HMNB Portsmouth

HMNB Portsmouth
Pompey

Portsmouth, Hampshire, England

An aerial photograph of Portsmouth Dockyard, viewed from the west, taken as part of a photographic exercise from 2,000 feet.
Type Military base
Site information
Controlled by Royal Navy
Site history
In use 15th century–present
Garrison information
Current
commander		 Commodore Jeremy Rigby (since October 2012).
Garrison Portsmouth Flotilla

Her Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth (HMNB Portsmouth) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the British Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Devonport). Portsmouth Naval Base is part of the city of Portsmouth; it is located on the eastern shore of Portsmouth Harbour, north of the Solent and the Isle of Wight. Until the early 1970s it was officially known as Portsmouth Royal Dockyard (or HM Dockyard, Portsmouth);[1] the shipbuilding, repair and maintenance element of the base was privatized in the late-1990s/early-2000s.

The base is home to one of the oldest dry docks in the world (the oldest and second-oldest are in Greenock on the River Clyde), as well as being the headquarters for two-thirds of the Royal Navy's surface fleet. The base is also home to a number of commercial shore activities, including shipbuilding and ship repair (operated by BAE Systems Maritime); naval logistics, accommodation and messing; and personnel support functions (e.g. medical and dental; education; pastoral and welfare) provided by Defence Equipment and Support.

The base is the oldest in the Royal Navy and it has been an important part of the Senior Service's history and the defence of the British Isles for centuries. At one time it was the largest industrial site in the world.[2] Around the year 2000, the designation HMS Nelson (which until then had been specific to Portsmouth's Naval Barracks in Queen Street) was extended to cover the entire base.

The base commander since October 2012 is Commodore Jeremy Rigby.

The "Semaphore Tower" at HMNB Portsmouth in 2007

The harbour is under the control of the Queen's Harbour Master (QHM), currently Commander Nigel Hare, who is the regulatory authority of the Dockyard Port of Portsmouth, an area of approximately 50 square miles (130 km2) that encompasses Portsmouth Harbour and the Eastern Solent. QHM Harbour Control is based in the Semaphore Tower building. Shipping movements are handled by a team of admiralty pilots headed by the Chief Admiralty Pilot, Anthony Bannister.

Portsmouth naval base is home to two-thirds of the Royal Navy's surface ships, and employs up to 17,200 people. In addition, Portsmouth is building part of, and will be the home port of the two new Royal Navy aircraft carriers ordered in 2008, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales; they will require the harbour to be dredged.[3] This project has secured the base's future for the next forty years and will revitalise shipbuilding in the city.[4] However, due to budget cuts in 2013 shipbuilding in Portsmouth was closed in favour of BAE keeping open its yards in Glasgow. It has been speculated this was to help retain Scotland in the union and it has been suggested by the BAE chairman that shipbuilding could return to the city if Scotland voted for independence.[5]

The Naval Base is also home to the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, which allows members of the public to visit important maritime attractions such as Mary Rose, HMS Victory and HMS Warrior.

Functioning base

The First Sea Lord disembarking from HMS Victory, 2014

The base plays host to a large part of the surface fleet of the Royal Navy including the Type 45 destroyers, the majority of the Type 23 frigates, the River class fishery protection vessels and a squadron of mine counter-measures vessels (minesweepers and minehunters). The new Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers will eventually be based in Portsmouth, requiring that dredging be carried out to accommodate their considerable draft. Most of the vessels based in Portsmouth form part of the Portsmouth Flotilla, under the Fleet First reorganisation which saw the three (Portsmouth, Devonport and Faslane) port flotillas replace the frigate and destroyer squadrons and other groupings.

In total some 17,300 people work in the base. Until 2012 the Second Sea Lord as Commander-in-Chief Naval Home Command flew his flag from HMS Victory, which is the oldest commissioned warship in the world (although she was originally built at Chatham Dockyard). Since then, the post of Commander-in-Chief (and with it the use of Victory as flagship) has reverted to the First Sea Lord. (The Second Sea Lord is now at Henry Leach Building on Whale Island, which is also the headquarters of the Fleet Commander.)

