HMNB Devonport

File:UK Defence Imagery Naval Bases image 14.jpg

The Naval Base as a whole covers an area of {{convert|650|acre|km2}} with four miles (6 km) of waterfront; it has twenty-five tidal berths, five basins and fourteen dry docks (docks numbered 1 to 15, but there is no 13 Dock). The base employs 2,500 service personnel and civilians, supports circa 400 local firms and contributes approximately 10% to the income of Plymouth. The Naval Base commander has in recent years been a Commodore (RN), but in 2022 Brigadier Mike Tanner took command (the first Royal Marine officer to be appointed to the role).{{cite news |last1=Telford |first1=William |title=Ex-England rugby star named new Devonport Naval Base commander |url=https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/plymouth-news/ex-england-rugby-star-named-7334634 |access-date=16 August 2023 |work=Plymouth Live |date=15 July 2022}}

In 2009 the Ministry of Defence announced the conclusion of a long-running review of the long-term role of three naval bases. It was decided that Devonport would no longer be used as a base for attack submarines (a move completed with the retirement of HMS Triumph in early 2025), and that the Type 45 destroyers would be based at Portsmouth. In November 2024, it was also decided to retire the Albion-class assault ships which were based at Devonport. However, Devonport continues to host most of the fleet's Type 23 class frigates.{{cite web|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmhansrd/cm150223/debtext/150223-0001.htm|title=Daily Hansard - Debate|publisher=UK Parliament House of Commons|date=2015-02-23}} In 2018 the Defence Secretary announced that the proposed new Type 26 frigates would all be based at Devonport when delivered starting in the latter 2020s.{{cite web |title=All Type 26 Frigates To Be Based At Devonport |url=https://www.forces.net/news/every-type-26-frigate-be-based-devonport |website=Forces Network |date=8 October 2018 |access-date=5 February 2019}}

Ships based at the port are known as the Devonport Flotilla; they include:

File:HMS Portland.JPG

• {{HMS|Richmond|F239|6}}
• {{HMS|Portland|F79|6}}
• {{HMS|Somerset|F82|6}}
• {{HMS|Kent|F78|6}}
• {{HMS|Sutherland|F81|6}} (currently completing LIFEX refit as of March 2024)
• {{HMS|St Albans|F83|6}} (post-refit sea trials as of March 2024)
• {{HMS|Iron Duke|F234|6}} (relocated to Devonport from Portsmouth, 2025)

In changes to base porting arrangements announced in November 2017, HM Ships Argyll, Monmouth and Montrose were all to join the Portsmouth Flotilla (however, Monmouth retired in 2021, Montrose decommissioned in 2023 and Argyll in 2024); HM Ships Richmond, {{HMS|Kent|F78|2}} and St Albans moved in the opposite direction, to Devonport. Richmond also became a Devonport ship on completion of her refit. St Albans moved to Devonport in July 2019 in preparation for her major refit.{{cite web|url=https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news-and-latest-activity/news/2017/november/24/171124-defence-secretary-announces-type-23-base-port-moves|title=Defence Secretary announces Type 23 base port moves|website=royalnavy.mod.uk}} HMS Westminster retired in 2024 followed by HMS Northumberland in 2025. In 2025, it was confirmed that HMS Iron Duke would relocate from Portsmouth to the Devonport naval base.{{cite web|url=https://www.navylookout.com/hms-iron-duke-arrives-in-her-new-base-port-of-devonport/ |title=HMS Iron Duke arrives in her new base port of Devonport |website=Navy Lookout |date=14 January 2025}}

