Royal Navy Dockyard


Royal Navy Dockyards were state-owned harbour facilities where ships of the Royal Navy were built, based, repaired and refitted. Throughout its history, the Royal Navy has made extensive use of private shipyards, both at home and abroad; but at the same time it also had a policy of establishing and maintaining its own dockyard facilities. Portsmouth was the first ; it was followed by Deptford, Woolwich, Chatham and others. By the 18th century, Britain had a string of these state-owned naval dockyards, located not just around the country but across the world; each yard was sited close to a safe harbour or anchorage used by the fleet. Most Royal Dockyards had a dual function, providing for both ship building and ship maintenance. Over time, they accrued additional on-site facilities for the support, training and accommodation of naval personnel.
For centuries, in this way, the name and concept of a Royal Dockyard was largely synonymous with that of a naval base. In the early 1970s, following the appointment of civilian Dockyard General Managers with cross-departmental authority, and a separation of powers between them and the Dockyard Superintendent, the term 'Naval Base' began to gain currency as an official designation for the latter's domain. 'Royal Dockyard' remained an official designation of the associated shipbuilding/maintenance facilities until 1997, when the last remaining Royal Dockyards were fully privatised.

Function

Most Royal Dockyards were built around docks and slips. Traditionally, slipways were used for shipbuilding, and dry docks for maintenance;. 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. Dry docks were invariably the most expensive component of any dockyard. Where there was no nearby dock available ships would sometimes be careened 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.
In addition to docks and slips, a Royal Dockyard had various specialist buildings on site: storehouses, sail lofts, woodworking sheds, metal shops and forges, roperies, pumping stations, administration blocks and housing for the senior dockyard officers. Wet docks 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.
One thing generally absent from the Royal Dockyards 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. 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. 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. 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.
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:
Refit, repair, maintenance and modernisation of Royal Navy vessels;
Overhaul and testing of naval equipments, including those to be returned to the Director General of Stores and Transport for stock and subsequent issue to the Royal Navy;
Installation and maintenance of machinery and equipment in naval establishments;
Provision of utility services to Royal Navy vessels alongside in the naval base and to adjacent naval shore establishments; and
manufacture of some items of ships' equipment".

Nomenclature

For a long time, well into the eighteenth century, a Royal Dockyard was often referred to as The King's Yard. In 1694, Edmund Dummer referred to "His Majesty's new Dock and Yard at Plymouth"; from around that time, HM Dock Yard increasingly became the official designation. While, as this phrase suggests, the primary meaning of 'Dockyard' is a Yard with a Dock, not all dockyards possessed one; for example, at both Bermuda and Portland dry docks were planned but never built. Where a dock was neither built nor planned the installation was often designated HM Naval Yard rather than 'HM Dockyard' in official publications ; they are included in the listings below.
While the term 'Royal Dockyard' ceased in official usage following privatisation, at least one private-sector operator has reinstated it: Babcock International, which in 2011 acquired freehold ownership of the working North Yard at Devonport from the British Ministry of Defence, reverted to calling it Devonport Royal Dockyard.

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 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. The Thames yards were pre-eminent in the sixteenth century, being conveniently close to the merchants and artisans of London 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.
By the mid-seventeenth century, Chatham 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, all the yards remained busy into the eighteenth century – including Portsmouth. 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, Antigua, Gibraltar, Canada 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. These highly significant works lasted from 1765 to 1808, and were followed by a comprehensive rebuilding of the Yard at Sheerness.
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, then Chatham and Gibraltar in 1984. At the same time, Portsmouth's Royal Dockyard was downgraded and renamed a Fleet Maintenance and Repair Organisation. In 1987 the remaining Royal Dockyards were part-privatised, becoming government-owned, contractor-run facilities ; full privatisation followed ten years later. The following year Portsmouth's FMRO was sold to Fleet Support Limited. As of 2019, all three continue in operation, to varying degrees, as locations for building and maintaining ships and submarines of the Royal Navy.

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. The resident commissioners had wide-ranging powers enabling them to act in the name of the board ; however, until 1806 they did not have direct authority over the principal officers of the yard. This could often be a source of tension, as everyone sought to guard their own autonomy.
The principal officers varied over time, but generally included:
.
The next tier of officers included those in charge of particular areas of activity.
In Dockyards where there was a ropewalk 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.
Ships in commission 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.

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.
The Clerk of the Survey post had been abolished in 1822. The office of Clerk of the Cheque was likewise abolished in 1830, but then revived as the Cashier's Department in 1865.
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.
In the latter half of the 19th century, those being appointed as Master Attendants began to be commissioned. They began to be given the rank and appointment of "Staff Captain ". 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, the principal Dockyard departments were overseen by:
Ships' ordnance 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. 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' 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 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 :

15th century

Other, minor yards 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. Similar bases were established during the Napoleonic Wars at Falmouth and Great Yarmouth ; but both were relatively small-scale and short-lived.
A different 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.

Overseas dockyards