Royal Navy Dockyard
Royal Navy Dockyards (more usually termed Royal Dockyards) were state-owned
From the reign of
For centuries, in this way, the name and concept of a Royal Dockyard was largely synonymous with that of a
Function
Most Royal Dockyards were built around docks and slips. Traditionally,
In addition to docks and slips, a Royal Dockyard had various specialist buildings on site: storehouses, sail lofts, woodworking sheds, metal shops and forges,
One thing generally absent from the Royal Dockyards (until the 20th century) was the provision of naval
In 1985 Parliament was given the following description of the functions of the two then remaining Royal Dockyards: "The services provided by the royal dockyards at Devonport and Rosyth to the Royal Navy fall into five main categories as follows: (a) Refit, repair, maintenance and modernisation of Royal Navy vessels; (b) Overhaul and testing of naval equipments, including those to be returned to the Director General of Stores and Transport (Navy) for stock and subsequent issue to the Royal Navy; (c) Installation and maintenance of machinery and equipment in naval establishments; (d) Provision of
Nomenclature
For a long time, well into the eighteenth century, a Royal Dockyard was often referred to as The King's Yard (or The Queen's Yard, as appropriate). In 1694,
While the term 'Royal Dockyard' ceased in official usage following privatisation, at least one private-sector operator has reinstated it:
Historical overview
The origins of the Royal Dockyards are closely linked with the permanent establishment of a standing Navy in the early sixteenth century. The beginnings of a yard had already been established at
By the mid-seventeenth century,
Furthermore, Royal Dockyards began to be opened in some of Britain's colonial ports, to service the fleet overseas. Yards were opened in Jamaica (as early as 1675), Antigua (1725), Gibraltar (1704), Canada (Halifax, 1759) and several other locations.
In the wake of the Seven Years' War a large-scale programme of expansion and rebuilding was undertaken at the three largest home yards (Chatham, Plymouth and Portsmouth). These highly significant works (involving land reclamation and excavation, as well as new docks and slips and buildings of every kind) lasted from 1765 to 1808, and were followed by a comprehensive rebuilding of the Yard at Sheerness (1815–23).[3]: pp.4–11
Through the
The massive naval rebuilding programme prior to the
Organisation
Senior personnel
Management of the yards was in the hands of the Navy Board until 1832. The Navy Board was represented in each yard by a resident commissioner (though Woolwich and Deptford, being close to the City of London, were for some time overseen directly by the Navy Board). The resident commissioners had wide-ranging powers enabling them to act in the name of the board (particularly in an emergency); however, until 1806 they did not have direct authority over the principal officers of the yard (who were answerable directly to the board). This could often be a source of tension, as everyone sought to guard their own autonomy.[13]
The principal officers varied over time, but generally included:
- the Master-Shipwright (in charge of shipbuilding, ship repair/maintenance and management of the associated workforce)
- the Master Attendant (in charge of launching and docking ships, of ships 'in ordinary' at the yard, and of ship movements around the harbour)
- the Storekeeper (in charge of receiving, maintaining and issuing items in storage)
- the Clerk of the Cheque (in charge of pay, personnel and certain transactions)
- the Clerk of the Survey (in charge of maintaining a regular account of equipment and the transfer of goods)
(In practice there was a deliberate overlap of responsibilities among the last three officials listed above, as a precaution against embezzlement).[4]
The next tier of officers included those in charge of particular areas of activity, the Master-Caulker, Master-Ropeworker, Master-Boatbuilder, Master-Mastmaker.[13]
In Dockyards where there was a ropewalk (viz Woolwich, Chatham, Portsmouth and Plymouth) there was an additional officer, the Clerk of the Ropeway, who had a degree of autonomy, mustering his own personnel and managing his own raw materials.[7]
Ships in commission (and along with them the majority of Naval personnel) were not under the authority of the Navy Board but rather of the
After 1832
With the abolition of the Navy Board in 1832, the Admiralty took over the dockyards and the commissioners were replaced by
The Clerk of the Survey post had been abolished in 1822.[7] The office of Clerk of the Cheque was likewise abolished in 1830 (its duties reverting to the Storekeeper), but then revived as the Cashier's Department in 1865.[14]
With the development of steam technology in the 1840s came the senior Dockyard appointment of Chief Engineer.
