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

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 ...

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

History

See also

References