to the new dry docks the intervening walls between the basins were removed to create a single large non-tidal body of water (No 3 Basin), with a pair of 850 ft entrance locks being built at the same time. These (C & D locks) were operational from 1914, and they, together with the enlarged basin and docks, have remained in use, largely unaltered, ever since.
Alongside the new Basins new buildings were erected, on a huge scale, to accommodate new manufacturing and construction processes. These included a gun-mounting workshop (1881, producing
gun turrets),
torpedo
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, su ...
workshop (1886), and the very large New Factory of 1905, to the east of No 13 dock, which was soon put to the task of
fitting out
Fitting out, or outfitting, is the process in shipbuilding that follows the float-out/launching of a vessel and precedes sea trials. It is the period when all the remaining construction of the ship is completed and readied for delivery to her o ...
Dreadnoughts
The dreadnought (alternatively spelled dreadnaught) was the predominant type of battleship in the early 20th century. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's , had such an impact when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her ...
.
Electrification
Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source.
The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic histor ...
came to the Yard with the opening of a 9,800 kW power station in 1906.
The dockyard railway
![Portsmouth harbour 01 (8009877358)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Portsmouth_harbour_01_%288009877358%29.jpg)
In 1843 construction began on a railway system within the dockyard. In 1846 this was connected to
Portsmouth Town railway station
Portsmouth & Southsea railway station is a Grade II listed building and the main railway station in the Landport area of the city of Portsmouth in Hampshire, England. It is close to the Commercial Road shopping area. British Transport Police mai ...
via what became known as the Admiralty Line. By 1952 there was over 27 miles of track within the dockyard.
Its use declined in the 1970s: the link to the mainline was closed in 1977 and locomotives ceased operating within the yard the following year.
![Impressively restored shelter within Portsmouth Dockyard - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Impressively_restored_shelter_within_Portsmouth_Dockyard_-_geograph.org.uk_-_902005.jpg)
In 1876 a railway station was built on what became known as South Railway Jetty on Watering Island (west of the Semaphore Tower). It was served by a separate branch line which crossed the South Camber by way of a
swing bridge
A swing bridge (or swing span bridge) is a movable bridge that has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its center of gravity, about which the swing span (turning span) can then pi ...
and continued on a viaduct over the
foreshore
The intertidal zone, also known as the foreshore, is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide (in other words, the area within the tidal range). This area can include several types of habitats with various species ...
, joining the main line just east of
Portsmouth Harbour railway station
Portsmouth Harbour railway station is a railway station in Portsmouth, England. It is situated beside Gunwharf Quays in the city's harbour, and is an important transport terminal, with a bus interchange and ferry services to Gosport and the ...
. A small railway station and ornamental cast-iron shelter served in particular the needs of
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
and her family, who would often transfer from yacht to train at this location; this line soon became the main arrival/departure route for personnel. The swing bridge and viaduct were damaged in the wartime blitz and subsequently dismantled in 1946. The Royal Naval Railway Shelter has recently been moved to the other side of the island and restored.
Twentieth century
![HMS Dreadnought in drydock at Portsmouth 1916 IWM SP 3127](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/HMS_Dreadnought_in_drydock_at_Portsmouth_1916_IWM_SP_3127.jpg)
In 1900 the Third class cruiser
HMS ''Pandora'' was launched, followed by the armoured cruisers
''Kent'' in 1901 and
''Suffolk'' in 1903. Two battleships of the pre-Dreadnought ''King Edward VII'' Class were launched in 1904—
''Britannia'' and
''New Zealand''. The first modern battleship,
''Dreadnought'', was built in 1905–06, taking one day more than a year. Further
dreadnought
The dreadnought (alternatively spelled dreadnaught) was the predominant type of battleship in the early 20th century. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's , had such an impact when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her ...
s followed—
''Bellerophon'' in 1907,
''St. Vincent'' in 1908,
''Orion'' in 1910,
''King George V'' in 1911,
''Iron Duke'' in 1912 and
''Queen Elizabeth'' in 1913.
On 8 April 1913, Portsmouth Dockyard opened the first of two new large 850 ft long drydock locks directly connecting Portsmouth Harbour to No.3 Basin, the first named 'C' Lock. A year later, 'D' Lock was opened in April 1914.