In 1875, the Master-Shipwrights were renamed Chief Constructors (later styled Manager, Constructive Department or MCD).[15]
In the latter half of the 19th century, those being appointed as Master Attendants (in common with their namesakes the
For much of the twentieth century,[16] the principal Dockyard departments were overseen by:[17]
- Captain of the Dockyard
- Manager, Constructive Department (MCD)
- Manager, Engineering Department (MED)
- Senior Electrical Engineer (SEE)
- Senior Naval Stores Officer (SNSO)
Associated establishments
Ships' ordnance (guns, weapons and ammunition) was provided independently by the
In addition to naval personnel and civilian workers, there were substantial numbers of military quartered in the vicinity of the Royal Dockyards. These were there to ensure the defence of the yard and its ships. From the 1750s, naval yards in Britain were surrounded by 'lines' (fortifications) with barracks provided for the soldiers manning them. A century later these 'lines' were superseded by networks of Palmerston Forts. Overseas yards also usually had some fort or similar structure provided and manned nearby. Moreover, the Royal Marines, from the time of the Corps' establishment in the mid-18th century, were primarily based in the dockyard towns of Plymouth, Portsmouth and Chatham (and later also in Woolwich and Deal) where their barracks were conveniently placed for duties on board ship or indeed in the Dockyard itself.
United Kingdom dockyards
Royal Dockyards were established in Britain and Ireland as follows (in chronological order, with date of establishment):
15th century
- Portsmouth Dockyard (1496) Rose to prominence during the wars with France, late 18th century. Expanded significantly in the nineteenth century with new facilities for steam engineering and ironclad shipbuilding.[7] Privatised 1993. In November 2013 the operator BAE Systems announced that it was closing its shipbuilding facility at Portsmouth; part of the shipyard will remain open for repair/maintenance.[18]
16th century
- Woolwich Dockyard (1512) Important shipbuilding centre, 16th–17th centuries. Became a specialist steam yard 1831. Closed 1869.[7]
- Erith Dockyard (1512) Erith Dockyard was used as an advance base for routine maintenance before ships were transferred to Deptford Dockyard.[19] It closed due to persistent flooding in 1521.[20] However, according to naval historian Nicholas A. M. Rodger although Erith dockyard closed it was an important center of naval administration of the English Navy from 1514 into the 1540s.[21]
- Deptford Dockyard (1513) Important shipbuilding centre, 16th-17th centuries. Experimental yard for new technology, early nineteenth century. Closed 1869. (The adjacent victualling yard, which supplied the Thames and Medway yards, remained open for a further 98 years.)
- Chatham Dockyard (1567) The leading Royal Dockyard during the 16th–17th centuries, when the Fleet was principally based in and around the River Medway.[22] Began to suffer from silting in the eighteenth century, but remained active. During the nineteenth century, other more accessible yards led on fleet repairs and maintenance, while Chatham focused more on shipbuilding. The following century, it specialised in building submarines. In 1960 the adjacent Royal Navy barracks and facilities were closed; the Dockyard itself closed in 1984. (Today the site is preserved as Chatham Historic Dockyard.)[7]
17th century
- Irish Squadron, and later as a cruizer base. Closed by 1812, its facilities having relocated to Haulbowline(see below).
- Harwich Dockyard (1652) Active during the Anglo-Dutch Wars; closed 1713 (a small Naval yard remained on site, with refit/stores facilities, until 1829.)[7]
- Sheerness Dockyard (1665) Originally built for storing and refitting; for much of its history served as a support yard for Chatham. Shipbuilding began in 1720 (mostly smaller ships). Entire dockyard rebuilt to a single design by John Rennie Jnr in 1815–26. Closed 1960 (site taken over as a commercial port).
- Deal Naval Yard (1672) Provided basic repair and supply facilities for ships at anchor nearby in the Downs (albeit without the possibility of ships approaching the shore). Closed in 1864.
- Plymouth Dockyard (1690) Pre-eminent, alongside Portsmouth, during the wars with France (1793 onwards). Known as Devonport since 1843.[23] Significant expansion for steam engineering, 1844–53 and 1896–1907. Shipbuilding ceased in 1971, but the Yard remains active as a maintenance and repair facility.[24]
19th century
- Pembroke Dockyard (1815) Unlike all the previous yards, Pembroke was built purely for shipbuilding rather than for repair and maintenance. It was successor to a yard at Milford Haven leased by the Navy Board for shipbuilding since the late eighteenth century.[25] Active through to the end of World War One, the yard was closed temporarily in 1923, reopened in the 1930s and closed permanently in 1947. (A small naval base remained on the site until 2008.)[7]
- Portland Dockyard (1845) Previously in use as an anchorage, a yard was established here to provide coal for the new steam-powered ships of the Navy. In the 1850s there were plans for dry-docks and building slips, but these were not carried through. Very active through two World Wars, the Dockyard closed in 1959; site taken over as a commercial port. (Adjacent Naval Base and RN Air Station closed in 1995–99).[8]
- Haulbowline Dockyard (1869) Haulbowline Island in Cork Harbour was established as a Naval Victualling Yard in 1811 (in succession to an earlier base at Kinsale further along the coast).[4] It was extended in 1869 in order to create a sizeable Royal Navy Dockyard, specialising in ship repair and maintenance. In 1923 the island was handed over to the Irish government; Haulbowline remains the principal Naval base of the Republic of Ireland. A steelworks was established on the site of the Dockyard in 1938.[26]
20th century
- Rosyth Dockyard (1909) Built with a strategic view to countering the threat from Germany. Closed after World War One, reopened 1939, and has remained open since. Privatized in 1993, but continues to build and maintain Britain's warships.