Portsmouth Flotilla

Ship of the Line

Type 45 destroyers

Four Royal Navy ships alongside HMNB Portsmouth, including Type 45 Destroyers HMS Dauntless and Diamond.

Type 23 frigates

Type 23 Frigate HMS St Albans alongside No 3 Basin

Hunt-class mine countermeasures vessels

MCMV HMS Chiddingfold on the South Railway Jetty

River-class patrol vessels

Patrol vessel HMS Mersey at HMNB Portsmouth

Archer-class patrol vessels

Portsmouth Historic Dockyard

Boathouse 4

"Portsmouth Historic Dockyard" is the name given to the portion of the base which is open to the public; it plays host to:[6]

Portsmouth Historic Dockyard
The Mary Rose Museum 
HMS Victory 
HMS Warrior (1860) 
HMS M33 
Action Stations (Boathouse No 6, built 1845-8) 
Boathouse No 4 (built in 1939) 
The Historic Boat Workshop (Boathouse No 5, built as a Mast House and Sail Loft in 1807) 
Boathouse No 7 (built as a Mast House in 1807): The Dockyard Apprentice exhibition, together with café and shops 
Nos 10 & 11 Storehouses (1776 & 1763) house part of the National Museum of the Royal Navy 
The Victory Gallery: purpose-built in 1938 to display exhibits related to Lord Nelson and HMS Victory 
The Porter's Garden is open to the public. (The building once housed the Superintendent of Police but is now offices for the Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust.) 
Storehouse 12 (1849-53) houses the Museum's Library and Manuscript Collection, a public resource 

History

Along with Chatham, Woolwich, Plymouth and Deptford, Portsmouth has been one of the main Royal Navy Dockyards or Bases throughout its history.

Tudors

Main article: Tudor navy

The first recorded dry dock in the world was built in Portsmouth by Henry VII in 1495. The first warship built here was the Sweepstake of 1497; of more significance were the carracks Mary Rose of 1509 and Peter Pomegranate of 1510—both were rebuilt here in 1536. The wreck of the Mary Rose (which capsized in 1545, but was raised in 1982), is on display in a purpose built museum. A fourth Tudor warship was the galleass Jennett, built in 1539 and enlarged as a galleon in 1558.

The appointment of one Thomas Jermyn as Keeper of the Dock at Portsmouth is recorded in 1526, with a Clerk of the Stores being appointed from 1542.[8]

Following the establishment of Chatham Dockyard in the mid-1500s, no new naval vessels were built here until 1648, but ships from Portsmouth were a key part of the fleet that drove off the Spanish Armada in 1588. There are no on-site remains of the Tudor Dock and Yard.

Seventeenth century

The Mast Pond (later used as a Boat Pond) dates from 1665; timber for masts and spars were stored in ponds to prevent drying and splitting[9]

Naval shipbuilding at Portsmouth recommenced under the English Commonwealth, the first ship being the eponymous Fourth-rate frigate Portsmouth launched in 1650. A new double dry dock (i.e. double the standard length so as to accommodate two ships at once) was built by the Commonwealth government in 1656.

As France began to pose more of a military threat to England, the strategic importance of Portsmouth grew. In 1689, Parliament ordered one new dry dock and two new wet docks (or non-tidal basins) to be built there; work began in 1691. (A building slip was also constructed, where the Mary Rose is now in No. 3 dock.)

