A stone frigate is a naval establishment on land.
"Stone frigate" is an informal term that has its origin in Britain's
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 ...
after its use of
Diamond Rock
Diamond Rock (french: rocher du Diamant) is a 175-metre-high (574 ft)[Martinique
Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in th ...]
, as a '
sloop of war' to harass the
French in 1803–04. The Royal Navy was prohibited from ruling over land, so the land was commissioned as a ship. The command of this first stone frigate was given to
Commodore Hood's first lieutenant,
James Wilkes Maurice, who, with cannon taken off the Commodore's ship, manned it with a crew of 120 until its capture by the French in the
Battle of Diamond Rock in 1805.
Until the late 19th century, the Royal Navy housed training and other support facilities in
hulks—old wooden
ships of the line—moored in ports as
receiving ship
A hulk is a ship that is afloat, but incapable of going to sea. Hulk may be used to describe a ship that has been launched but not completed, an abandoned wreck or shell, or to refer to an old ship that has had its rigging or internal equipmen ...
s,
depot ship
A depot ship is an auxiliary ship used as a mobile or fixed base for submarines, destroyers, minesweepers, fast attack craft, landing craft, or other small ships with similarly limited space for maintenance equipment and crew dining, berthing and ...
s, or floating barracks. The
Admiralty
Admiralty most often refers to:
*Admiralty, Hong Kong
*Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964
*The rank of admiral
*Admiralty law
Admiralty can also refer to:
Buildings
* Admiralty, Traf ...
regarded shore accommodation as expensive and liable to lead to indiscipline. These floating establishments kept their names while the actual vessels housing them changed. For example, the gunnery training school at
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
occupied three ships between its foundation in 1830 and its move ashore in 1891 but all were named (or renamed)
HMS ''Excellent''.
As ships began to use increasingly complex technology during the late 19th century, these facilities became too large to continue afloat and were moved to shore establishments while keeping their names. An early "stone frigate" was the engineering training college
HMS ''Marlborough'', moved ashore to Portsmouth in 1880. The gunnery school continued to be named HMS ''Excellent'' after its move ashore to
Whale Island in 1891. By
World War I
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 ...
there were about 25 "stone frigates" in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
.
Under section 87 of the
Naval Discipline Act 1866
A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean
The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) i ...
, the provisions of the act only applied to officers and men of the Royal Navy borne on the books of a warship. When shore establishments began to become more common it was necessary to allocate the title of the establishment to an actual vessel which became the ''nominal depot ship'' for the men allocated to the establishment and thus ensured they were subject to the provisions of the Act.
By example, in the
Imperial fortress
Imperial fortress was the designation given in the British Empire to four colonies that were located in strategic positions from each of which Royal Navy squadrons could control the surrounding regions and, between them, much of the planet.
His ...
colony
In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the ''metropole, metropolit ...
of
Bermuda
)
, anthem = "God Save the King"
, song_type = National song
, song = " Hail to Bermuda"
, image_map =
, map_caption =
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, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
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, e ...
, the depot ship permanently berthed at the
Royal Naval Dockyard from 1857 to 1897 was
HMS Terror, which was replaced by the former troopship (renamed ''HMS Terror'' in 1901). The former HMS Malabar was sold in 1918, following which the name ''HMS Malabar'' was applied to the Casemates Naval Barracks in the Royal Naval Dockyard as a stone frigate (under command of the ''Captain in Charge'' of the dockyard) to which all shore personnel at Bermuda, whether belonging to the dockyard, to outlying naval facilities (such as
Admiralty House, Bermuda
Admiralty House, Bermuda, was the official residence and offices for the senior officer of the Royal Navy in the Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda, originally the Commander-in-Chief of the North America and West Indies Station.
Early Admiral ...
,
Royal Naval Air Station Bermuda
RNAS Bermuda (the personnel of which, as with all members of the America and West Indies Station shore establishment in the Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda at the time, were part of the strength of the stone frigate HMS ''Malabar'') was a R ...
, or the Royal Naval wireless station (from 1961,
NRS Bermuda) at
Daniel's Head
Somerset Island is one of the main islands of the chain that makes up Bermuda. It lies in the far west of the territory, and covers 2.84 square kilometres.
Description
Somerset Island comprises about half of the parish of Sandys, and is the l ...
), or to minor vessels assigned to the dockyard for local use, were administratively assigned. As a consequence, ''HMS Malabar'' was often used interchangeably with ''HM Dockyard Bermuda'' or ''Royal Naval Dockyard Bermuda'', and has been often mistaken as referring only to specific subordinate naval facilities in Bermuda, such as the wireless station at Daniel's Head or the Royal Naval Air Station. After the Bermuda dockyard was reduced to a base in the 1950s, the part that continued to operate as a naval base was commissioned as ''HMS Malabar'' until 1995.
The use of stone frigates continues in the Royal Navy and some other navies of the
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...
, including the
Royal Canadian Navy
The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the Navy, naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack s ...
, the
Indian Navy
The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates sig ...
, the
Royal Australian Navy
The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...
, and the
Royal New Zealand Navy
The Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN; mi, Te Taua Moana o Aotearoa, , Sea Warriors of New Zealand) is the maritime arm of the New Zealand Defence Force. The fleet currently consists of nine ships. The Navy had its origins in the Naval Defence Act ...
.
See also
*
Ascension Island, formerly called HMS ''Ascension''
*
Coastal artillery
Coastal artillery is the branch of the armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications.
From the Middle Ages until World War II, coastal artillery and naval artillery in the form of c ...
*
List of Royal Navy shore establishments
This is a list of shore establishments (or ''stone frigates'') of the Royal Navy and Royal Naval Reserve.
Current Royal Navy shore establishments
Naval bases
* (HMNB Devonport, Devonport, Devon)
* (HMNB Portsmouth, Portsmouth)
* (HMNB Cly ...
*
HMS ''Diamond Rock''
*
HMCS ''Stone Frigate''
*
USS ''Rancocas''
*
USS ''Recruit'' (TDE-1)
References
{{reflist
*
Naval history
Military slang and jargon
Legal fictions