His Majesty’s Ship Caledonia (HMS Caledonia) is a military establishment of 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 ...

based next to the former Royal Naval Dockyard, Rosyth in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

History

HMS ''Caledonia'' was first opened in 1937 and responsible for artificer apprentice training from 1937 to 1985, with many thousands of young men going through training. Following the consolidation of naval training in 1985, the site lost its training status with the former apprentice training moving to in

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 ...

. The site was subsequently reduced to become part of HMS ''Cochrane''. Just before the beginning of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Boys' Training Ship Caledonia was based here. By this time Admiral Sir Charles Ramsey, the

Commander-in-Chief, Rosyth The Flag Officer Scotland and Northern Ireland (FOSNI) was a senior post in the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom. It was based at HM Naval Base Clyde, and the holder of the post was the Royal Navy’s senior officer in Scotland. The post of FOS ...

, responsible for naval operations in the area, was based at just down the road at the Dockyard. In 1993 the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

announced plans to privatise Rosyth. Babcock International, who had bought out Thorn's share of the original Babcock Thorn consortium, was the only company to submit a bid and after protracted negotiations purchased the yard in January 1997. In 1996, following the decommissioning and privatisation of the

Royal Naval Dockyard Rosyth Rosyth Dockyard is a large naval dockyard on the Firth of Forth at Rosyth, Fife, Scotland, owned by Babcock Marine, which formerly undertook refitting of Royal Navy surface vessels and submarines. Before its privatisation in the 1990s it was for ...

, MoD Caledonia was opened on the site of the former dockyard. Following the

Options for Change Options for Change was a restructuring of the British Armed Forces in summer 1990 after the end of the Cold War. Until this point, UK military strategy had been almost entirely focused on defending Western Europe against the Soviet Armed Forces, ...

review and the

collapse of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

, the reserve unit was moved from

Pitreavie Castle Pitreavie Castle is a country house, located between Rosyth and Dunfermline in Fife, Scotland. It was built in the early 17th century, and was extensively remodelled in 1885. The house remained in private hands until 1938, when it was acquired by ...

to HMS ''Caledonia'', where it has been based ever since. In 2018 concerns arose over the future of the site; it was reported that it could close in 2022, despite efforts to save it, this was later extended to 2026. On 1 April 2023 it was renamed HMS Caledonia and its future is assured.

Based units

** Headquarters, ** Royal Naval Support Establishment HMS Caledonia ** Royal Navy Careers Headquarters (North) ** Royal Naval Acquaint Centre (Northern) ** Naval Regional Command Scotland and Northern Ireland (NRCSNI) ** Directorate of Naval Shore Telecommunications (North) *

Royal Marines The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marine ...

** Band of His Majesty's Royal Marines, Scotland *Royal Air Force **RAF Training and Evaluation Support Team **No. 1 Specialist Police Wing RAF *

Community Cadet Forces The Community Cadet Forces is a term used by the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of Defence (MOD) to group together the Sea Cadet Corps (United Kingdom), Sea Cadets and Volunteer Cadet Corps, Army Cadet Force and Air ...

** TS Fife, Sea Cadet Corps ** Sea Cadet Training Centre (National Sea Cadets Training Centre){{Cite web, title=Sea Cadet Training Centre Caledonia, url=https://www.britishrowing.org/club/sea-cadet-training-centre-caledonia/, access-date=2021-05-06, website=British Rowing, language=en-GB **1145 (Dunfermline) Squadron, Central Scotland Wing,

Air Training Corps The Air Training Corps (ATC) is a British volunteer-military youth organisation. They are sponsored by the Ministry of Defence and the Royal Air Force. The majority of staff are volunteers, and some are paid for full-time work – including C ...

Footnotes

Buildings and structures in Fife Scottish coast Royal Navy bases in Scotland Rosyth Ports and harbours of Scotland Royal Navy shore establishments 1996 establishments in Scotland Firth of Forth Installations of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)

History

Based units

See also

Footnotes