- Dover Dockyard (1913) In 1847 the government began construction on Dover's Admiralty Pier, envisaged as forming the western arm of a protected haven. This project was only completed after work began on the eastern pier in 1898; the Admiralty Harbour was formally opened in 1909. During both World Wars Dover served as a ship repair station and was listed as a Naval Dockyard.
- floating dry dock was towed here from Portsmouth in 1914 and was in use for the duration of the war.[27] Closed after the war, but the Navy maintained the site as an oiling station during World War II, finally withdrawing in 1993.[28]
- Scapa Flow Dockyard (1939) Established at Lyness Naval Base and operational through World War II.
Other
Other, minor yards (with some permanent staff and basic repair/storage facilities) were established in a number of locations over time, usually to serve a nearby anchorage used by Naval vessels. For example, during 18th century a small supply base was maintained at Leith, for ships on Leith Station; but there was no strategic impetus to develop it into a full-blown Dockyard.[3] Similar bases were established during the Napoleonic Wars at Falmouth (for vessels in Carrick Roads) and Great Yarmouth (for vessels in Yarmouth Roads); but both were relatively small-scale and short-lived.[4]
A different (and, within the UK, unique) establishment was
Overseas dockyards
Caribbean
In 1728
Jamaica (1675) Jamaica Dockyard A naval official was stationed in
British North America and North Atlantic
Bermuda (1795) (Imperial fortress)
Esquimalt Royal Navy Dockyard, Esquimalt, Canada. In 1865, the Royal Navy relocated its Pacific Station headquarters from Valparaíso, Chile, to Esquimalt Harbour (site of a small naval hospital and coaling station since the mid-1850s). In 1887, a naval base was located at Work Point. In 1905, the Royal Navy abandoned its base, but the Pacific Fleet headquarters of the new Royal Canadian Navy replaced it in 1910. Partially home to Pacific Command of the RCN, historic buildings are now preserved. Royal Naval Dockyard, Halifax, Canada (1759) (Imperial fortress). Operated as HM Dockyard from 1759 to 1905 and sold to Canada in 1907. Halifax was the main base of the North American Station until the establishment of the base at Bermuda, subsequently designated as the main base in Summer, with the fleet moving to Bermuda for the winter. Ultimately, Bermuda (which was less vulnerable to attack over water or land) became the main base and dockyard year-round, with Halifax and all other yards and bases in the region as subsidiaries). It became a RCN facility in 1910 and is now known as HMC Dockyard and is a component of CFB Halifax.
The Great Lakes, as largely self-contained bodies of water, required their own dockyards to service the Provincial Marine. Several substantial ships were built at these yards during the time of the Napoleonic Wars.
- Amherstburg, Ontariooperated from 1796 to 1813. Preserved as national historic site and municipal park.
- Grand River Naval Depot, Port Maitland, Ontario – planned facility was never built and now site of Port Maitland Sailing Club.
- Gunboatswere built here. Fort Lennox historic site is now preserved. Rest of island is naturalised as parkland.
- Kingston Royal Naval Dockyard, Kingston, Canada. The RN dockyard operated at Point Frederick from 1789 to 1853; the site was expanded during the War of 1812. It is now closed, this yard was near where the Royal Military College of Canada is now situated.
- Navy Island Royal Naval Shipyard on Navy Island near Niagara Falls, Ontario (1763–1813). Island has naturalised and now owned by Parks Canada. Not open to public.
- Penetanguishene Naval Yard, Penetanguishene, Ontario operated from 1813 to 1834; transferred to British Army until 1856. Now site preserved as Discovery Harbour.
- Naval Shipyards, York (Upper Canada) from 1798 to 1813. Later became commercial hub for shipyards and wharfs. Since filled in and re-developed as retail and residential neighbourhood.
India and Far East
Hong Kong (1859) There was an RN Dockyard from 1859 to 1959 on
Wei Hai Wei (1898) The Royal Navy inherited a small dockyard on Liugong Island when this territory was leased from China at the end of the nineteenth century. The yard was expanded, and served as a regular summer anchorage up until the Second World War (though the territory, and with it control of the base, was returned to China in 1930).[3] Used by Japanese forces during World War II and after by People's Liberation Army, some historic buildings remains today.
Mediterranean
Malta (1800) (Imperial fortress)
Gibraltar (1704)[7] (Imperial fortress) A small base served the Royal Navy in this strategically important location throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. At the start of the 20th,