PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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ROYAL NAVAL ENGINE ROOM ARTIFICERS' TRAINING SCHOOL "HMS INDUS" / "HMS FISGARD"
The Royal Naval Engine Room Artificers' Training School at Torpoint, Cornwall, had its origins in the early years of the Twentieth Century, when First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir John Fisher, worried over the technical expertise of the Imperial German Navy, introduced a scheme for training Boy Artificers. HMS Indus Within a couple of years apprentice training establishments had been opened at Chatham, Portsmouth and Devonport, mostly using old hulks. The former battleship, HMS Bellerophon was the first of the hulks to be commissioned and she was placed at Devonport with HMS Temeraire and HMS Indus. Collectively they operated as HMS Indus. HMS Bellerophon arrived in the Sound early on the morning of Friday April 1st 1904, in the tow of the cruiser, HMS Undaunted, under Captain F A Warden. She has been converted into a training vessel at the shipyard of Messrs Palmers of Jarrow-on-Tyne, whose yard they had left the the previous Tuesday. HMS Temeraire, was due to leave Jarrow on the following Thursday and arrive at Devonport on Sunday April 10th. She would be towed by HMS Immortalite. The Temeraire was placed in the centre of the three vessels, to supply electricity to the other two ships. The Bellerophon was the vessel on which the training was carried out while the Indus was a floating factory. All three were connected by bridges. Read more about HMS Indus.......... A similar establishment was formed at Portsmouth and this was designated as HMS Fisgard. It was there that training was concentrated during the 1920s. During the 1930s it was moved ashore to a base at Chatham, where it stayed until the start of the Second World War. HMS Fisgard With the outbreak of War and the increased need for artificers, two new purpose-built training centres were established, HMS Caledonia at Rosyth in Scotland and HMS Fisgard at Torpoint, across the Hamoaze from the Royal Dockyard at Devonport. By the end of the War, Fisgard had become the sole centre for initial training and the branch allocation of Artificer, Shipwright and Fleet Air Arm apprentices. After a five-year educational and craft training, an apprentice could advance to Chief Petty Officer by the age of 23, with good prospects of promotion to Warrant Officer and then Commissioned Engineer Officer. Sources:
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