 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMS Scotia |
| Commissioned | August 1903 |
| Status | Currently operational |
| Badge |  |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Stone frigate |
HMS Scotia is one of the newest Royal Naval Reserve units, formed in 1958, and currently recruiting from the east of Scotland. The unit inhabits spacious, modern accommodation with excellent facilities, headquartered in Rosyth Naval Dockyard. The unit has excellent communication links by road, rails and air. [1]
The unit, despite being relatively new, has tradition rooted in the very cradle of Volunteer Reserve activity in Scotland. In August 1903 the Admiralty appointed the first two Commanding Officers of the then RNVR to form divisions in London and on the Clyde.
Lieutenant Commander (later Commodore) The Duke of Montrose raised the Clyde Division based in Glasgow, and the division rapidly expanded across Scotland, first to Dundee onboard the sailing frigate, HMS Unicorn, and then to Edinburgh, onboard the monitor, renamed HMS Claverhouse. These two East Coast divisions were, many years later, to form the heart of the modern HMS Scotia.
Under the 1994 defence review all three of these original Scottish Sea Training Centres, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee, were combined into two units of a different type, HMS Scotia in Fife and HMS Dalriada in Greenock. Both of these had been units formed in the Cold War to support nearby naval headquarters, and both were rapidly expanded to accommodate the closing units. In the case of Scotia, this required a complete rebuild.
An important 'first' has been the establishment of Scotia's Satellites. Although Scotia is a large and vigorous unit, it was recognised that its distance from the city centres of Edinburgh and Dundee was inhibiting recruitment at a time when the Royal Navy's demand for reservists was growing.
Scotia became the testbed for a scheme to extend the RNR footprint with the first satellite unit, the Tay Division of HMS Scotia in Dundee, which started training in 1999 and rapidly established itself as the national benchmark. It was soon followed by another Scotia satellite, Forth Division, in Edinburgh.
It was as a direct result of these efforts in expansion that Scotia was awarded the "Director's Trophy" in 2001.
Forth Division in Edinburgh closed in 2004.
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56°01′59″N3°26′56″W / 56.033°N 3.449°W