The dry dock (or "Great Stone Dock" as it was called) was entered via what is now known as No. 1 Basin (then called the "Lower Wet Dock"). It was built to new designs developed by the naval engineer Edmund Dummer, surveyor to the Navy Board. He substituted brick and stone for wood and increased the number of altars or steps. The stepped sides allowed shorter timbers to be used for shoring and made it much easier for shipwrights to reach the underside of vessels needing repair. Extensively rebuilt in 1769, the Great Stone Dock is now known as No.5 dock.[10]

As with all extensions, the new works were built on reclaimed land and the civil engineering involved was on an unprecedented scale. To empty the dry dock of water, Dummer designed a unique system which used water from the Upper Wet Dock to drive a water-wheel on the ebb tide, which in turn powered a set of pumps. (At high tide, an auxiliary set of pumps was used, powered by a horse gin.)[1]

The second ("Upper") Wet Dock was entered by way of a channel. In 1699 Dummer adapted the channel, enabling it to be closed off at each end by a set of gates, thus forming a second dry dock (the "North Stone Dock"), which was rebuilt in 1737 and is known today as No 6 dock. The Upper Wet Dock itself became a reservoir into which water from various nearby dry docks could be drained; vaulted and covered over at the end of the eighteenth century, it still exists today underground.[1]

Eighteenth century

Between 1704-1712 a wall was built around the Dockyard, following the line of the town's 17th-century fortifications; together with a contemporary (though altered) gate and lodge, much of the wall still stands, serving its original purpose.[11] In 1733 a Royal Naval Academy for officer cadets was established within the Dockyard, the Navy's first shore-based training facility and a forerunner of Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth.[12]

The second half of the eighteenth century was a key period in the development of Portsmouth (and indeed of the other Royal Dockyards). A substantial programme of expansion and modernisation was undertaken from 1760 onwards, driven (as would be future periods of expansion) by increases both in the size of individual ships and in the overall size of the fleet. Several of Portsmouth Dockyard's most notable historic buildings date from this period, including the three great storehouses (Nos 9, 10 & 11, built 1764-1785).[13][14][15] The Double Ropery, over 1,000ft in length dates from the same period; it is, however, the sixth ropehouse (since 1665) to have stood on the site. Both its immediate predecessors were destroyed by fire (in 1760 and 1770) and the current building was itself gutted by fire in 1776 as the result of an arson attack.[16] It is called a 'double' ropery because the spinning and laying stages take place in the same building (on different floors) rather than on two separate sites.

In the 1760s the Wet Dock (No 1 Basin) was deepened, the Great Stone Dock was rebuilt and a new dry dock (known today as No 4 dock) was built alongside it. Further key engineering works were begun in the 1790s, overseen by Samuel Bentham.[17] He further expanded the Basin, building over the old double dock in the process, and added three further docks built entirely of stone. (These, Nos 1, 2 and 3 docks, are still in place today, accommodating HMS M33, HMS Victory and the Mary Rose respectively.) He also made pioneering use of a "ship caisson" to close off the entrance to the basin. In 1799 a steam engine was installed (the first in a Royal Naval Yard); it not only powered pumps to drain the dry docks, but also drove machinery for woodworking.

18th-century buildings and structures in the Dockyard
Porters' Lodge (1708), the oldest surviving building in the Dockyard 
Main Gate (1711, widened c.1940 and now known as Victory Gate) 
1711 plaque on the perimeter wall 
Royal Naval Academy (1732) 
No 9 Storehouse (1782) 
Admiralty House, built as the Commissioner's House in 1784 
St Ann's Church, HMNB Portsmouth(1787, rebuilt 1956 after bomb damage) 
South Office Block (1786-9) 
Double Ropery (left, 1771-5) and associated storehouses (right, 1771-81) 
Former Smithery (left, 1791-4); Stores & Workshops (right, 1782; one of four identical blocks) 

Nineteenth century

View across No 1 Basin toward Brunel's Block Mills (centre-right).

In 1800, the Royal Navy had 684 ships and the Dockyard was the largest industrial complex in the world.

