HMS ''St George'' was a training facility 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 ...
which was located in
Douglas, Isle of Man
Douglas ( gv, Doolish, ) is the capital and largest town of the Isle of Man, with a population of 26,677 (2021). It is located at the mouth of the River Douglas, and on a sweeping bay of . The River Douglas forms part of the town's harbour ...
. It was the Navy's only Continuous Service Training Establishment.
History
HMS ''St George'' opened in September 1939. The facility was divided in various component parts, classroom training taking place at the newly opened
Ballakermeen High School
Ballakermeen High School is a coeducational comprehensive secondary school based on a single site in Douglas, on the Isle of Man. It is the second largest Isle of Man Government building after Noble's Hospital in Strang. On the start of the ...
with the cadets billeted at Cunningham's Holiday Camp which had been requisitioned for the duration and was located in the Little Switzerland area of Douglas. The holiday camp had previously served as a Prisoner of War Camp during the
First World War
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 ...
. It occupied approximately 5
acre
The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial
Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism.
Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to:
Places
United States
* Imperial, California
* Imperial, Missouri
* Imp ...
s (2
hectare
The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...
s) and consisted of two parts bisected by Victoria Road.
The Commanding Officer of HMS ''St George'' when it was commissioned was
Captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
F.S. Bell with
Captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
A.J. Lowe being officer in charge of
Ballakermeen School. A staff of over 300 officers would provide cadets with practical and technical training. Classroom work at Ballakermeen was supplemented by instructional films and technical experiments. Separate classrooms were allocated for cadets of different branches of the service, each class consisting of approximately 25–30 cadets.
During the course of the war, 8,677 cadets passed their training at HMS ''St George''.
[Isle of Man Examiner, Friday, August 24, 1945; Section: Front page, Page: 1]
HMS ''St George'' was
paid off
Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to placing a warship in ...
on Thursday 20 December 1945, with the officers and ratings leaving the Isle of Man and relocating to
HMS ''Ganges'',
Shotley
Shotley is a village and civil parish south-east of Ipswich in the English county of Suffolk. It is in the Babergh District, Babergh district and gives its name to the Shotley peninsula between the Rivers River Stour, Suffolk, Stour and River ...
.
See also
*
HMS ''Valkyrie''
*
HMS Urley
Isle of Man Airport ( Manx: ''Purt Aer Vannin'', also known as Ronaldsway Airport) is the main civilian airport on the Isle of Man. It is located in the south of the island at Ronaldsway near Castletown, southwest of Douglas, the island's c ...
*
RAF Andreas
Royal Air Force Andreas or more simply RAF Andreas is a former Royal Air Force station in the Isle of Man which was operational between 1941 and 1946. It was built in fields between Andreas and Bride in the north of the island. As was common p ...
*
RAF Jurby
Royal Air Force Station Jurby or more simply RAF Jurby is a former Royal Air Force station built in the north west of the Isle of Man. It was opened in 1939 on of land acquired by the Air Ministry in 1937, under the control of No. 29 Group, ...
*
RAF Jurby Head
RAF Jurby Head is a former Royal Air Force air weapons range, on the north west coast of the Isle of Man. The range operated between 1939 and 1993.
History
As part of the RAF Expansion Scheme the Manx Government was approached by the Air Minis ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raleigh
Royal Navy shore establishments
Douglas, Isle of Man
Isle of Man
World War II sites in the United Kingdom
Military training establishments of the United Kingdom
Former training establishments of the Royal Navy
Buildings and structures in Douglas, Isle of Man
Military history of the Isle of Man