First World War
The largest vessel launched at Portsmouth during World War I was the 27,500-ton battleship
''Royal Sovereign'' in 1915. The only other launchings during the war were the submarines
''J1'' and
''J2'' in 1915, and
''K1'',
''K2'' and
''K5'' in 1916. Some 1,200 vessels, however, underwent a refit at Portsmouth during the course of the War, and over the same period 1,658 ships were either hauled up the slipways or placed in dry-dock for repairs.
Inter-war years
![Portsmouth harbour (8009868607)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/Portsmouth_harbour_%288009868607%29.jpg)
The period after the war was inevitably a time of contraction at the Dockyard, and there were many redundancies. In accordance with the Government's
Ten Year Rule
The Ten Year Rule was a British government guideline, first adopted in August 1919, that the armed forces should draft their estimates "on the assumption that the British Empire would not be engaged in any great war during the next ten years".
The ...
the Dockyard worked over the next decade and a half with a presumption of enduring peace rather than future conflict.
The majority of warships launched at Portsmouth following the end of the War were cruisers—
''Effingham'' in 1921,
''Suffolk'' in 1926,
''London'' in 1927,
''Dorsetshire'' in 1929,
''Neptune'' in 1933, and
''Amphion'' and
''Aurora'' in 1934. There were also four destroyers—
''Comet'' and her sister
''Crusader'' in 1931, and the
flotilla leader
A flotilla leader was a warship of late 19th century and early 20th century navies suitable for commanding a flotilla of destroyers or other small warships, typically a small cruiser or a large destroyer (known as a destroyer leader). The flotil ...
s
''Duncan'' in 1932 and
''Exmouth'' in 1934. The only other vessels launched between the wars were the mining tenders
''Nightingale'' in 1931 and
''Skylark'' in 1932.
New Dockyard facilities included a Steel Foundry, built in 1926. The "
Semaphore Tower
An optical telegraph is a line of stations, typically towers, for the purpose of conveying textual information by means of visual signals. There are two main types of such systems; the semaphore telegraph which uses pivoted indicator arms and ...
" was opened in 1930, a facsimile of its namesake (1810–24) which had been destroyed in a fire in 1913. The arch beneath incorporates the Lion Gate, once part of the 18th-century fortifications. The original Semaphore Tower nestled between a sizeable pair of buildings: the Rigging Store and Sail Loft (both of 1784) which perished in the same fire; in the end only one of the pair was rebuilt, as a five-storey office block.
Second World War
The destroyer flotillas (the capital ships having been evacuated to
Scapa Flow), were essential to the defence of the
English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
, particularly during
Operation Dynamo
Operation or Operations may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity
* Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory
* ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...
(the Dunkirk evacuation) and against any potential
German Invasion German invasion may refer to:
Pre-1900s
* German invasion of Hungary (1063)
World War I
* German invasion of Belgium (1914)
* German invasion of Luxembourg (1914)
World War II
* Invasion of Poland
* German invasion of Belgium (1940)
* G ...
. The base itself served a major refit and repair role. The Germans realised this importance and the city and base in particular was heavily bombed.
Portsmouth and the Naval Base itself were the headquarters and main departure point for the military and naval units destined for
Sword Beach
Sword, commonly known as Sword Beach, was the code name given to one of the five main landing areas along the Normandy coast during the initial assault phase, Operation Neptune, of Operation Overlord. The Allied invasion of German-occupied Fr ...
on the
Normandy
Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
coast as a part of
Operation Overlord
Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allies of World War II, Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Front (World War II), Western Europe during World War II. The operat ...
and the
D-Day
The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...
landings on 6 June 1944. Troops destined for each of the landing beaches left from Portsmouth aboard vessels such as the armed merchant cruisers HMCS ''Prince Henry'' and HMCS ''Prince David'', escorted by the Canadian destroyers HMCS
''Algonquin'' and
''Sioux''. The majority of the naval support for the operation left from Portsmouth, including the
Mulberry Harbours. Boathouse 4 (built around the start of hostilities) contributed to the construction of
landing craft and support vessels as well as more specialised craft such as
midget submarines
A midget submarine (also called a mini submarine) is any submarine under 150 tons, typically operated by a crew of one or two but sometimes up to six or nine, with little or no on-board living accommodation. They normally work with mother ships, ...