File:HMS Scott at Devonport.jpg

• {{HMS|Magpie|H130|6}}
• {{HMS|Scott|H131|6}}

• {{HMS|Protector|A173|6}}

• RFA Argus

• Fleet Operational Standards and Training (FOST)
• Hydrographic, Meteorological & Oceanographic Training Group
• 2 x Sea-class 15 m survey/hydrography vessels (Merlin and Fantome) {{Cite web |url=https://des.mod.uk/vahana-boats-atlas-royal-navy/ |title=Final Vahana Workboats delivered to complete Royal Navy fleet |website=Ministry of Defence |date=19 July 2024}}
• HQ Amphibious Task Group
• {{HMS|Vivid}} RNR (relocated to the South Yard from Mount Wise in 2004){{cite web |title=HMS Vivid (Plymouth) |url=https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/our-organisation/maritime-reserves/royal-naval-reserve/units/vivid |website=Royal Navy |access-date=22 August 2023}}
• RM Tamar/47 Commando (Raiding Group) Royal Marines
• 10 Landing Craft Training Squadron
• 4 Assault Squadron
• 6 Assault Squadron
• 9 Assault Squadron
• 539 Assault Squadron
• Hasler NSRC (Naval Service Recovery Centre) & Hasler Company Royal Marines
• Southern Diving Group RN
• 1 × Sea-class 15 m diving support boat (DSB Vulcan){{Cite web|title=Sixth and final support boat delivered to Royal Navy diving group|url=https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news-and-latest-activity/news/2023/february/23/230127-diving-support-boat|access-date=2023-02-25|website=www.royalnavy.mod.uk|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=SEA Class Marine Craft |url=https://www.atlas-elektronik.com/solutions/surface-vessel-systems/sea-class-marine-craft.html|access-date=2023-02-25|website=Atlas Elektronik |language=en}}{{cite tweet |url=https://twitter.com/NavyLookout/status/1631211474352742400 |title=@HMSSomerset in Plymouth Sound yesterday. Note also RN Dive Support Boat in foreground has been named 'DSB Vulcan'. |number=1631211474352742400 |user=NavyLookout |date=2 March 2023 |access-date=2 March 2023}}
• Defence Estates South West
• Ministry of Defence Police

File:Drydocks at Devonport - geograph.org.uk - 4388116.jpg

Babcock's privatised Devonport Royal Dockyard facility is co-located with HM Naval Base Devonport, providing 'through-life support for submarines, surface ships and associated systems and equipment'.{{cite web |title=Naval Base Management |url=https://www.babcockinternational.com/what-we-do/support/frontline-support/naval-base-management/ |website=Babcock |access-date=16 August 2023}} Operational vessels are provided with 'in-service engineering maintenance support' from the yard, dry docks are available to 'maintain, refit, convert and modernise sophisticated modern surface warships' and specialised workshops enable complex systems to be 'removed, overhauled, tested and installed'.

In the early 1970s it was announced that Devonport would join Chatham and Rosyth in serving as a refit base for nuclear submarines; the Submarine Refit Centre duly opened in 1981. Since 2002, Devonport has been the sole refitting base for all Royal Navy nuclear submarines.{{cite news|url=https://rina.org.uk/industry-news/naval-and-patrol/babcock-awarded-contract-to-refit-uk-nuclear-submarine/|title=Babcock awarded contract to refit UK nuclear submarine|publisher=Institute of Naval Architects|date=5 March 2024 |access-date=31 August 2024}}

In 2022 Babcock began a ten-year programme of work to upgrade its Devonport Dockyard facilities.{{cite web |title=Babcock Begins Major Regeneration of Devonport Facility |url=https://www.babcockinternational.com/news/babcock-begins-major-regeneration-of-devonport-facility/ |website=Babcock |date=12 May 2022 |access-date=26 March 2023}} The project is described as 'a major infrastructure refurbishment of the nuclear licensed docking and berthing facilities at the dockyard' to meet the evolving requirements of the Royal Navy. The work is focused around No. 5 Basin, with Dry Docks 9, 10, 14 and 15 being upgraded (along with their surrounding buildings and infrastructure) to support the maintenance programme for 'new and existing classes of submarine', along with Dry Docks 8, 11 and 12 which will be used for new classes of frigate{{cite news |last1=Telford |first1=William |title=Work starts on £1bn redevelopment of Devonport Dockyard |url=https://www.business-live.co.uk/economic-development/work-starts-1bn-redevelopment-devonport-22186907 |access-date=26 March 2023 |work=Business Live |publisher=Reach PLC |date=17 November 2021}} (some of which are likely to be too large for the covered docks of the current refit complex).{{cite web |title=Will Devonport naval base survive the next round of cuts to the Royal Navy? |url=https://www.navylookout.com/will-devonport-naval-base-survive-the-next-round-of-cuts-to-the-royal-navy/ |website=Navy Lookout |date=12 November 2017 |access-date=22 August 2023}}

