Royal Marines Base Poole (RM Poole) is a British naval base located in

Hamworthy Hamworthy is a village, parish, peninsula and suburb of Poole in Dorset, England. It is sited on a peninsula of approximately that is bordered by the town of Upton to the north, Poole Harbour to the south, Lytchett Bay to the west and Hol ...

a suburb of

Poole Poole () is a large coastal town and seaport in Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Counc ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

on the

Poole Harbour Poole Harbour is a large natural harbour in Dorset, southern England, with the town of Poole on its shores. The harbour is a drowned valley (ria) formed at the end of the last ice age and is the estuary of several rivers, the largest being th ...

and is the centre for

Special Boat Service The Special Boat Service (SBS) is the special forces unit of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. The SBS can trace its origins back to the Second World War when the Army Special Boat Section was formed in 1940. After the Second World War, the Roya ...

activities.

History

The base was built in 1942 with the creation of

RAF Hamworthy Royal Air Force Hamworthy or more simply RAF Hamworthy is a former Royal Air Force Coastal Command seaplane base at Poole Harbour in Dorset, England which was operational between 1939 and 1948. During the Second World War, it was used by the Ro ...

. In 1944, control of the site was handed over to 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 ...

for use as a naval establishment. The site was known as HMS Turtle and was used for training personnel for the

D-Day landings 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 ...

. In May 1944, the site was closed but a small number of personnel were retained for basic maintenance of the base. The site was re-opened and taken over by the

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 ...

in 1954 and became known as the Amphibious School, Royal Marines. In 1956, it was expanded and was renamed the Joint Service Amphibious Warfare Centre (JSAWC). In the early 1960s, it was renamed the Amphibious Training Unit Royal Marines (ATURM). The Technical Training Wing was moved from

Eastney Barracks Eastney Barracks was a military installation occupied by the Royal Marines and located at Eastney near Portsmouth. History Eastney Barracks, designed by William Scamp (assistant director, Admiralty Works Department), was built as headquarters f ...

to Poole in 1973 and the base became known as the Royal Marines Poole. 1 Assault Group Royal Marines, which are responsible for

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 ...

training, was formed at the site in October 2001 but moved to RM Tamar in August 2013. The base has its own internal training area, which is located at the northern edge of the unit. It has been described as being a pre-deployment training area with a Forward Operating Base (FOB) scenario, a street façade and an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) lane.

Operations

have four Sabre Squadrons based at RM Poole: **C Squadron **X Squadron **M Squadron **Z Squadron *

148 (Meiktila) Battery Royal Artillery 148 (Meiktila) Commando Forward Observation Battery is a specialist Naval Gunfire Support Forward Observation (NGSFO) unit within 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery of 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines. The unit provides Fire Support Teams (FS ...

References

External links

Map showing RM Poole and northern exercise area
{{Royal Navy shore establishments

Military history of Dorset Royal Navy bases in England Buildings and structures in Poole