.
Post Second World War
![HMS Eagle (R05) MOD 45139767](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/61/HMS_Eagle_%28R05%29_MOD_45139767.jpg)
There was much rebuilding, demolition and consolidation of bomb-damaged buildings in the aftermath of the Second World War.
In June 1981 the government announced that shipbuilding would cease at Portsmouth, that the workforce would be reduced from just under 7,000 to 1,225 and that the erstwhile Royal Dockyard would become a Fleet Maintenance & Repair Organisation (FMRO) with a minor support and repair role (Devonport and Rosyth would take over major refits and ship modernisation work).
The run-down of the Dockyard was put on hold, however, at the start of the
Falklands Conflict
The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland I ...
, with all available hands being put to the task of preparing the
Falklands Task Force.
=Falklands Task Force
=
In 1982
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
invaded 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 Dubouzet ...
. In response a
task force of British military and merchant ships was dispatched from Portsmouth Naval Base to the islands in the South Atlantic to reclaim them for the United Kingdom.
The task force consisted of the following ships:
![Defence Imagery - 45149908 - HMS Invincible returning home](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Defence_Imagery_-_45149908_-_HMS_Invincible_returning_home.jpg)
* Two aircraft carriers
* Two landing ship docks
* Eight destroyers
* Fifteen frigates
* Three patrol ships
* Five submarines
* Three survey vessels
* Five minesweepers
* Ten fleet tankers
* Six logistic landing ships
* Five supply ships
* One helicopter supply ship
* Eighteen merchant ships including troop/cruise ships such as ''
Queen Elizabeth 2'' and ''
SS Canberra
SS ''Canberra'' was an ocean liner, which later operated on cruises, in the P&O fleet from 1961 to 1997. She was built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland at a cost of £17 million. The ship was named on 17 March 19 ...
''
Following some losses, the majority of these ships returned to Portsmouth later that year.
![HMS Dundas (40736748325)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/HMS_Dundas_%2840736748325%29.jpg)
Thereafter, some of the cuts that had been proposed in the
1981 Defence White Paper were reversed. The retention of a larger fleet meant that a larger workforce was retained at Portsmouth than had been envisaged (around 2,800); however the run-down of the old Dockyard went ahead, with dry docks 1–7 being closed, just under half the dockside cranes demolished and ten out of the nineteen major workshops on the site taken out of service.
The dockyard's 'Edwardian ''piece de résistance,
the Great Factory of 1905, ceased manufacturing in 1986 and was converted to serve as a warehouse.
In the older parts of the dockyard several buildings, ranging from storehouses to foundries, were converted for office use; this trend continued in later years. Similarly, the Great Steam Smithery (1852) adjoining the Steam Factory (aka No 2 Ship Shop) underwent conversion in 1993 to provide squash courts, offices, messrooms and a self-service laundry.
In the same year, Victory Building, a new neo-Georgian office block, was opened on a prominent site facing the historic No 1 basin (just one of several new office blocks built across the dockyard site in each decade of the second half of the century); it accommodated staff of the Second Sea Lord, relocated there from London.
In 1998 the work of the FMRO was contracted out to the
private sector
The private sector is the part of the economy, sometimes referred to as the citizen sector, which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government.
Employment
The ...
in the shape of
Fleet Support Limited
Fleet Support Limited (FSL) is a British company formed to run HMNB Portsmouth's Fleet Maintenance and Repair Organisation (FMRO) on a commercial basis. The FMRO was an agency of the Ministry of Defence responsible for repair and maintenance o ...
.
Twenty-first century
![Portsmouth (England) naval dockyard](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Portsmouth_%28England%29_naval_dockyard.jpg)
Shipbuilding recommenced on the site in 2003 following the construction of a facility by
VT Group
VT Group is a privately held United States defense and services company, with its origins in a former British shipbuilding group, previously known as Vosper Thornycroft. The British part of VT Group was integrated into Babcock International in t ...
on the site of No. 13 dry dock (having relocated there from the old
Thornycroft
Thornycroft was an English vehicle manufacturer which built coaches, buses, and trucks from 1896 until 1977.