{{Panorama

|image = File:Devonport dockyard from Torpoint ferry.jpg

|height = 220

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|caption = Panoramic photo of Devonport Royal Dockyard (the 'North Yard') as seen from the Torpoint ferry}}

Thirteen out of service nuclear submarines were stored at Devonport in 2018.{{Cite web|url=https://www.savetheroyalnavy.org/the-painfully-slow-process-of-dismantling-ex-royal-navy-nuclear-submarines/|title=The painfully slow process of dismantling ex-Royal Navy nuclear submarines {{!}} Save the Royal Navy|website=www.savetheroyalnavy.org|language=en-GB|access-date=2019-05-18}}

{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}

• {{HMS|Conqueror|S48|6}}
• {{HMS|Courageous|S50|6}} (preserved in North Yard as a museum ship)
• {{HMS|Sceptre|S104|6}}
• {{HMS|Spartan|S105|6}}
• {{HMS|Splendid|S106|6}}
• {{HMS|Sovereign|S108|6}}
• {{HMS|Superb|S109|6}}
• {{HMS|Tireless|S88|6}}
• {{HMS|Torbay|S90|6}}
• {{HMS|Trafalgar|S107|6}}
• {{HMS|Turbulent|S87|6}}
• {{HMS|Valiant|S102|6}}
• {{HMS|Warspite|S103|6}}

{{Div col end}}

In 2018, the UK Parliament's Public Accounts Committee criticised the slow rate of decommissioning of these submarines, with the Ministry of Defence admitting that it had put off decommissioning due to the cost.{{Cite web|url=https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/public-accounts-committee/news-parliament-2017/mod-nuclear-budget-report-published-17-19/|title=Multiple risks to delivery of nuclear deterrent – News from Parliament|website=UK Parliament|language=en|access-date=2019-05-18}} The National Audit Office in 2019 stated that the costs of laid up storage of all nuclear submarines had reached £500 million,{{Cite web|url=https://www.janes.com/article/87657/nao-hits-out-at-uk-mod-over-nuclear-submarine-disposal|title=NAO hits out at UK MoD over nuclear submarine disposal {{!}} Jane's 360|website=www.janes.com|access-date=2019-05-18}} and they represent a liability of £7.5 billion.{{cite news |url=https://www.neimagazine.com/opinion/opinionstrategy-for-submarines-7339498/ |title=Strategy for submarines |last=Higginson |first=Nick |publisher=Nuclear Engineering International |date=30 July 2019 |access-date=6 December 2019}}

File:SHIPS OF THE ROYAL NAVY 1945-1989 HU129982.jpg

Several sections of the South Yard (the oldest part of the Naval Base) are no longer used by the Ministry of Defence. Its historic slips were formerly the shipbuilding centre of the Royal Dockyard. In 2012 the southernmost part of the site was sold to a private company and in 2014 the northernmost section was leased to Plymouth City Council as part of a City Deal regeneration project; other areas are leased to Babcock. In 2022 the whole of the South Yard (except for the north-east corner of the site) became part of Plymouth's Freeport.

