 An engine room artificer at work during the Second World War. | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMS Fisgard |
| In service |
|
| Fate | Operational elements merged with HMS Raleigh |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Stone frigate |
HMS Fisgard was a shore establishment of the Royal Navy active at different periods and locations between 1848 and 1983. She was used to train artificers and engineers for the Navy.
HMS Fisgard was a 46-gun fifth rate Leda class frigate. She had been a depot ship and harbour flagship for Woolwich since 1848, and was used to train engineers and support those working onshore. Between 1853 and 1873 she served as the Headquarters ship of the Royal Naval Coast Volunteers. [1] The facility closed in 1872 and Fisgard herself was broken up in 1879.
The idea for a specialised department to train engineers for an increasingly mechanised and professionalised navy came from the First Sea Lord Admiral Sir John Fisher. By early 1903 he had become concerned that the Imperial German Navy represented a threat to the interests of the Royal Navy, which might be in danger of being overtaken in seagoing technical expertise. He initiated a programme whereby engineers and artificers could be trained for service in the navy, and within two years the navy had established training centres in the major naval bases of Chatham, Plymouth Dockyard and Portsmouth. The Portsmouth base was established in a number of Victorian hulks, initially the old battleship HMS Audacious. This centre was named HMS Fisgard in 1904, in recognition of the previous engineer training establishment at Woolwich. Audacious was joined by HMS Invincible, named HMS Fisgard II in 1906, HMS Hindustan, named HMS Fisgard III in 1905 and HMS Sultan, named HMS Fisgard IV in 1906. The hulks were commissioned on 1 January 1906 under the joint name of HMS Fisgard.
Audacious left the establishment in 1914 to serve as a repair workshop at Scapa Flow, having been named Imperieuse. Invincible also left in 1914 for the same purpose but sank en route whilst under tow. Audacious was replaced as Fisgard by HMS Spartiate which took the name on 17 July 1915. Invincible was replaced as Fisgard II by HMS Hercules which also took the name on 17 July 1915. They were joined in 1919 by HMS Terrible, and when Hindostan left in 1920 Terrible became Fisgard III in her place.
The experiment proved a success and by the early 1920s the training of Artificer Apprentices had been expanded with an electrical and ordnance branch. The entire operation was concentrated in Fisgard at Portsmouth, before being moved to Chatham in 1930. The decision was made to move ashore and by July 1932 all of the hulks had been sold off with the exception of Fisgard IV, the old HMS Sultan. She was renamed HMS Sultan and retained as a depot ship. The establishment remained ashore at Chatham until 1939, when the pressures of the Second World War brought more apprentices into the service. At the same time the risk of German bombs led to the decision to disperse the base's resources. Two new training establishments were established, one at Rosyth, Scotland and another at Torpoint, Cornwall in October 1940. The Scottish branch was named HMS Caledonia and the Cornish one was named RNATE (Royal Navy Artificer Training Establishment) Torpoint. RNATE Torpoint was commissioned as HMS Fisgard in December 1946. HMS Sultan remained as the depot ship until being sold on 13 August 1946.
After the end of the war and by the late 1940s the artificer training was concentrated back into Fisgard, taking on the shipwright and Fleet Air Arm apprentices; Fleet Air Arm apprentices were for sometime prior to 1946 inducted at H.M.S. Daedalus Lee-on Solent for the first three weeks after entry and then divided into two with one half going to RNATE Torpoint and the other half to HMS 'Caledonia'. After one year both halves would then re-join at HMS 'Condor', Arbroath Scotland for the next three years of their apprenticeship. They would commence that period with the trade specialisation with for which they had been assessed at the end of the first year. After 1946 when direct entry into the Fleet Air Arm finished the 'Series' Entry system commenced. 'Fisgard' was commissioned as an independent command on 1 December 1946. By 1950 all Artificer Apprentices were recruited at HMS Fisgard to spend 16 month there for initial training in all the trades. They were then sent off to either HMS Collingwood (Electrical), HMS Condor (Aircraft) or HMS Caledonia (Engineroom, Ordnance & Shipwright) to complete the four-year shore-based training. The final year was spent as Leading Hand Artificers with a ship at sea. During the 1980s, further training was carried out by the apprentices at either HMS Caledonia (Rosyth) (then later at HMS Sultan, Gosport) for Marine Engineering specialisation, HMS Collingwood (Fareham) for Weapons Electrical specialisation or HMS Daedalus (Lee on Solent) for Air Electrical Engineering specialisation. The base continued in service until 21 December 1983, when it was absorbed into HMS Raleigh, which retained a Fisgard squadron to train artificers and engineers until the decision was taken to end the separate role of artificers. The Artificer Apprentices museum was situated here. When HMS Fisgard closed (August 1983) the Fisgard Museum was moved to HMS Raleigh and housed in the Fisgard Squadron. When the Fisgard Squadron closed in 1997 moving to new premises as the Fisgard Division, The Fisgard Museum was moved to HMS Sultan to become part of the Marine Engineering Museum which had been set up in 1985 and which also houses records and Artefacts from HMS Caledonia. Although still known by many ex Artificers as the Fisgard Museum, it was renamed on its absorption into the Mechanical Engineering (ME) Museum.