History
In 1896, naval engineer John Isaac Thornycroft formed the Thornycroft Steam Carriage and Van Company which built its firs ...
Yard in
Woolston, Southampton
Woolston is a suburb of Southampton, Hampshire, located on the eastern bank of the River Itchen. It is bounded by the River Itchen, Sholing, Peartree Green, Itchen and Weston.
The area has a strong maritime and aviation history. The former ...
).
Modular construction
Modular construction is a construction technique which involves the prefabrication of 2D panels or 3D volumetric structures in off-site factories and transportation to construction sites for assembly. This process has the potential to be superior ...
of warships took place in an interlinked complex of large buildings: the Steelwork Production Hall, the Unit Construction Hall and the Ship Assembly Hall. Construction of modules for the
Type 45 destroyers
The Type 45 destroyer, also known as the D or ''Daring'' class, is a class of six guided-missile destroyers built for the United Kingdom's Royal Navy in the early 21st century. The class is primarily designed for anti-aircraft and anti-missil ...
and
Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier
The ''Queen Elizabeth'' class is a class of two aircraft carriers of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy which are the central components of the UK Carrier Strike Group. The lead ship, , was named on 4 July 2014, in honour of Elizabeth I. She wa ...
s took place here, latterly under
BAE Systems Maritime – Naval Ships
BAE Systems Maritime – Naval Ships is a wholly owned subsidiary company of BAE Systems, specialising in naval surface shipbuilding and combat systems integration. One of three divisions of BAE Systems Maritime, along with BAE Systems Submari ...
; but in 2013 it was announced that shipbuilding in Portsmouth would cease;
as of 2016 the former shipbuilding complex is being used for repairing
minehunters and other small craft.
BAE Systems
BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenues. ...
, having subsumed Fleet Support Ltd, continues to manage ship repair and maintenance facilities around No. 3 Basin at Portsmouth.
Trafalgar 200
In the summer of 2005 Portsmouth Naval Base and the Solent played host to two special events organised as part of the
Trafalgar 200
The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (180 ...
commemorations recognising the 200th Anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar. These were the
International Fleet Review and the
International Festival of the Sea
The International Festivals of the Sea were a series of maritime festivals, which were held in various British port cities between 1996 and 2005. The festivals were intended to be celebrations of the sea, bringing together sailors, musicians, arti ...
.
Civil and military administration of the Dockyard
![Circular stone tower in Portsmouth dockyard - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Circular_stone_tower_in_Portsmouth_dockyard_-_geograph.org.uk_-_491351.jpg)
From 1546 until 1832 prime responsibility for administering
H.M. Royal Navy Dockyards lay with the
Navy Board
The Navy Board (formerly known as the Council of the Marine or Council of the Marine Causes) was the commission responsible for the day-to-day civil administration of the Royal Navy between 1546 and 1832. The board was headquartered within the ...
, and
resident commissioners who were naval officers though civilian employees of the Navy Board, not sea officers in charge of the day-to-day operational running of the dockyard and superintendence of its staff, following the abolition of that board its functions were merged within the
Admiralty
Admiralty most often refers to:
*Admiralty, Hong Kong
*Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964
*The rank of admiral
*Admiralty law
Admiralty can also refer to:
Buildings
* Admiralty, Traf ...
and a new post styled
Admiral-superintendent The admiral-superintendent was the Royal Navy officer in command of a larger Naval Dockyard. Portsmouth, Devonport and Chatham all had admiral-superintendents, as did some other dockyards in the United Kingdom and abroad at certain times. The adm ...
was established the admiral-superintendent usually held the rank of
rear-admiral
Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...
though sometimes
vice-admiral. His immediate subordinate was an officer known as the
captain of the dockyard (or captain of the port from 1969). This followed the appointment of a (civilian) Chief Executive of the Royal Dockyards in September 1969 and the creation of a centralised Royal Dockyards Management Board. Admiral-superintendents ceased to be appointed in the royal navy after 15 September 1971, and existing post-holders were renamed
port admirals. In May 1971 the post was renamed Flag Officer, Portsmouth and Admiral Superintendent until July 1971 when it was renamed Flag Officer, Spithead and Port Admiral until August 1975, the post name was changed again to Flag Officer, Portsmouth and Port Admiral until October 1996 when it ceased to exist as a separate command that was then absorbed into the
First Flotilla Command later renamed Portsmouth Flotilla.
