HMS Raleigh
Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg
Torpoint, Cornwall in England
HMS Raleigh from the West - geograph.org.uk - 373877.jpg
Accommodation blocks at HMS Raleigh
Hms raleigh badge.png
HMS Raleigh is located in Cornwall
HMS Raleigh
HMS Raleigh
Location in Cornwall
Coordinates50°22′26″N 4°13′22″W / 50.3739°N 4.2227°W / 50.3739; -4.2227
TypeNaval training establishment
Area331 hectares (820 acres)
Site information
OwnerMinistry of Defence
OperatorRoyal Navy
ConditionOperational
WebsiteOfficial website
Site history
Built1940 (1940)
In use1940 – present
Garrison information
Current
commander		Captain Jane Roe

HMS Raleigh is a stone frigate (shore establishment), serving as the basic training facility of the Royal Navy at Torpoint, Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is spread over several square miles, and has damage control simulators and fire-fighting training facilities, as well as a permanently moored training ship, the former HMS Brecon. Its principal function is the delivery of both New Entry Training and Basic Training.

History

HMS Raleigh was commissioned on 9 January 1940 as a training establishment for Ordinary Seamen following the Military Training Act which required that all males aged 20 and 21 years old be called up for six months full-time military training, and then transferred to the reserve.[1]

During the Second World War, 44 sailors and 21 Royal Engineers were killed when a German bomb hit the air-raid shelter they were in at Raleigh on 28 April 1941.[2] In 1944, the United States Navy took over the base to use as an embarkation centre prior to the Invasion of Normandy. Raleigh was transferred back to the Royal Navy in July 1944 to continue training seamen.[3]

Early in 1950, the base became the new entry and engineering training establishment for stoker mechanics. The cruiser HMS Newfoundland was used for "onboard training, boiler room, auxiliary machinery, ships boats etc". The base was modernised in the 1970s, and in the early 1980s, Raleigh took on the Part I training for the Women's Royal Naval Service, and Artificer Apprentices as well as adding the Royal Naval Supply School. These had previously taken place at HMS Dauntless, HMS Fisgard and HMS Pembroke respectively. Briefly between 1980 and 1981 it was home to Rowallan Division providing training before entry to BRNC Dartmouth. In 1990, the training of male and female recruits was merged, and over the following ten years the base absorbed the Cookery School (from the Army Catering Corps headquarters) and the Submarine School from HMS Dolphin.[3] The Cookery School closed in early 2022 with all activities being transferred to Worthy Down, with the Submarine School due to relocate upon the completion of the new Royal Navy Submarine Centre in Faslane, scheduled for 2027.

In 2007, phase one training for all new Royal Navy recruits was increased from eight to nine weeks and subsequently ten. The base also provides courses in military training, seamanship, logistics and submarine operations. It also delivers training for crews preparing for operational deployments. HMS Raleigh was the home of Defence Maritime Logistics School (DMLS) providing training for the Royal Navy's logistics officers, chefs, stewards, clerks (called Writers), and supply chain ratings, the Seaman Specialist School (prior to its relocation to Worthy Down) the Submarine School and HM Royal Marines Band Plymouth.[4]

Captain, New Entry Training Establishment ("HMS Raleigh")

Post holders included:[5]

References

  1. ^ "HMS Raleigh: history". Royal Navy. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  2. ^ "Sailors will gather to remember". The West Briton. Cornwall & Devon Media. 3 November 2009. Retrieved 1 March 2011.
  3. ^ a b "HMS Raleigh: History". Royal Navy. Retrieved 1 March 2011.
  4. ^ "RM Band Plymouth". Royal Navy. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  5. ^ Mackie, Colin. "Royal Navy Senior Appointments from 1865" (PDF). gulabin.com. Colin Mackie. p.264. 2018. Retrieved 22 March 2018.


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