In 2012 Princess Yachts acquired the freehold to {{convert|20|acre|km2}} at the southern end of the site, which now houses its construction facility for 'superyachts'.{{cite web|url=http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/Boss-Plymouth-s-Princess-Yachts-vows-cut-2-200/story-17039540-detail/story.html|title=Boss of Plymouth's Princess Yachts vows not to cut any of 2,200 staff|work=Plymouth Herald|access-date=19 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924074554/http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/Boss-Plymouth-s-Princess-Yachts-vows-cut-2-200/story-17039540-detail/story.html|archive-date=24 September 2015|url-status=dead}} The company sees itself as continuing the boat building tradition within the dockyard, and 'adding drama to the site' with yachts being moved around the quayside, launched on No. 3 Slip, tested in No. 2 Slip and moored alongside the quay wall.{{cite web|title=Historic Impact Assessment|url=http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/planningdocwebservice-2?doc=97029205-582e-11df-baa0-00505684640f&ext=pdf&docname=Historic_Buildings_Impact_AssessmentRevA.pdf|website=Plymouth City Council|publisher=Princess Yachts|access-date=31 August 2016}} Alongside the modern yachts, classic vessels are repaired and restored by Stirling & Son, on and around the 18th-century covered No. 1 Slip.{{cite news |last1=Harper |first1=Alan |title=Boatbuilding on the No. 1 Slip |url=https://www.stirlingandson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Princess-Yachts-Article-July-2013.pdf |access-date=19 August 2023 |work=Princess Yachts |date=July 2013}}

In 2014 it was announced, as part of a 'City Deal' regeneration agreement, that more of the South Yard would be 'unlocked' with a view to it becoming a 'marine industries hub'.{{cite web|url=http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/NEW-DAWN-CITY/story-20456412-detail/story.html|title=Historic City Deal could unlock business boom and 10,000 jobs for Plymouth|work=Plymouth Herald|access-date=19 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924114923/http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/NEW-DAWN-CITY/story-20456412-detail/story.html|archive-date=24 September 2015|url-status=dead}} By 2016 the northern section of the South Yard was being redeveloped in phases,{{cite web|title=Marketing brochure|url=http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/south_yard_4_page_291015_lr2.pdf|website=Plymouth City Council|access-date=31 August 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160913154351/http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/south_yard_4_page_291015_lr2.pdf|archive-date=13 September 2016}} from east to west, with a marketing strategy focused on 'the development of marine industries and the high growth area of marine science and technology'.{{cite web|title=Marine Industries Demand Study Report|url=http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/pcdmarineindustriesdemandstudy250315.pdf|website=Plymouth City Council|access-date=31 August 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160913180407/http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/pcdmarineindustriesdemandstudy250315.pdf|archive-date=13 September 2016}} The area has been renamed Oceansgate.{{cite web|url=https://southernconstructionframework.gov.uk/case_study/oceansgate/|title=Oceansgate|publisher=Southern Construction Framework|access-date=31 August 2024}}

Phase 1 (east of the 18th-century dockyard wall) was completed in 2018; Phase 2 (immediately to the west) was completed in 2021.{{cite web |title=Phase 1 |url=https://www.oceansgateplymouth.com/the-site/phase-1/ |website=Oceansgate |date=20 May 2016 |access-date=21 August 2023}} These areas, containing new-build offices and business units, have been designated an Enterprise Zone (and are not part of the Freeport). Phase 3, the westernmost area extending to the waterfront, encompasses three 18th-century dry docks and several listed buildings; it was being offered for sale on a lease of up to 295 years.{{cite web |title=Oceansgate Phase 3: Docks, deep water jetties, land, offices and workshops |url=https://www.oceansgateplymouth.com/app/uploads/oceansgate-phase-3.pdf |website=Oceansgate |access-date=21 August 2023}} As of 2022 this area has been incorporated into the Freeport plan.

Devonport Naval Heritage Centre, a volunteer-run maritime museum, is currently housed within two listed buildings in the Oceansgate area of the yard.{{cite web |title=Devonport Naval Heritage Centre |url=https://www.devonmuseums.net/Devonport-Naval-Heritage-Centre/Devon-Museums |website=Devon Museums |access-date=31 August 2024}}

File:Cremyll Ferry and South Yard.jpg: on the left is No. 5 covered slip (later used as a scrieve board), on the right No.1 covered slip; in between some of the more utilitarian buildings of the MOD area.]]

