Royal Navy Dockyard

Portsmouth Royal Dockyard, founded 1496, still in service as a Naval Base.

Royal Navy Dockyards were harbour facilities where commissioned ships were either built or based, or where ships were overhauled and refitted. Historically, the Royal Navy maintained a string of dockyards around the world; these publicly owned establishments were officially designated Royal Dockyards or HM Dockyards until the late 1960s (after which the term 'Naval Base' gained currency,[1] reflecting a change of emphasis from ship building and maintenance to accommodation and training of personnel). Today, the few shipbuilding/maintenance Yards that remain operational have been privatized (though they are still often called 'Royal' dockyards in common, if not in official, parlance).

Function

Woolwich Dockyard, 1790. Ships under repair and construction are prominently seen on the Yard's two docks and three slips.

It should be noted that throughout its history, the Royal Navy has (when necessary) made extensive use of private shipyards and dockyards, both at home and abroad, and continues to do so. Nevertheless, since the reign of Henry VIII it has also made a point of establishing and maintaining its own dockyards. These Royal Navy Dockyards have always had a dual function: shipbuilding and ship repair/maintenance; historically, most yards provided for both, but some specialized in one or the other.

Dockyards were often built around a number of docks and slips. Traditionally, slipways were used for shipbuilding, and dry docks (also called graving docks) for maintenance; (dry docks were also sometimes used for building, particularly pre-1760 and post-1880). Regular hull maintenance was important: in the age of sail, a ship's wooden hull would be comprehensively inspected every 2–3 years, and its copper sheeting replaced every 5.[2] Dry docks were invariably the most expensive component of any dockyard (until the advent of marine nuclear facilities).[1]

Royal Dockyards were generally established close to harbours or anchorages where Royal Navy ships were based. In addition to their docks and slips they had various specialist buildings on site: storehouses, woodworking sheds, metal shops and forges, roperies, pumping stations (for emptying the dry docks), administration blocks and accommodation for the resident officers.

Careening wharf and storehouses built by the Royal Navy in the 1760s, Illa Pinto, Port Mahon, Minorca.

While the term 'Dockyard' implies a yard with a dry dock, not all dockyards possessed one. Where there was no nearby dock available (as was often the case at the overseas Yards) ships would sometimes be careened (beached at high tide) to enable necessary work to be done. In the age of sail, wharves and capstan-houses were often built for the purpose of careening at yards with no dock: a system of pulleys and ropes, attached to the masthead, would be used to heel the ship over giving access to the hull.

Barracks accommodation alongside No.5 Basin and the former coaling wharf at Devonport

Wet docks (usually called Basins) often accommodated ships while they were being fitted out. The number and size of Dockyard basins increased dramatically in the steam era. At the same time, large factory complexes, machine-shops and foundries sprung up alongside for the manufacture of engines and other components (not to mention, in due course, the metal hulls of the ships themselves).

One thing generally absent from the Royal Dockyards (until the 20th century) was the provision of naval barracks. Prior to this time, sailors were not usually quartered ashore at all, they were expected to live on board a ship (the only real exception being at some overseas wharves where accommodation was provided for crews whose ships were being careened). When a ship was decommissioned at the end of a voyage or tour of duty, most of her crew were dismissed or else transferred to new vessels. Alternatively, if a vessel was undergoing refit or repair, her crew was often accommodated on a nearby hulk; a Dockyard often had several commissioned hulks moored nearby, serving various purposes and accommodating various personnel, including new recruits.[3] Things began to change when the Admiralty introduced more settled terms of service in 1853; nevertheless, thirty years were to pass before the first shore barrack opened, and a further twenty years before barracks at all three of the major home Yards were finally completed.[1] Through the course of the 20th century these barracks, together with their associated training and other facilities, became defining features of each of these Dockyards.

Historical overview

Portsmouth: surviving dry-docks at No. 1 Basin (one of which dates from 1698).