Associated establishments in the Portsmouth area
The presence of the Dockyard and Fleet led to the establishment of a variety of other naval and military installations in and around Portsmouth over the years, some of which are listed below.
Naval
![HMS Temeraire - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/HMS_Temeraire_-_geograph.org.uk_-_757244.jpg)
*: HM Naval Base Portsmouth. Today the name encompasses the entire base, including both the dockyard and the Naval Personnel Centre on Queen Street. Previously it had signified only the latter (opened as Portsmouth Naval Barracks in 1903, later named HMS ''Victory'' after the Commander-in-Chief's flagship, renamed ''Nelson'' in 1974 to avoid confusion). The barrack blocks were mostly demolished and rebuilt in the latter half of the 20th century, but a number of other original buildings remain including the canteen, the drill shed and the
Wardroom
The wardroom is the mess cabin or compartment on a warship or other military ship for commissioned naval officers above the rank of midshipman. Although the term typically applies to officers in a navy, it is also applicable to marine officer ...
across the street. One barrack block does remain from an earlier (Army) barracks (Anglesey Barracks) which formerly stood on the site. In November 2016 the
Ministry of Defence published ''A Better Defence Estate'', which indicates that the HMS Nelson Wardroom will be disposed of by 2021.
*: a
Royal Naval Reserve
The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original Ro ...
unit located in the renovated "
Semaphore Tower
An optical telegraph is a line of stations, typically towers, for the purpose of conveying textual information by means of visual signals. There are two main types of such systems; the semaphore telegraph which uses pivoted indicator arms and ...
".
*: Whale Island, Portsmouth (includes
Navy Command Headquarters
Navy Command is the current headquarters body of the Royal Navy, and as of 2012 its major organisational grouping. It is a hybrid, neither a command, nor simply an installation. Royal Navy official writings describe Navy Command Headquarters both ...
together with a front-line Naval Training establishment operated by
Babcock International
Babcock International Group plc is a British aerospace, defence and nuclear engineering services company based in London, England. It specialises in managing complex assets and infrastructure. Although the company has civil contracts, its main b ...
(with all catering, front of house, cleaning and hotel services
sub-contracted to
Compass Group
Compass Group plc is a British multinational contract foodservice company headquartered in Chertsey, England. It is the largest contract foodservice company in the world employing over 500,000 people. It serves meals in locations including o ...
plc)). The name was formerly attached to the barracks and other facilities of the RN Gunnery Establishment (based on the island from 1891 to 1985); these now form part of the training base.
*HMS ''Temeraire'': Burnaby Road, Portsmouth. Training of Naval Physical Training Instructors and sports grounds and facilities for Portsmouth-based personnel. RN School of Physical Training has been known as ''Temeraire'' since 1971, and moved to its current site in 1988.
*: Fareham. Naval training provided mainly under contract to Babcock International (catering and cleaning services are sub-contracted to Sodexo). Commissioned in 1940 as a training establishment for 'new entry' seamen, it later housed the RN School of Electrical Engineering, but serves today as headquarters of the Maritime Warfare School.
*: Gosport. Naval (and tri-service) training, home of the centre of excellence for mechanical and electrical engineering. Naval training provided mainly under contract to Babcock International (catering and cleaning services are sub-contracted to Sodexo); opened on this site in 1956.
Decommissioned
![Old Gate to Clarence Yard-Gosport - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Old_Gate_to_Clarence_Yard-Gosport_-_geograph.org.uk_-_718974.jpg)
*: Now MOD
Southwick Park
Southwick Priory or Our Lady at Southwick () was a priory of Augustinian canons founded in Portchester Castle on Portsmouth Harbour and later transferred north to Southwick, Hampshire, England. It ceased at the Dissolution of the Monasterie ...
