HMS Standard (shore establishment)

Add links
Coordinates: 55°12′35″N 2°33′14″W / 55.20972°N 2.55389°W / 55.20972; -2.55389
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other ships with the same name, see HMS Standard.

NameHMS Standard
Acquired1941
Commissioned15 January 1942[1]
Decommissioned13 July 1945[1]
Type
Shore establishment

HMS Standard was a British

Kielder in Northumberland, the base was an assessment and rehabilitation centre for naval personnel diagnosed with personality disorders
.

Origins

Prior to the

Second World War the Ministry of Labour had established a number of training centres for unemployed men, one of these was Kielder Camp.[2] In 1941 the Navy was growing increasingly concerned about the number of men suffering from behavioural problems, which prevented them from carrying out full duties.[3]
A variety of locations were considered before it was decided to take over the by now deserted labour camp near Kielder. Although the camp was taken over in 1941 it was not until early 1942 that it was commissioned as HMS Standard and the first men posted there.

Personnel

Men posted to the base fell into three categories; those with low morale, men of temperamental instability, and malingerers.[3] The aim was to return these men not necessarily to active service but to some form of effective service.[3]

The base was not a hospital, it was under the command of officers of the Royal Navy executive branch rather than

Royal Naval Medical Service, although two Royal Navy psychiatrists were assigned to the base staff.[4]

Regime

The regime of the base had an emphasis on physical labour and education to support the overall aim of returning the men to effective service. Rather than a general regime, each man was assessed and a personalised regime of work, recreation and education established.[3]

Statistics

During the three years HMS Standard was operational, 842 men were assessed of whom 680 were classed as 'successes' because they were drafted to other duties within the Navy with the average period at Standard being four months. Of those redrafted the records are incomplete but some performed well enough to be decorated, while over 100 were the subject later in their service careers of bad reports. The remaining 162 men were all discharged from the Navy.[3]

Closure

HMS Standard was decommissioned in July 1945 after the end of the war in Europe, subsequently the camp became a labour camp for Polish refugees before becoming a Forestry Commission depot. The site of the camp was flooded with the creation of Kielder Water in 1980.[5]

Notes

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-0-907771-73-9
    .
  2. ISBN 978-0-900960-48-2
    .
  3. ^
    ISSN 1758-3209
    . Retrieved 28 July 2010.
  4. doi:10.1080/00253359.2006.10656993
    .
  5. ^ "Royal Naval Camp (Kielder)". Keys to the Past. Durham County Council, Northumberland County Council. 2010. Archived from the original on 16 June 2011. Retrieved 17 October 2010.

References

55°12′35″N 2°33′14″W / 55.20972°N 2.55389°W / 55.20972; -2.55389


Stub icon

This United Kingdom navy-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=HMS_Standard_(shore_establishment)&oldid=1190604395"