The Industrial Revolution saw the world’s first steam powered factory, Portsmouth Block Mills, open in Portsmouth in 1802 to mass-produce ship pulley blocks. It was built alongside the 1799 steam engine house, over the newly roofed-over reservoir (the former Upper Wet Dock). Marc Brunel, father of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, famously designed the machines, which manufactured the blocks through a total of fifteen separate stages of production.

Horatio Nelson left Britain for the last time before his death at the Battle of Trafalgar when he embarked from Portsmouth on HMS Victory.

From 1815 the system of Dockyard apprenticeship was supplemented by the establishment of a School of Naval Architecture in Portsmouth (for training potential Master Shipwrights), initially housed in the building which faces Admiralty House on South Terrace.[18] Taking on students from the age of 14, this was the forerunner of Portsmouth Dockyard School (later Technical College) which continued to provide specialist training until 1970.[19]

Victorian and Edwardian dockyard expansion

View north from the older section of the Dockyard toward No 2 Basin and its Steam Factory (top of picture)

The adoption of steam propulsion for warships led to large-scale changes in the Royal Dockyards, which had been built in the age of sail. The Navy's first 'steam factory' was built at Woolwich in 1839; but it soon became clear that the site was far too small to cope with this revolutionary change in ship building and maintenance. Therefore, in 1843, work began in Portsmouth on reclaiming land immediately to the north of the then Dockyard to create a new 7-acre basin (known today as No 2 Basin) with a sizeable steam factory alongside;[20] new Brass and Iron Foundries were also built soon afterwards.[21][22] Furthermore, three new dry docks were constructed over the next 20 years, opening off the new basin, and another was built on reclaimed land west of the basin alongside a row of five new shipbuilding slips. Further developments in shipbuilding technology, however, meant that several of these new amenities had to be rebuilt and expanded almost as soon as they were finished.[1]

Docks and locks at the south-west corner of No 3 Basin; the building with the chimney is No 1 Pumping Station

Technological change affected not only ships' means of propulsion, but the materials from which they were built. By 1860 wooden warships, vulnerable as they were to modern armaments, had been rendered largely obsolescent. The changeover to metal hulls not only required new building techniques, but also heralded a dramatic and ongoing increase in the potential size of new vessels. The Dockyards found themselves having to expand in kind. At Portsmouth, plans were drawn up in the late 1850s for further land reclamation north and east of the new Steam Basin, and from 1867 work was begun on a complex of three new interconnected basins, each of 14-22 acres. Each basin served a different purpose: ships would proceed from the repairing basin, to the rigging basin, to the fitting-out basin, and exit from there into a new tidal basin, ready to take on fuel alongside the sizeable coaling wharf there. Three dry docks were also constructed as part of the plan, as well as parallel pair of sizeable locks for entry into the basin complex; the contemporary pumping station which stands nearby not only served to drain these docks and locks, but also delivered compressed air to power cranes, caissons and capstans.[23] This "Great Extension" of Portsmouth Dockyard was largely completed by 1881.[1]

Northwest corner of No 3 Basin: the Pocket (left), D Lock (centre) and C Lock (right)

Before the end of the century, however, it was recognised that there would have to be still further expansion across all the Royal Dockyards in order to keep pace with the increasing likely size of future naval vessels. At Portsmouth two more dry docks, Nos 14 & 15, were built alongside the Repairing Basin in 1896; within ten years these, together with the adjacent docks 12 & 13, had to be extended, and by the start of World War I Dock No 14 was over 720 ft in length. The largest Naval ships were now too large for the interlocking basins, so to guarantee access to the new dry docks the intervening walls between the basins were removed to create a single large non-tidal body of water (No 3 Basin), with a pair of 850 ft entrance locks being built at the same time. These (C & D locks) were operational from 1914, and they, together with the enlarged basin and docks, have remained in use, largely unaltered, ever since.[1]

Alongside the new Basins new buildings were erected, on a huge scale, to accommodate new manufacturing and construction processes. These included a gun-mounting workshop (1881, producing gun turrets), torpedo workshop (1886), and the very large New Factory of 1905, to the east of No 13 dock, which was soon put to the task of fitting out Dreadnoughts. Electrification came to the Yard with the opening of a 9,800kW power station in 1906.