—Tri-Service
Defence School of Policing and Guarding
The Defence School of Policing and Guarding is the training centre for the Service Police of the British Armed Forces. It consolidates training for the Royal Navy Police, Royal Military Police and Royal Air Force Police in one location, assuring ...
* diesel electric
submarine base—Now MOD
Fort Blockhouse
*
HM Gun Wharf, later torpedo and mines establishment — Now in civilian use as
Gunwharf Quays
Gunwharf Quays is a shopping centre located in the Portsea area of the city of Portsmouth in England. It was constructed in the early 21st century on the site of what had once been HM Gunwharf, Portsmouth. This was one of several such facilitie ...
*
HMS ''Daedalus'' Fleet Air Arm base
*
Royal Naval Hospital, Haslar
*
Eastney Barracks
Eastney Barracks was a military installation occupied by the Royal Marines and located at Eastney near Portsmouth.
History
Eastney Barracks, designed by William Scamp (assistant director, Admiralty Works Department), was built as headquarters f ...
(
Royal Marine Artillery
The history of the Royal Marines began on 28 October 1664 with the formation of the Duke of York and Albany's Maritime Regiment of Foot soon becoming known as the Admiral's Regiment. During the War of the Spanish Succession the most historic achi ...
barracks 1867–1923, Royal Marines barracks 1923–1995) — converted into housing.
*
Forton Barracks
Forton Barracks was a military installation near Gosport in Hampshire, which served first as an Army barracks and then as a divisional headquarters for the Royal Marines. It subsequently served as a Royal Navy training establishment. Today, the s ...
(
Royal Marine Light Infantry
The history of the Royal Marines began on 28 October 1664 with the formation of the Duke of York and Albany's Maritime Regiment of Foot soon becoming known as the Admiral's Regiment. During the War of the Spanish Succession the most historic achi ...
barracks 1848–1923, then boys' training establishment until 1968) — Now in civilian use as
St Vincent College
*Royal Clarence
Victualling Yard
The Commissioners for the Victualling of the Navy, often called the Victualling Commissioners or Victualling Board, was the body responsible under the Navy Board for victualling ships of the British Royal Navy. It oversaw the vast operation of ...
, Gosport
*
RNAD
A Royal Naval Armament Depot (RNAD) is an armament depot (or a group of depots) dedicated to supplying the Royal Navy (as well as, at various times, the Royal Air Force, the British Army and foreign and Commonwealth forces). They were sister d ...
Gosport: a composite site which included:
** RNAD
Priddy's Hard
Priddy's Hard is a former military installation in Gosport, England. The site originated as a 1750s fort, and then became an armaments depot for Royal Navy and British Army weapons, explosives and other stores. The site was decommissioned in 19 ...
(1776) gunpowder storage and shell-filling facility. Closed 1988 — now
Explosion! Museum of Naval Firepower
Explosion! is the Museum of Naval Firepower situated in the former Royal Naval Armaments Depot at Priddy's Hard, in Gosport, Hampshire, England. It now forms part of the National Museum of the Royal Navy.
The museum includes a wide variety of e ...
** RNAD Bedenham (1908) gunpowder stores were moved here from Priddy's Hard (judged to be dangerously close to the Dockyard).
** RNAD Elson (now part of
DM Gosport
Defence Munitions Gosport is a defence munitions site situated on the southwestern shores of Portsmouth harbour, southeast of Fareham in Hampshire, England. The site occupies about 470 acres. Its facilities include two Integrated Weapon Comple ...
)
** RNAD Frater (now part of
DM Gosport
Defence Munitions Gosport is a defence munitions site situated on the southwestern shores of Portsmouth harbour, southeast of Fareham in Hampshire, England. The site occupies about 470 acres. Its facilities include two Integrated Weapon Comple ...
)
* RNAD
Marchwood
Marchwood is a village and civil parish located in Hampshire, England, United Kingdom. It lies between Totton and Hythe on the western shore of Southampton Water and directly east of the New Forest. The population of the village in the 20 ...
(1811) closed 1961 – Converted for housing and use by Marchwood Yacht Club
*
Haslar
Haslar is on the south coast of England, at the southern tip of Alverstoke, on the Gosport peninsula, Hampshire. It takes its name from the Old English , meaning " hazel-landing place". It may have been named after a bank of hazel strewn on ma ...