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 Portsmouth with the building of a dry dock in 1496; but it was on the Thames in the reign of Henry VIII that the Royal Dockyards really began to flourish. Woolwich and Deptford dockyards were both established in the early 1510s (a third Yard followed at Erith but this was short-lived as it proved to be vulnerable to flooding). The Thames yards were pre-eminent in the sixteenth century, being conveniently close to the merchants and artisans of London (for shipbuilding and supply purposes) as well as to the Armouries of the Tower of London. They were also just along the river from Henry's palace at Greenwich. As time went on, though, they suffered from the silting of the river and the constraints of their sites.

Covered slip no. 1, Devonport: the only complete surviving eighteenth-century slip on a Royal Dockyard.

By the mid-seventeenth century, Chatham (established 1567) had overtaken them to become the largest of the yards. Together with new Yards at Harwich and Sheerness, Chatham was well-placed to serve the Navy in the Dutch Wars that followed. Apart from Harwich (which closed in 1713), all the yards remained busy into the eighteenth century - including Portsmouth (which, after a period of dormancy, had now begun to grow again). In 1690, Portsmouth had been joined on the south coast by a new Royal Dockyard at Plymouth; a hundred years later, as Britain renewed its enmity with France, these two yards gained new prominence and pre-eminence.

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.[4]

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 1765-1808, and were followed by a comprehensive rebuilding of the Yard at Sheerness (1815–23).[1]

HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales under construction at Rosyth, 2013.

Through the Napoleonic Wars all the home Yards were kept very busy, and a new shipbuilding Yard was established at Pembroke in 1815. Before very long, new developments in shipbuilding, materials and propulsion prompted changes at the Dockyards. Construction of marine steam engines was initially focused at Woolwich, but massive expansion soon followed at Portsmouth, Plymouth and Chatham. Portland Harbour was built by the Admiralty in the mid-19th century to help protect ships taking coal on board; because of its key position, midway between Devonport and Portsmouth in the English Channel, Portland was developed as a maintenance Yard. A new maintenance Yard was also opened on Haulbowline Island in Cork Harbour. Meanwhile, the Thames-side Yards, Woolwich and Deptford, could no longer compete, and they finally closed in 1869.

The massive naval rebuilding programme prior to the First World War saw activity across all the Yards, and a new building Yard opened at Rosyth. In contrast, the post-war period saw the closure of Pembroke and Rosyth, and the handover of Haulbowline to the new Irish government - though the closures were reversed with the return of war in 1939. A series of closures followed the war: Pembroke in 1947, Portland and Sheerness in 1959/60,[5] then Chatham and Gibraltar (the last remaining overseas Yard) in 1984.[6] In the 1990s the remaining Royal Dockyards (Devonport, Portsmouth and Rosyth) were privatised; they continue to be the main locations for building (Rosyth) and maintaining the ships and submarines of the Royal Navy.

Organisation

Senior personnel

Commissioner's House, Chatham (1703: the oldest intact building in any Royal Dockyard).[7]

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.[8]

The principal officers varied over time, but generally included:

(In practice there was a deliberate overlap of responsibilities among the last three officials listed above, as a precaution against embezzlement).[3]

The Principal Officers of a Dockyard were customarily housed in a terrace of houses, as seen here at Sheerness

The next tier of officers included those in charge of particular areas of activity (the Master-Caulker, Master-Ropeworker, Master-Boatbuilder, Master-Mastmaker, etc.).[8]

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.[4]

It should be noted that 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 Admiralty, which meant that they did not answer to any of the above officers, but rather to the Port Admiral.[3]

After 1832

With the abolition of the Navy Board in 1832, the Admiralty took over the Dockyards and the Commissioners were replaced by Admiral-Superintendents.[4]

The Clerk of the Survey post had been abolished in 1822.[4] 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.[9]

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).[10]

In the latter half of the 19th century, those being appointed as Master Attendants (in common with their namesakes the sailing Masters) began to be commissioned. They began to be given the rank and appointment of "Staff Captain (Dockyard)" (modified in 1903 to "Captain of the Dockyard"). In several instances, the appointment of Master Attendant or Captain of the Dockyard was held in common with that of King's or Queen's Harbour Master.

