Gosport is a town and non-metropolitan borough, on the south coast of Hampshire, South East England. At the 2021 Census, its population was 81,952. Gosport is situated on a peninsula on the western side of Portsmouth Harbour, opposite the city of Portsmouth, to which it is linked by the Gosport Ferry. Gosport lies south-east of Fareham, to which it is linked by a Bus Rapid Transit route and the A32. Until the last quarter of the 20th century, Gosport was a major naval town associated with the defence and supply infrastructure of His Majesty's Naval Base (HMNB) Portsmouth. As such over the years extensive fortifications were created.
Fort Blockhouse is a former military establishment in Gosport, Hampshire, England, and the final version of a complicated site. At its greatest extent in the 19th century, the structure was part of a set of fortifications which encircled much of Gosport. It is surrounded on three sides by water and provides the best view of the entrance to Portsmouth Harbour. It is unique in that it was built over five centuries from its original construction as a blockhouse in 1431 to the final addition of submarine base structures in the mid-1960s. Coastal fortification was abolished nationally in 1956, and the fort has not been used in a military capacity since 2021.
Four ships and three shore establishments of the Royal Navy have been named HMS St Vincent:
His Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy. Portsmouth Naval Base is part of the city of Portsmouth; it is located on the eastern shore of Portsmouth Harbour, north of the Solent and the Isle of Wight. For centuries it was officially known as HM Dockyard, Portsmouth: as a Royal Dockyard, Portsmouth functioned primarily as a state-owned facility for building, repairing and maintaining warships; for a time it was the largest industrial site in the world.
St Vincent College is a co-educational sixth form (16-18) college located in Gosport, Hampshire, England. The majority of students come from the surrounding towns including Gosport, Fareham, Stubbington and Winchester. The nearby Gosport Ferry link with Portsmouth also allows students from that city to attend. The college has around 1,200 full-time students; it also caters for older "Access" students.
The Royal Navy Submarine Museum at Gosport is a maritime museum tracing the international history of submarine development from the age of Alexander the Great to the present day, and particularly the history of the Royal Navy Submarine Service from the navy's first submarine, Holland 1, to the nuclear-powered Vanguard-class submarines. The museum is located close to the former shore establishment HMS Dolphin, the home of the Royal Navy Submarine Service from 1904 until 1999.
The seventeenth Royal Navy vessel to be named HMS Dolphin was the Royal Naval shore establishment sited at Fort Blockhouse in Gosport. Dolphin was the home of the Royal Navy Submarine Service from 1904 to 1999, and location of the Royal Navy Submarine School.
HMS Collingwood is a stone frigate of the Royal Navy, in Fareham, England. It is the lead establishment of the Maritime Warfare School and the largest naval training organisation in Western Europe. The Maritime Warfare School is a federated training establishment incorporating HMS Excellent, the Defence Diving School, the RN Physical Training School, the School of Hydrography and Meteorology in Plymouth and the Royal Marines School of Music in Portsmouth Naval Base.
Forton Lake is a tidal creek located in the town of Gosport, Hampshire. A small area of the lake is within the grounds of St Vincent College. The locality is the subject of a painting by Martin Snape, which hangs in Gosport Town Hall. The Lake itself is resident to local fish species, including shoal bass and pollack.
The Royal Marines Volunteer Cadet Corps (RMVCC) is part of the Royal Navy's Volunteer Cadet Corps. There are units (Divisions) in Arbroath, Chivenor, Gosport, Lympstone, Portsmouth, and Plymouth.
HMS President is a "stone frigate", or shore establishment of the Royal Naval Reserve, based on the northern bank of the River Thames near Tower Bridge in Wapping and is in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
HMS Cricket was the name given to a Royal Navy shore establishment on the River Hamble from 1943 to 1946. This name was previously used by the Insect-class gunboat Cricket (1915) that was scrapped in 1942.
HMS Ganges was a training ship and later stone frigate of the Royal Navy. She was established as a boys' training establishment in 1865, and was based aboard a number of hulks before moving ashore. She was based alternately in Falmouth, Harwich and Shotley. She remained in service at RNTE Shotley until October 1976.
HMS Mercury was a shore establishment of the Royal Navy, and the site of the Royal Navy Signals School and Combined Signals School. There was also a subsidiary branch, HMS Mercury II.
HMS Imperieuse was the name given to a floating training establishment of the Royal Navy during the Second World War.
HMS Ferret was a shore establishment and naval base of the Royal Navy during the Second World War, located in Derry. It was given a ship's name as a stone frigate.
Forton Barracks was a military installation near Gosport in Hampshire, which served first as an Army barracks and then as a divisional headquarters for the Royal Marines. It subsequently served as a Royal Navy training establishment. Today, the site is occupied by St Vincent College.
The Volunteer Cadet Corps (VCC) is a national youth organisation managed by the United Kingdom's Royal Navy and sponsored by the UK's Ministry of Defence. The VCC comprises:
HMS Sherwood is a Royal Naval Reserve shore establishment in Nottinghamshire, England. The first naval reserve unit was established in Nottingham in 1949. It was commissioned as Sherwood in 1984, at which time the unit was based at Chalfont Drive, Beechdale. A Royal Marines Reserve detachment was added to the unit in 2007. In 2014 HMS Sherwood moved to Chetwynd Barracks, Chilwell, where it was co-located with an Army Reserve unit. Sherwood was honoured by receiving the freedom of the city of Nottingham in 2018.
United Kingdom