Gunboat
A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.
History Pre-ste ...
Yard (opened 1859, closed 1973)
*: RN Signals School 1941–1993, Leydene House,
East Meon
East Meon is a village and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is west of Petersfield.
The village is located in the Meon Valley approximately north of Portsmouth and southwest of London, on the headwater ...
, near Portsmouth
*: Fire fighting training establishment 1946–1993, now part of HMS ''Excellent''
Military
![Portsmouth City Museum in March 2012](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/Portsmouth_City_Museum_in_March_2012.JPG)
The
Fortifications of Portsmouth
The fortifications of Portsmouth are extensive due to its strategic position on the English Channel and role as home to the Royal Navy. For this reason, Portsmouth was, by the 19th century, one of the most fortified cities in the world. The fort ...
were developed over several centuries to protect the fleet and dockyard from attacks either by land or by sea. From 1665
Bernard de Gomme
Bernard ('' Bernhard'') is a French and West Germanic masculine given name. It is also a surname.
The name is attested from at least the 9th century. West Germanic ''Bernhard'' is composed from the two elements ''bern'' "bear" and ''hard'' "brav ...
oversaw construction of
defensive Lines around both Portsmouth (the Dockyard and the
old town
In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins after thorough renovations. There are ma ...
) and
Gosport
Gosport ( ) is a town and non-metropolitan borough on the south coast of Hampshire, South East England. At the 2011 Census, its population was 82,662. Gosport is situated on a peninsula on the western side of Portsmouth Harbour, opposite t ...
(on the opposite side of
Portsmouth Harbour
Portsmouth Harbour is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest between Portsmouth and Gosport in Hampshire. It is a Ramsar site and a Special Protection Area.
It is a large natural harbour in Hampshire, England. Geographically it ...
). These defences were extended in the 18th century, before being superseded in the 19th by the
Palmerston forts which encircle Portsmouth on and off-shore.
![Defensive Walls in Old Portsmouth - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Defensive_Walls_in_Old_Portsmouth_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1266517.jpg)
These fortifications required substantial numbers of personnel to man them and, from the mid-18th century onwards, they (together with other troops who were either stationed in the garrison or preparing to embark overseas) were accommodated in a variety of
barracks in and around the city. By 1900 these included:
*
Cambridge Barracks, High Street (Infantry) – established in 1825 in a set of late-18th century warehouses; the officers' quarters have been occupied by
Portsmouth Grammar School
The Portsmouth Grammar School is a co-educational independent day school in Portsmouth, England, located in the historic part of Portsmouth. It was founded in 1732 as a boys' school and is located on Portsmouth High Street.
History
In 1732, ...
since 1926.
*
Clarence Barracks
Clarence Barracks was a military installation at Portsmouth, Hampshire.
History
The original site for what became Clarence Barracks was the early 17th-century King's Cooperage in Old Portsmouth, owned and operated by the Victualling Commissioner ...
(Royal Garrison Artillery) – established in 1760 as Fourhouse Barracks on land between St Nicholas Street and the fortifications (alongside an earlier Royal Marine Barracks);
renamed in 1827; rebuilt around 1881, expanding across the old defensive lines into the field beyond; demolished c.1967.
*
Colewort Barracks
Colewort Barracks was a military installation at Portsmouth, Hampshire. It was also known as St Mary's Barracks, having been built on land pertaining to the Conventual Church of St Mary Colewort.
History
The facility originated as a garrison ...
, St George's Road (Army Service Corps) – built as a garrison hospital, converted to barracks 1694, demolished to make way for expansion of nearby power station in the 1920s.
*
Hilsea Barracks
Hilsea Barracks was a military installation at Hilsea in Portsmouth.
History
The site was originally occupied by Gatcombe Manor, a medieval house which was acquired through marriage by Admiral Roger Curtis, Sir Roger Curtis, Bt in the 18th centu ...
(Royal Field Artillery) – built 1854, Royal Army Ordnance Corps from 1921; closed 1962, site redeveloped for housing (the surviving 18th-century Gatcombe House served as the Officers' Mess).
