HMNB Devonport

This article is about the Royal Navy base in Plymouth, England. For the Royal New Zealand Navy base in Auckland, New Zealand, see Devonport Naval Base.

HMNB Devonport
Plymouth, Devon in England
Aerial view of HMNB Devonport: the South Yard (in the foreground) dates from 1692, since when the dockyard has expanded northwards (towards the top of the picture).
HMNB Devonport is located in Devon
HMNB Devonport
HMNB Devonport
Location in Devon
Coordinates50°22′58.8″N 04°10′58.8″W / 50.383000°N 4.183000°W / 50.383000; -4.183000
TypeNaval base
Area263 hectares (650 acres)
Site information
OwnerMinistry of Defence (Navy Command)
OperatorRoyal Navy
Controlled byNaval Base Commander, Devonport
ConditionOperational
WebsiteOfficial website
Site history
Built1691 (1691)
In use1691 – present
EventsPlymouth Blitz (1941)
Garrison information
GarrisonDevonport Flotilla

His Majesty's Naval Base, Devonport (HMNB Devonport) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Portsmouth) and is the sole nuclear repair and refuelling facility for the Royal Navy. The largest naval base in Western Europe,[1] HMNB Devonport is located in Devonport, in the west of the city of Plymouth, England.

The base began as a Royal Navy Dockyard in the late 17th century, designed and built on open ground by Edmund Dummer as an integrated facility for the repair and maintenance of warships, centred on his pioneering stone dry dock (one of the earliest stepped docks in the world).[2] Over the next two centuries it expanded, reaching its present extent in the 20th century.[3] Historically, the yard was also used for shipbuilding: over 300 naval vessels were built there, the last being HMS Scylla (launched in 1968).[4]

The yard was known as HM Dockyard, Plymouth until 1843, when it was renamed HM Dockyard, Devonport. (In the late 20th century, here as elsewhere, the term 'Naval Base' replaced 'Dockyard' in the official naval designation.)[5]

Today HMNB Devonport serves as the home port of the Devonport Flotilla. FOST, the training hub of the front-line Fleet, is also based there, as is the Royal Navy's Amphibious Centre of Excellence (at RM Tamar).[1] Although shipbuilding ceased at Devonport in the late 1960s, ship repair and maintenance work has continued; the now privatised maintenance facilities are operated under the name Devonport Royal Dockyard by Babcock International Group, who took over the previous owner Devonport Management Limited (DML) in 2007 (DML had been running the Dockyard since privatisation in 1987).[6] Babcock owns around a third of the overall area of the base (having been sold the freehold in 2011).[3]

Accommodation and support services are provided within the base for naval personnel. The Royal Naval Barracks, dating from 1889, were first commissioned as HMS Vivid, before being renamed HMS Drake in 1934. Since the early 21st century the name HMS Drake (and its command structure) has been extended to cover the entire Naval Base,[7][8][9] while HMS Vivid is Plymouth's Royal Naval Reserve unit (which has its headquarters within the base).[10]

  1. ^ a b "HMNB Devonport".
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference 1DockListing was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Coats, Ann; Davies, David, eds. (2013). 20th Century Naval Dockyards: Devonport and Portsmouth Characterisation Report - Part 2. Portsmouth, Hants.: Naval Dockyards Society. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
  4. ^ "BBC – Plymouth's proud naval history". 28 September 2009. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  5. ^ Coats, Ann; Davies, David, eds. (2013). 20th Century Naval Dockyards: Devonport and Portsmouth Characterisation Report - Part 1. Portsmouth, Hants.: Naval Dockyards Society. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference HE was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "HMNB Devonport". Archived from the original on 8 January 2007.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Handbook2010 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ "Gun salute tribute for Queen in Plymouth". BBC News. 9 September 2022. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference HMSVividRNR was invoked but never defined (see the help page).