HMNB Portsmouth
Encyclopedia : H : HM : HMN : HMNB Portsmouth
HMNB Portsmouth which also incorporates the area known as HMS Nelson is a large naval base to the east of the city of Portsmouth on Portsea Island in Hampshire, using the north eastern area of Portsmouth Harbour.
Functioning base
It plays host to the majority of the surface fleet of the Royal Navy including Invincible-class aircraft carriers, Type 42 destroyers, the majority of the Type 23 frigates, fishery protection vessels and two squadrons of mine counter-measures vessels (minesweepers and mine hunters).In total some 17,200 people work in the base. It is also base of the Second Sea Lord who flies his flag in HMS Victory, which is the oldest commissioned warship in the world (but was built at Chatham Dockyard).
Portsmouth Historic Dockyard
In addition to HMS Victory, a portion of the base serves as a maritime museum (now called Portsmouth Historic Dockyard) and plays host to:- the raised wreck of the Tudor carrack Mary Rose
- HMS Warrior
- HMS M33, a WWI monitor
- the Royal Naval Museum
- Action Stations - featuring InterAction
- Portsmouth Harbour Tours
- The Trafalgar Sail - foretop sail of HMS Victory from the Battle of Trafalgar 1805
History
Along with Chatham, Woolwich, Plymouth and Deptford, it has been one of the main dockyards for the Royal Navy throughout its history.The Tudors
Napoleonic Wars
From here Nelson, embarking on HMS Victory, left Britain for the final time before his death at the Battle of Trafalgar.Victorian
HMS WarriorFirst World War
Second World War
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 June 6 1944
Post Second World War
Falklands Task Force
In 1982 Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands. As a result of this, to reclaim it's sovereignty for the United Kingdom a task force of British military and merchant ships were dispatched from Portsmouth Naval Base to the island's in the South Atlantic. The task force comprised of the following:- Three Aircraft Carriers
- Two Landing Ship Docks
- Eight Destroyers
- Fifteen Frigates
- Three Patrol Ships
- Five Submarines
- Three Survey Vessels
- Five Minesweepers
- Ten Fleet Tankers
- Six Logistic Landing Ships
- Five Supply Ships
- One Helicopter Supply ship
- Eighteen Merchant ships including troop/cruise ships such as RMS Queen Elizabeth 2
Trafalgar 200
In the summer of 2005 Portsmouth Naval Base and the Solent played host to two special events organised with the intention of celebrating the 200th Anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar. These were the International Fleet Review and the International Festival of the Sea (Portsmouth).Further reading
- Stephen Courtney, Brian Patterson - Home of the Fleet: A Century of Portsmouth Royal Dockyard in Photographs (Sutton Publishing, 2005) ISBN 0750922850
External links
- [HMNB Portsmouth web page]
- [Portsmouth Historic Dockyard website]
- [Portsmouth Historic Dockyard history]
- [Portsmouth D-Day Museum]
| Royal Navy Bases |
|
|---|---|
| HMNB Devonport | HMNB Clyde | HMNB Portsmouth | RNAS Yeovilton | RNAS Culdrose | |
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.