Twentieth century

In 1900 the Third class cruiser HMS Pandora was launched, followed by the armoured cruisers Kent in 1901 and Suffolk in 1903. Two battleships of the pre-Dreadnought King Edward VII Class were launched in 1904—Britannia and New Zealand. The first modern battleship, Dreadnought, was built in 1905–06, taking one day more than a year. Further dreadnoughts followed—Bellerophon in 1907, St. Vincent in 1908, Orion in 1910, King George V in 1911, Iron Duke in 1912 and Queen Elizabeth in 1913.

First World War

No 1 Basin with Hunt-Class MCMVs and HMS Victory visible. In the foreground is the restored monitor HMS M33'

The largest vessel launched at Portsmouth during WWI was the 27,500-ton battleship Royal Sovereign in 1915. The only other launchings during the war were the submarines J1 and J2 in 1915, and K1, K2 and K5 in 1916. Some 1,200 vessels, however, underwent a refit at Portsmouth during the course of the War, and over the same period 1,658 ships were either hauled up the slipways or placed in dry-dock for repairs.[24]

Inter-war years

The period after the war was inevitably a time of contraction at the Dockyard, and there were many redundancies. In accordance with the Government's Ten Year Rule the Dockyard worked over the next decade and a half with a presumption of enduring peace rather than future conflict.[25]

The majority of warships launched at Portsmouth following the end of the War were cruisers—Effingham in 1921, Suffolk in 1926, London in 1927, Dorsetshire in 1929, Neptune in 1933, and Amphion and Aurora in 1934. There were also four destroyers—Comet and her sister Crusader in 1931, and the flotilla leaders Duncan in 1932 and Exmouth in 1934. The only other vessels launched between the wars were the mining tenders Nightingale in 1931 and Skylark in 1932.

New Dockyard facilities included a Steel Foundry, built in 1926. The "Semaphore Tower" was built in 1930, a facsimile of its namesake which had been destroyed in a fire in 1913. The arch beneath incorporates the Lion Gate, once part of the 18th-century fortifications.[26]

Second World War

The destroyer flotillas (the capital ships having been evacuated to Scapa Flow), were essential to the defence of the English Channel, particularly during Operation Dynamo (the Dunkirk evacuation) and against any potential German Invasion. The base itself served a major refit and repair role. The Germans realised this importance and the city and base in particular was heavily bombed.

Portsmouth and the Naval Base itself were the headquarters and main departure point for the military and naval units destined for Sword Beach on the Normandy coast as a part of Operation Overlord and the D-Day landings on 6 June 1944. Troops destined for each of the landing beaches left from Portsmouth aboard vessels such as the armed merchant cruisers HMCS Prince Henry and HMCS Prince David, escorted by the Canadian destroyers HMCS Algonquin and Sioux. The majority of the naval support for the operation left from Portsmouth, including the Mulberry Harbours.

Post Second World War

Falklands Task Force
Main article: Falklands War

In 1982 Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands. In response a task force of British military and merchant ships was dispatched from Portsmouth Naval Base to the islands in the South Atlantic to reclaim them for the United Kingdom.

The task force consisted of the following ships:

Following some losses, the majority of these ships returned to Portsmouth later that year.

Twenty-first century

Trafalgar 200

In the summer of 2005 Portsmouth Naval Base and the Solent played host to two special events organised as part of the Trafalgar 200 commemorations recognising the 200th Anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar. These were the International Fleet Review and the International Festival of the Sea.

Associated establishments in the Portsmouth area

The presence of the Dockyard and Fleet led to the establishment of a variety of other naval and military installations in and around Portsmouth over the years, some of which are listed below.

