| HMS Tormentor | |
|---|---|
| Warsash, Hampshire | |
 Women's Royal Naval Service personnel at HMS Tormentor | |
  HMS Tormentor | |
| Coordinates | 50°50′42″N1°18′11″W / 50.845°N 1.303°W |
| Type | Combined Operations Base |
| Site information | |
| Controlled by |  United Kingdom |
| Site history | |
| In use | July 1940 – May 1946 |
| Garrison information | |
| Garrison | Royal Navy |
HMS Tormentor was a shore establishment of the British Royal Navy during World War II, based near Warsash, on the River Hamble.
The area around Warsash on the Hamble had been the site of earlier Royal Navy use when part of the shore was used as a training site for boys. [1] This included construction of a pier for the Admiralty built in 1913. [1] The pier onto the Hamble was later rebuilt in concrete in 1938. [1] Following the outbreak of World War II, the Royal Navy requisitioned the remaining part of the grounds and buildings located on the shore of the River Hamble just south of Warsash village. This included the old Coast Guard House and RAF wireless station at Warsash, as well as the home of the Household Brigade Yacht Club. [2] In July 1940, HMS Tormentor was officially commissioned as a combined operations base. [3] The purpose of the base was the training of landing craft crews and British Commandos. [3] [4] As well as serving as a training establishment, the site also served as a base for cross-channel raids. [5]
From 1940 until 1942, the establishment was under the command of F. N. Cook, DSC, a Commander in the Royal Australian Navy. [6]
In 1942, the Southampton School of Navigation was relocated to the Warsash site and after the war, the RN establishment was decommisioned with the campus eventually becoming the Warsash Maritime School. [7]
Douglas Fairbanks Jr. undertook intensive training at HMS Tormentor in 1942, which provided some lessons in tactics that would eventually assist his founding of the US Beach Jumpers. [8]
On 13 August 1942, Major Herbert Hasler and Captain J. D. Stewart visited HMS Tormentor to attend a demonstration of fast motorboat training, in preparation for Operation Frankton. [9]
In 1944, Patricia Knatchbull, Countess Mountbatten, was serving as a signals rating on the base. [10]
The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marines can trace their origins back to the formation of the English Army's "Duke of York and Albany's maritime regiment of Foot" at the grounds of the Honourable Artillery Company on 28 October 1664.
The River Hamble is located in south Hampshire, England. It rises near Bishop's Waltham and flows for 10.1 km (6.3 mi) through Botley, Bursledon, and Lower Swanwick before entering Southampton Water between Hamble Common and Warsash.
The St Nazaire Raid or Operation Chariot was a British amphibious attack on the heavily defended Normandie dry dock at St Nazaire in German-occupied France during the Second World War. The operation was undertaken by the Royal Navy (RN) and British Commandos under the auspices of Combined Operations Headquarters on 28 March 1942. St Nazaire was targeted because the loss of its dry dock would force any large German warship in need of repairs, such as Tirpitz, sister ship of Bismarck, to return to home waters by running the gauntlet of the Home Fleet of the Royal Navy and other British forces, via the English Channel or the North Sea.
Operation Frankton was a commando raid on ships in the German occupied French port of Bordeaux in southwest France during the Second World War. The raid was carried out by a small unit of Royal Marines known as the Royal Marines Boom Patrol Detachment (RMBPD), part of Combined Operations inserted by HMS Tuna captained by Lieutenant-Commander Dick Raikes who, earlier, had been awarded the DSO for operations while in command of the submarine HMS Seawolf (47S). (The RMBPD would later form the Special Boat Service).
Combined Operations Headquarters was a department of the British War Office set up during Second World War to harass the Germans on the European continent by means of raids carried out by use of combined naval and army forces.
The Battle of Madagascar was a British campaign to capture the Vichy French-controlled island Madagascar during World War II. The seizure of the island by the British was to deny Madagascar's ports to the Imperial Japanese Navy and to prevent the loss or impairment of the Allied shipping routes to India, Australia and Southeast Asia. It began with Operation Ironclad, the seizure of the port of Diego-Suarez near the northern tip of the island, on 5 May 1942.
Warsash is a village in southern Hampshire, England, situated at the mouth of the River Hamble, west of the area known as Locks Heath. Boating plays an important part in the village's economy, and the village has a sailing club. It is also home to the Warsash Maritime Academy, part of Southampton Solent University, which provides training for Merchant Navy Officers from around the world.
Beach Jumpers were U.S. Navy special warfare units organized during World War II by Lieutenant Douglas Fairbanks Jr. They specialized in deception and psychological warfare. The units were active from 1943 to 1946 and 1951 to 1972.
40 Commando RM is a battalion-sized formation of the British Royal Marines and subordinate unit within 3 Commando Brigade, the principal Commando formation, under the Operational Command of Commander in Chief Fleet. Their barracks are at Norton Manor Camp, Norton Fitzwarren near Taunton in Somerset.
The history of the Royal Marines began on 28 October 1664 with the formation of the Duke of York and Albany's Maritime Regiment of Foot soon becoming known as the Admiral's Regiment. During the War of the Spanish Succession the most historic achievement of the Marines was the capture of the mole during the assault on Gibraltar in 1704. On 5 April 1755, His Majesty's Marine Forces, fifty Companies in three Divisions, headquartered at Portsmouth, Chatham and Plymouth, were formed by Order of Council under Admiralty control.
Warsash Maritime School, formerly Warsash Maritime Centre and Warsash Maritime Academy, is a maritime training college that is part of Solent University. The college provides education, training, consultancy and research to the international shipping and off-shore oil industries. It is one of the United Kingdom's colleges responsible for the training of the British Merchant Navy. The courses on offer cover a wide range of maritime education and training from deck and engineer officer cadetships, including degree pathways, to senior officer certificates of competency, together with the associated safety training.
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 Royal Arthur was a shore establishment of the Royal Navy, initially at Ingoldmells near Skegness, and later at Corsham, Wiltshire. During the Second World War, the former holiday camp at Ingoldmells was used to mainly train 'Hostilities Only' communications branch ratings and officers.
No. 2 Commando was a battalion-sized British Commando unit of the British Army during the Second World War. The first No.2 Commando was formed on 22 June 1940 for a parachuting role at Cambrai Barracks, Perham Down, near Tidworth, Hants. The unit at the time consisted of four troops: 'A', 'B', 'C' and 'D'. Eventually 11 troops were raised. On 21 November, it was re-designated as the 11th Special Air Service (SAS) Battalion and eventually re-designated 1st Parachute Battalion. After their re-designation as the 11th SAS Battalion, a second No. 2 Commando was formed. This No. 2 Commando was the leading commando unit in the St Nazaire Raid and suffered heavy casualties. Those who made it back from St Nazaire rejoined the few who had not gone on the raid, and the commando was reinforced by the first intake of volunteers from the new Commando Basic Training Centre at Achnacarry. No. 2 Commando then went on to serve in the Mediterranean, Sicily, Yugoslavia, and Albania, before being disbanded in 1946.
Operation Anglo was a British Commando raid on the island of Rhodes during the Second World War. The raid was carried out by eight men of the Special Boat Section (SBS) assisted by four Greeks.
The Training Ship Mercury, or TS Mercury, was a shore-based naval training establishment at Hamble in Hampshire.
Frederick Norton Cook DSC, usually known as F. N. Cook was an officer of the Royal Australian Navy. Cook came to be regarded as an expert in the deployment of landing craft, following his experience with them in both the North West European theatre and the Pacific theatre. Cook achieved the rank of Captain.
Three vessels and two shore establishments of the Royal Navy have born the title of HMS Tormentor:
