HMS ''Dalriada'' is

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

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. It is based in

Govan Govan ( ; Cumbric?: ''Gwovan'?''; Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of south-west City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the south ba ...

, one of the city's south-western suburbs.

History

HMS ''Dalriada'' was established as a

Headquarters Unit for Greenock and the Firth of Clyde, Scotland in 1965 and originally occupied former air defence buildings on the outskirts of

Inverkip Inverkip (Scottish Gaelic: ''Inbhir Chip'') is a village and parish in the Inverclyde council area and historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland, southwest of Greenock and north of Largs on the A78 trunk road. Th ...

. ''Dalriada'' remained in Inverkip until 1982, when the unit moved to the Navy Buildings in

Greenock Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council areas of Scotland, council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh of barony, burgh within the Counties of Scotland, historic ...

, on the site of the former gun battery at

Fort Matilda Fort Matilda is a suburb at the far western edge of Greenock, Scotland. Its name comes from a coastal battery built on Whiteforeland Point 1814–1819 to defend the River Clyde. History In 1862 the Confederate paddle steamer collided with '' ...

. ''Dalriada'' was named after the 6-7th Century Gaelic over-kingdom Dál Riata in which modern Greenock is located. The Ship's Badge of ''Dalriada'' has the boar's head of

Clan Campbell Clan Campbell ( gd, Na Caimbeulaich ) is a Highland Scottish clan, historically one of the largest and most powerful of the Highland clans. The Clan Campbell lands are in Argyll and within their lands lies Ben Cruachan. The chief of the clan be ...

(who occupied the territory of the ancient

Dál Riata Dál Riata or Dál Riada (also Dalriada) () was a Gaelic kingdom that encompassed the western seaboard of Scotland and north-eastern Ireland, on each side of the North Channel. At its height in the 6th and 7th centuries, it covered what is now ...

Kingdom in the High Middle Ages) with a Celtic

torc A torc, also spelled torq or torque, is a large rigid or stiff neck ring in metal, made either as a single piece or from strands twisted together. The great majority are open at the front, although some had hook and ring closures and a few had ...

and surmounted with a coronet. The letters R N R surround the device and all is enclosed within a diamond surmounted in turn by a plaque with the ship's name and above that the Naval Crown. The principal RNR unit in Glasgow and the West of Scotland had been, since 1903, HMS ''Graham'', (Clyde Division RNR) based at Whitefield Rd in Govan. At that time RNR Divisional HQs such as HMS ''Graham'' were considered senior to HQ Units such as HMS Dalriada, especially in having greater numbers of Reservists and RN Staff attached and in operating active Ton Class Minesweepers as part of the Tenth Mine Counter Measure Squadron. Initially ''Dalriada'' had been set up as a tender unit to HMS ''Graham'' on which it relied for administrative and other functions. The 1990

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, ...

changes in RNR Force sizes saw the closure of HMS ''Graham'' and the refocusing of the RNR in the West of Scotland on HMS ''Dalriada''. This left Glasgow City without an RNR presence, and the Govan site was handed over to the Army for use by the Territorial Army's 205 ''(Scottish)'' Field Hospital of the 2nd Medical Brigade. After some years the RNR presence in the City of Glasgow was restored through the creation of a satellite unit to HMS ''Dalriada'' - ''Govan Division'' (but not located on the site of the old HMS ''Graham'' which remains in Army hands). In April 2013, ''Dalriada'' moved to Govan, subsuming its satellite unit and co-locating with the

Royal Marines Reserve The Royal Marines Reserve (RMR) is the volunteer reserve force used to augment the regular Royal Marines. The RMR consists of some 750 trained ranks distributed among the four units within the UK. About 10 percent of the force are working with t ...

Glasgow Detachment. Members of HMS Dalriada often take part in ceremonial events hosted by the city of Glasgow, often alongside their regular counterparts from HMS ''Neptune'',

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 ...

. During the Glasgow

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...

, ''Dalriada'' provided personnel to supplement

Police Scotland Police Scotland ( gd, Poileas Alba), officially the Police Service of Scotland (), is the national police force of Scotland. It was formed in 2013, through the merging of eight regional police forces in Scotland, as well as the specialist service ...

's security operation. Many of the unit's members also took part in flag raising and medal presentation ceremonies as part of the event.

References

External links

HMS Dalriada
Royal Navy website {{DEFAULTSORT:Dalriada Royal Navy bases in Scotland Royal Navy shore establishments Govan Military installations established in 1965