Naval

Gateway to the former Naval Barracks site (HMS Nelson), now the Naval Personnel Centre
Gateway and Old Gymnasium, HMS Temeraire

Decommissioned

Former Ordnance Storehouse (Vulcan building) Gunwharf Quays
Entrance to the former Royal Clarence Victualling Yard (est. 1827)

Military

One of the few surviving parts of the once extensive Clarence and Victoria Barracks complex (now the home of Portsmouth City Museum).

The Fortifications of Portsmouth were developed over several centuries to protect the fleet and dockyard from attacks either by land or by sea. From 1665 Bernard de Gomme oversaw construction of defensive Lines around both Portsmouth (the Dockyard and the old town) and Gosport (on the opposite side of Portsmouth Harbour). These defences were extended in the 18th century, before being superseded in the 19th by the Palmerston forts which encircle Portsmouth on and off-shore.

Milldam Barracks block, c.1800
Remains of the Point Barracks

These fortifications required substantial numbers of personnel to man them and, from the mid-18th century onwards, they (together with other troops who were either stationed in the garrison or preparing to embark overseas) were accommodated in a variety of barracks in and around the City. By 1900 these included:

According to the census over 6,000 men were living in barracks in the Portsmouth area in 1911. [41]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Coad, Jonathan (2013). Support for the Fleet: architecture and engineering of the Royal Navy's bases, 1700-1914. Swindon: English Heritage.
  2. ↑ Abroad again in Britain, BBC
  3. ↑ "Drilling rig starts Portsmouth aircraft carriers work". BBC News. 13 February 2012.
  4. ↑ Portsmouth News, 6 July 2007.
  5. ↑ "Shipbuilding could return to Portsmouth, says BAE Systems chairman". 8 July 2014. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  6. ↑ "Portsmouth Historic Dockyard website".
  7. ↑ "Portsmouth Royal Dockyard Historical Trust".
  8. ↑ "Portsmouth Historic Dockyard timeline".
  9. ↑ "Listed structure description".
  10. ↑ "History 1690–1840". www.portsmouthdockyard.org.uk. Retrieved 7 October 2009.
  11. ↑ "Listed structure description".
  12. ↑ "Listed building description".
  13. ↑ "Listed building details".
  14. ↑ "Listed building details".
  15. ↑ "Listed building details".
  16. ↑ "Listed building details".
  17. ↑ "Grade I listing for Docks 1-6 together with Basin, Mast Pond, etc".
  18. ↑ "Listed building text".
  19. ↑ "School History leaflet" (PDF).
  20. ↑ "Listed building text: No 2 Ship Shop (1846)".
  21. ↑ "Listed building text: Brass Foundry (1848)".
  22. ↑ "Listed building text (Iron Foundry, 1857-61)".
  23. ↑ "Listed building text: No 1 Pumping Station (1878)".
  24. ↑ "Portsmouth Dockyard timeline".
  25. ↑ "Dockyard timeline".
  26. ↑ "Portsmouth Dockyard timeline: new semaphore tower".
  27. ↑ "Listing text".
  28. ↑ "RN website: history of HMS Excellent".
  29. ↑ "RN website: history of HMS Temeraire".
  30. ↑ "RN Website: HMS Collingwood".
  31. ↑ "RN website: history of HMS Sultan".
  32. ↑ "Listed building description". Historic England.
  33. ↑ "Listed building text". Historic England.
  34. ↑ Slight, Henry. "The Military History of Portsmouth (1828)". archive.org. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
  35. ↑ "History In Portsmouth".
  36. ↑ "Listed building text".
  37. ↑ "Listed building text". Historic England.
  38. ↑ "Portsmouth Guide".
  39. ↑ "Portsmouth Museums and Records".
  40. ↑ "Listing description of main barracks block".
  41. ↑ Quail, Sarah (2014). Portsmouth in the Great War. Pen and Sword.

Further reading

External links

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Coordinates: 50°48′16″N 1°06′09″W / 50.80442°N 1.10242°W / 50.80442; -1.10242

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