HMS ''Cricket'' was the name given to a Royal Navy shore establishment on the

River Hamble The River Hamble is located in south Hampshire, England. It rises near Bishop's Waltham and flows for through Botley, Bursledon, and Lower Swanwick before entering Southampton Water between Hamble Common and Warsash. The Hamble is tidal fo ...

from 1943 to 1946. This name was previously used by the that was scrapped in 1942. HMS ''Cricket'' was commissioned on 15 July 1943.Local Heritage Initiative website Initially it was a " Royal Marine

Landing Craft Landing craft are small and medium seagoing watercraft, such as boats and barges, used to convey a landing force (infantry and vehicles) from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. The term excludes landing ships, which are larger. Pr ...

Crew Training Base". It was established as an independent command with accounts being handled by . The base was later used to assemble troops and

landing craft Landing craft are small and medium seagoing watercraft, such as boats and barges, used to convey a landing force (infantry and vehicles) from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. The term excludes landing ships, which are larger. Pr ...

in the build-up to

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 ...

. From 23 May 1944, during the final preparations for D-Day, the base was completely sealed. During the base's operation, she was assigned a number of depot ships. The first was the ''Nab Happy Lass'', from the time of commissioning until 30 April 1945. She was replaced by harbour launch 30455 until May that year, and was then succeeded by the petrol powered harbour launch 436622 until March 1946. It was decided to close HMS ''Cricket'' after the end of the Second World War, a decision taken on 1 March 1946. The last arrivals were on 20 May 1946 and ''Cricket'' was probably decommissioned on 15 July 1946, three years after commissioning. Its buildings were used for temporary post-war accommodation for the civilian population of Southampton. River Hamble Country Park now occupies this site. Itchen South scouts operate a scout campsite, named Cricket Camp, on part of the land.Cricket Camp
Itchen South District Scouts. Retrieved 2019-09-24.

References

* Warlow, Ben, ''Shore Establishments of the Royal Navy'', Liskeard : Maritime, 2000. *

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cricket Royal Navy bases in Hampshire