The majority of the South Yard site remains in Ministry of Defence (MOD) ownership. All land to the south of 'Oceansgate' (with the exception of the area which is owned by Princess Yachts) is currently retained by the MOD,{{cite web|title=The Site|url=http://www.oceansgateplymouth.com/the-site/|website=Oceansgate Plymouth|date=20 May 2016 |access-date=31 August 2016}} with No. 4 Slip having been recently refurbished for use with landing craft. Largely used by MOD contractors, it remains a closed site and subject to security restrictions.

As approved by the government in December 2022, the South Yard is now one of the three 'freezones' of the Plymouth and South Devon Freeport.{{cite web |title=Plymouth and South Devon Freeport first to be given green light with Full Business Case approval |url=https://pasdfreeport.com/2022/12/green-light-for-pasd-freeport-with-fbc-approval/ |website=Plymouth and South Devon Freeport |date=7 December 2022 |access-date=19 August 2023}} Freeport status provides certain tax advantages for businesses based there. The South Yard Freeport zone includes all the land owned by the MOD and Princess Yachts, and most of the land leased to Plymouth City Council as 'Oceansgate'.{{cite web |title=South Yard Proposed Masterplan [Map] |url=https://pasdfreeport.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/21086PF_LHC_00_00_DR_A_0109-Proposed-South-Yard-Masterplan.pdf |website=Plymouth and South Devon Freeport |access-date=19 August 2023}}

The Freeport's business plan envisages the South Yard being focused on marine and defence sector development, and at the same time 'forming the centrepiece of the Freeport’s Innovation Hotbed'.{{cite web |title=Publicly Facing Version of the Plymouth and South Devon Freeport Full Business Case |url=https://pasdfreeport.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Plymouth-and-South-Devon-Freeport-public-facing-Full-Business-Case-final-version.pdf |website=Plymouth and South Devon Freeport |access-date=19 August 2023}} Proposed developments include expansion of Oceansgate beyond its current footprint, construction of a new factory for Princess Yachts and the building of a new Innovation Centre and 'Mobility Hub' (described elsewhere as a 'huge multi-storey car park').{{cite news |last1=Telford |first1=William |title=Huge multi-storey car park to be built in Devonport under freeport plan |url=https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/plymouth-news/huge-multi-storey-car-park-7753239 |access-date=19 August 2023 |work=Plymouth Live |date=27 October 2022}} (Development of the Innovation Centre will require 'relocating' the Naval Heritage Centre.) Eventually it is hoped that the Freeport with its tax advantages will enable 'defence and other contractors to invest and bring back into productive and sustainable use dormant waterfront spaces [...] which, for the time being, must remain "behind the wire" [i.e. within the MOD restricted area]'.

Image:Devonport Dockyard in 1909 plan.png (Morice Yard) located between the South Yard and the North Yard]]

From its original 17th-century site, around No.1 Dock in what is now called the South Yard, the dockyard expanded in stages (first to the south and then progressively northwards) over the next two-and-a-half centuries. Key periods in the geographical development of the yard included:

• The building of Plymouth Dock and Yard (1692-1698).
• The building of Morice Ordnance Yard (1719-1720) alongside the dockyard to the north (this became part of the dockyard during the Second World War).
• The Great Rebuilding (1760-1790) which saw the dockyard expand to the south.
• The building of Keyham Steam Yard (1844-1865) to the north of the Morice Yard.
• The building of the Keyham Extension (1896-1907) which more than doubled the size of the Keyham yard.
• Post-war appropriation of adjacent land (1950s) with bomb-damaged streets were brought within the dockyard perimeter to allow for future expansion.
• The reclamation of Weston Mill Lake (1972-1979), now the northernmost part of the base.

