The Royal Naval Hospital, Herne Bay was a

Royal Naval Hospital A Royal Naval Hospital (RNH) was a hospital operated by the British Royal Navy for the care and treatment of sick and injured naval personnel. A network of these establishments were situated across the globe to suit British interests. They were p ...

based at

Herne Bay Herne Bay is a seaside town on the north coast of Kent in South East England. It is north of Canterbury and east of Whitstable. It neighbours the ancient villages of Herne and Reculver and is part of the City of Canterbury local government ...

(now Riverwood), near

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The hospital was used chiefly in

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and a young

Cynthia Cooke Cynthia Felicity Joan Cooke, (11 June 1919 – 20 April 2016) was a British military nurse and nursing administrator who served as Matron-in-Chief of the Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service, the nursing branch of the Her Majesty's Nav ...

served there in 1944–45. In mid-September 1945, the hospital provided equipment to

HMS Glory Ten ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS ''Glory'', or the French variant HMS ''Gloire'': * was a 44-gun fifth rate, formerly the French 44-gun ship ''La Gloire'', captured from the French in 1747, and was sold to be broken up in 1763. * ...

in order to set up a medical facility in the hangar, along with thirty-six medical staff from the

Voluntary Aid Detachment The Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) was a voluntary unit of civilians providing nursing care for military personnel in the United Kingdom and various other countries in the British Empire. The most important periods of operation for these units we ...

and

Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service (QARNNS) is the nursing branch of the British Royal Navy. The Service unit works alongside the Royal Navy Medical Branch. As of 1 January 2006, according to former Ministry of Defence junior minist ...

. Thirty-six deaths occurred at Herne Bay in the period 1945–46.

References

Former hospitals in Sydney Military hospitals in Australia {{Australia-hospital-stub