*
Milldam Barracks
Milldam Barracks is a former a military installation at Portsmouth, Hampshire. The complex includes two Grade II listed buildings.
History
Milldam here refers to a mill pond which used to extend across a large area, 'many acres in extent', betwe ...
(Royal Engineers) – built late 18th century onwards, housed the Engineers responsible for upkeep of the fortifications; sold in 1969 and now occupied by the
University of Portsmouth
The University of Portsmouth is a public university in Portsmouth, England. It is one of only four universities in the South East England, South East of England rated as Gold in the Government's Teaching Excellence Framework. With approximately 28 ...
and Portsmouth
Register Office
A register office or The General Register Office, much more commonly but erroneously registry office (except in official use), is a British government office where births, deaths, marriages, civil partnership, stillbirths and adoptions in England ...
.
*
Point Barracks
Point Battery (which is also known by its earlier name, Eighteen Gun Battery) is a former gun emplacement on Portsmouth Point in Hampshire. Part of the fortifications of Portsmouth, it was built alongside an earlier defensive structure (the 15t ...
(Artillery) – built alongside the medieval
Round Tower
A fortified tower (also defensive tower or castle tower or, in context, just tower) is one of the defensive structures used in fortifications, such as castles, along with curtain walls. Castle towers can have a variety of different shapes and fu ...
in 1846–50; sold to Portsmouth City Council in the early 1960s following disbandment of the UK's
Coastal Artillery
Coastal artillery is the branch of the armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications.
From the Middle Ages until World War II, coastal artillery and naval artillery in the form of c ...
network. Part of the brick structure was demolished, but is marked by stones in the ground alongside the surviving
casemates
A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary
When referring to antiquity, the term "casemate wall" mea ...
.
*
St George Barracks,
Gosport
Gosport ( ) is a town and non-metropolitan borough on the south coast of Hampshire, South East England. At the 2011 Census, its population was 82,662. Gosport is situated on a peninsula on the western side of Portsmouth Harbour, opposite t ...
(Infantry) – built 1856–59 as a transit barracks for troops, continuing in military use until 1991; several buildings remain, since converted to new uses.
*
Victoria Barracks (Infantry) – built in 1888 alongside New Clarence Barracks; demolished 1967.
According to the
census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...
over 6,000 men were living in barracks in the Portsmouth area in 1911.
Naval Base Commander (Portsmouth)
![RAdm Jim Higham and Cmdr Jeremy Bailey](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/RAdm_Jim_Higham_and_Cmdr_Jeremy_Bailey.jpg)
The head of HMNB Portsmouth is titled Naval Base Commander (Portsmouth).
* 2012–2018: Commodore Jeremy Rigby
* 2018–2019: Commodore Jim Higham
* 2019–2022: Commodore Jeremy Bailey
* 2022-present: Commodore John Voyce OBE
(decorations and ranks detailed at the time of being in Command, and do not reflect subsequent promotions, or honours and awards)
See also
*
''Portsmouth Dockyard'' (Tissot), 1877 painting
References
Bibliography
*
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
External links
*
UKHO Charts of Portsmouth Harbour and ApproachesPortsmouth Royal Dockyard Historical Trust websitePortsmouth Historic Dockyard websitePortsmouth Naval Base Property TrustQueen's Harbour Master, Portsmouth''A Geometrical Plan, & West Elevation of His Majesty’s Dock-Yard, near Portsmouth, with Part of the Common, &c.'', dated 1754(
Pierre-Charles Canot
Pierre-Charles Canot (c.1710–77) was a French engraver who spent most of his career in England.
Life
Canot was born in France in about 1710. In 1740 he moved to England, where he lived there the rest of his life. He was elected an Associate ...
after
Thomas Milton and
John Cleveley the Elder
John Cleveley the Elder (c.1712 – 21 May 1777) was an English marine artist.
Life
Cleveley was born in Southwark. He was not from an artistic background, and his father intended him to follow the family trade of joinery, so he set up ...
)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Portsmouth
Royal Navy dockyards in England
Royal Navy bases in Hampshire
Organisations based in Portsmouth
Ports and harbours of Hampshire
Maritime museums in England
Museums in Portsmouth
Tourist attractions in Hampshire