PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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HMS CAMBRIDGE The training of naval ratings in the use of naval guns was carried out aboard HMS Cambridge. She was originally moored in Plymouth Sound but was at sometime moved to a position at the mouth of St John's Creek off Torpoint, immediately opposite the sheerlegs in the Royal Dockyard's South Yard. HMS Cambridge, a 2nd rate vessel built in 1815, was commissioned as 'the gunnery ship at Plymouth' on August 9th 1856. She was replaced in 1866 or 1869 by the larger Windsor Castle, which was renamed HMS Cambridge, and was later joined by the HMS Calcutta as its tender. The bow of HMS Cambridge was linked to the stern of the Calcutta by means of a wooden bridge. These vessels took about 500 men and 300 lads at a time. The original Cambridge was scrapped in 1869. There was another tender, HMS Foudroyant, which seems to have been used for training at sea.
HMS Cambridge (right) and its
tender, HMS Calcutta (left) A shooting range for training in the use of small arms was built ashore at Trevol on the Cornish side of the Hamoaze. Cambridge even sported a covered sea-water swimming pool in the middle of the river. On October 30th 1907 the Cambridge was towed to No. 5 Basin of the Royal Dockyard to enable the gunnery school to move ashore into the Naval Barracks. On Monday November 4th 1907 the Cambridge and Calcutta were paid off and the cruiser Theseus and tenders Cuckoo, Snap and Badger all became tenders to HMS Vivid for the sole use of the gunnery school. The Cambridge was broken up at Falmouth. On that same date two years later, in 1909, it became officially known as HM Gunnery School, Devonport. This lasted until 1940 when a gunnery range for the use of the army and navy was opened at the old Wembury Point Holiday Camp, to the south-east of Plymouth. It was then known simply as the Cambridge Gunnery School. On Friday April 27th 1956 the Admiralty agreed that the School should have an independent command and the new HMS Cambridge was commissioned as a shore establishment at Wembury, South Devon, on August 9th 1956, a century after the original commission. Using a bottle of cider, the base was named by Lady Pizey, the wife of the Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Sir Mark Pizey. The commanding officer at that time was Captain R C P Wainwright. A special Centenary Dinner had been held at the Royal Naval Barracks, Devonport, on the evening of Wednesday May 2nd 1956 in the presence of the Lord Mayor of Plymouth, Mr Edwin Broad. By May 1999 the decision had been taken to cease live firing at HMS Cambridge and the final shots were fired on March 14th 2001 when Admiral Sir Alan West ceremoniously fired a 20mm close-range weapon. HMS Cambridge was decommissioned on March 30th 2001 and training was split between HMS Raleigh at Torpoint, HMS Dryad at Portsmouth and HMS Collingwood at Fareham. However, the "Watchman" radar system that was at the base continued in service as it is essential to the operation of the Flag Officer's Sea Training exercises. Interestingly, the White Ensign was lowered that day by the same two men who had raised the flag at the commissioning ceremony in 1956, David Large and Roland Murley. The salute was taken by the Flag Officer, Training and Recruiting, Rear Admiral John Chadwick. In the old Chapel of St Barbara at HMS Cambridge was the Great War memorial removed from HMS Drake when the Gunnery School transfered to Wembury. It contained the following names and details:
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