HMS Glory (R62) was a Colossus-class aircraft carrier of the British Royal Navy laid down on 27 August 1942 by Harland and Wolff at Belfast. She was launched on 27 November 1943 by Lady Cynthia Brooke, wife of the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland.
HMS Saintes was a 1942 Battle-class fleet destroyer of the Royal Navy (RN). She and 15 sister ships being ordered under the 1942 defence estimates. The ship was named after the Battle of the Saintes, a Royal Navy victory over a French fleet intending to invade Jamaica in 1782. So far she has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name. Saintes was built by Hawthorn Leslie and Company on the Tyne. The vessel was launched on 19 July 1944 and commissioned on 27 September 1946.
HMS Invincible was a Royal Navy Audacious-class ironclad battleship. She was built at the Napier shipyard and completed in 1870. Completed just 10 years after HMS Warrior, she still carried sails as well as a steam engine.
HMS Duncan was the fifth RN ship named after Admiral Adam Duncan. She was a Blackwood-class frigate of the Royal Navy that served in the Cod Wars.
HMS Raleigh is a stone frigate, 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 & Basic Training.
HMS Audacious was the lead ship of the Audacious-class ironclads built for the Royal Navy in the late 1860s. They were designed as second-class ironclads suitable for use on foreign stations and the ship spent the bulk of her career on the China Station. She was decommissioned in 1894 and hulked in 1902 for use as a training ship. The ship was towed to Scapa Flow after the beginning of the First World War to be used as a receiving ship and then to Rosyth after the war ended. Audacious was sold for scrap in 1929.
HMS Hercules was a central-battery ironclad of the Royal Navy in the Victorian era, and was the first warship to mount a main armament of 10-inch (250 mm) calibre guns.
The Audacious-class ironclad battleships were designed by Sir Edward Reed at the request of the Board of Admiralty to serve as second-class battleships on distant foreign stations.
HMS Sultan was a broadside ironclad of the Royal Navy of the Victorian era, who carried her main armament in a central box battery. She was named for Sultan Abdülâziz of the Ottoman Empire, who was visiting England when she was laid down. Abdülâziz cultivated good relations with the Second French Empire and the British. In 1867 he was the first Ottoman sultan to visit Western Europe; his trip included a visit to England, where he was made a Knight of the Garter by Queen Victoria and shown a Royal Navy Fleet Review, with Isma'il Pasha of Egypt.
HMS Rapid was an R-class destroyer of the Royal Navy that saw service during the Second World War and was sunk as a target in 1981.
Five ships and three shore establishments of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Caledonia after the Latin name for Scotland:
Four ships and three shore establishments of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Sultan.
HMS Hindostan was an 80-gun two-deck second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 2 August 1841. Her design was based on an enlarged version of the lines of Repulse.
Three ships and a shore establishment of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Fisgard or HMS Fishguard after the coastal town of Fishguard in Pembrokeshire, Wales, the scene of the defeat of the last invasion attempt on Britain, by a French force in 1797 during the French Revolutionary Wars.
HMS Fisgard was a 46-gun fifth rate Leda-class frigate of the Royal Navy. She spent sixty years in service on a variety of duties.
HMS Artifex was a repair ship of the Royal Navy from late in the Second World War and into the Cold War. Launched as the Cunard liner RMS Aurania she was requisitioned on the outbreak of war to serve as an armed merchant cruiser. Damaged by a U-boat while sailing with an Atlantic convoy, she was purchased outright and converted to a floating workshop, spending the rest of her life as a support ship for the navy.
Engine room artificer (ERA) is a specialised position in the crews of naval vessels – especially those of the British Royal Navy (RN) and other Commonwealth navies. An ERA is usually a fitter and turner, boilermaker, coppersmith or enginesmith. On larger vessels, there are several ERAs, divided into three or more classes. Each of these positions is normally associated with a specific non-commissioned rank and level of experience – for example, an ERA is normally a Chief Petty Officer (CPO). The designation ERA was introduced in the early days of steam-powered warships, and in most navies is now obsolete.
Ministry of Defence Caledonia is a military establishment of the Ministry of Defence based at the former Royal Naval Dockyard, Rosyth in Scotland.