For much of the twentieth century,[11] the principal Dockyard departments were overseen by

Associated establishments

View from the Commissioner's house in Bermuda: Ordnance Yard, Victualling Yard, Dockyard, Barracks.

Ships' ordnance (guns, weapons and ammunition) was provided independently by the Board of Ordnance, which set up its own Ordnance Yards alongside several of the Royal Dockyards both at home and abroad. Similarly, the Victualling Board established Victualling Yards in several Dockyard locations, which furnished warships with their provisions of food, beer and rum. In the mid-eighteenth century the Sick and Hurt Board established Naval Hospitals in the vicinity of Plymouth Dock and Portsmouth; by the mid-nineteenth century there were Royal Naval Hospitals close to most of the major and minor Naval Dockyards in Britain, in addition to several of them overseas (the oldest dating from the early 1700s). As the age of steam eclipsed the age of sail, Coaling Yards were established alongside several yards, and at strategic points around the globe.

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

A lively depiction of Deptford Dockyard in the mid-eighteenth century (John Cleveley the Elder, 1755).

Royal Dockyards were established in Britain and Ireland as follows (in chronological order, with date of establishment):

15th century

16th century

Shipbuilding slips at Chatham

17th century

Royal Navy Dockyard, Pembroke, 1860
HMS Westminster undergoing refit in a covered dry-dock at Devonport, 2009.

19th century

Naval Storehouses (c.1820) at Haulbowline (now Republic of Ireland)

20th century

Other

Minor Yards (with some permanent staff and minor repair/storage facilities, but without dry docks etc.) were established in a number of locations over time, usually to serve a nearby anchorage used by Naval vessels. Deal was one such Yard, active from 1672; it served ships anchoring nearby in the Downs. There were similar establishments in Leith, Kinsale and Milford Haven, as well as at Falmouth and Great Yarmouth for a time.[3]

A different (and, within the U.K., unique) establishment was Haslar Gunboat Yard. Gunboats were small, shallow-draft vessels, developed after the Crimean War, which benefitted from being stored ashore rather than left afloat, to help preserve their light wooden hulls. From 1856 Haslar provided the means to house, launch and haul them ashore by means of a steam-driven traverse system. Overseen by a Master-Shipwright, the Yard stayed in use until 1906, after which it remained in Naval hands as a base for coastal craft until 1973.[18]

Overseas dockyards

Part of Nelson's Dockyard in Antigua
Dockyard Commissioner's House in Bermuda (1823-31)
Canada: former Naval Storehouse (c.1815), Kingston, Ontario
Former Royal Dockyard, Gibraltar
Dockyard building of 1807, Mumbai
Naval Storehouse, c.1890, Garden Island, NSW, Australia
Former mast house and sail loft of 1815 at Simon's Town; now the South African Naval Museum

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Coad, Jonathan (2013). Support for the Fleet: Architecture and engineering of the Royal Navy's bases, 1700-1914. Swindon: English Heritage.
  2. ↑ English Heritage: Thematic Survey of Naval Dockyards in England
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Lavery, Brian (1989). Nelson's Navy. London: Conway.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
  5. 1 2 3 Copy of government briefing paper
  6. ↑ Naval Dockyard Society history page, by P. MacDougall
  7. ↑ Listing text Part of the 17th-century Officer's Terrace survives in Devonport, but it was mostly destroyed in the Blitz
  8. 1 2 J. D. Davies, Pepys's Navy: ships, men and warfare 1649-89, Seaforth Publishing 2008.
  9. ↑ "Portsmouth Dockyard timeline".
  10. ↑ "Portsmouth Dockyard timeline".
  11. ↑ "Portsmouth Dockyard timelines".
  12. ↑ BBC news report
  13. ↑ Naval Dockyards Society
  14. ↑ History of the South Yard. (The town of Plymouth Dock had already been renamed Devonport on 1st January 1824).
  15. ↑ local news report
  16. ↑ Pembroke Dock: History
  17. ↑ local history site
  18. ↑ "Historic Buildings Report" (PDF). English Heritage.
  19. ↑ Hansard

External links

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