File:Docks de Plymouth - btv1b53010267w (2 of 5).jpg

In 1689 Prince William of Orange became William III and almost immediately he required the building of a new dry dock west of Portsmouth, 'for cruisers only' (to support the cruiser squadrons that patrolled the western approaches to the English Channel).{{cite book |last1=Coad |first1=Jonathan G. |title=The Royal Dockyards1690-1850 |date=1989 |publisher=Scolar Press |location=Aldershot, Hants.}} Edmund Dummer, Surveyor of the Navy, travelled the West Country searching for an area where the dock could be built. Once he had settled on Plymouth, it took the rest of the year for the Admiralty to decide between two possible locations; eventually, in preference to Cattewater, they settled on a site on the Hamoaze (a section of the River Tamar) in the parish of Stoke Damerel. On 30 December 1690, a contract was let for a dock to be built; having selected the location, Dummer was given responsibility for designing and building it.{{cite web|first=William |last=Wessom |title=The Devonport Royal dockyard |url=http://www.freewebs.com/10yearsofism/THE%20PORT%20OF%20PLYMOUTH.doc |date=24 September 2007 |access-date=4 October 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022125510/http://www.freewebs.com/10yearsofism/THE%20PORT%20OF%20PLYMOUTH.doc |archive-date=22 October 2012 }}

Then the project began to grow: first the King requested a larger dock (suitable for first-rate ships, as well as cruisers), then the Navy required a basin to protect the dock entrance; and finally, in July 1692, the Admiralty resolved that 'where the new dock is now building' a full Royal Navy Dockyard should be established, with 'buildings erected therein as well for the accommodation of the officers of the Navy that shall be appointed there, as for storehouses and other services'. This was the start of Plymouth (later Devonport) Royal Dockyard.

File:Plan des ouvrages du port de Plymouth - document anglais - btv1b53010219q (10 of 10).jpg

At the heart of his new dockyard, Dummer placed a stone-lined wet dock, giving access to what proved to be the first successful stepped stone dry dock in Europe.{{cite web |first=Celina |last=Fox |title=The Ingenious Mr Dummer: Rationalizing the Royal Navy in Late Seventeenth-Century England |url=http://www.bl.uk/eblj/2007articles/pdf/ebljarticle102007.pdf |work=Electronic British Library Journal |page=26 |year=2007 |access-date=6 October 2009 |archive-date=27 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927054739/http://www.bl.uk/eblj/2007articles/pdf/ebljarticle102007.pdf |url-status=dead }} Previously the Navy Board had relied upon timber as the major building material for dry docks, which resulted in high maintenance costs and was also a fire risk. The docks Dummer designed were stronger with more secure foundations and stepped sides that made it easier for men to work beneath the hull of a docked vessel. These innovations also allowed rapid erection of staging and greater workforce mobility. He discarded the earlier three-sectioned hinged gate, which was labour-intensive in operation, and replaced it with the simpler and more mobile two-sectioned gate.{{cite web |last=Fox |title=The Ingenious Mr Dummer |url=http://www.bl.uk/eblj/2007articles/pdf/ebljarticle102007.pdf |page=27 |access-date=29 September 2009 |archive-date=27 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927054739/http://www.bl.uk/eblj/2007articles/pdf/ebljarticle102007.pdf |url-status=dead }}

Dummer wished to ensure that naval dockyards were efficient working units that maximised available space, as evidenced by the simplicity of his design layout at Plymouth Dock. He introduced a centralised storage area (the quadrangular Great Storehouse) alongside the basin, and a logical positioning of other buildings around the yard. The southern boundary of his yard was formed by a 'double' rope-house (combining the previously separate tasks of spinning and laying within a single building); the upper floor was used for the repair of sails and a separate rigging house stood nearby. The anchor smithery with its fire and forge was positioned to the north, safely separate from the other buildings. On high ground overlooking the rest of the yard he built a grand terrace of thirteen three-storey houses for the senior dockyard officers (the first known example in the country of a palace-front terrace); the commissioner was accommodated in the centre, and at each end of the terrace was a two-storey block of offices (one for the commissioner, the other for the Clerk of the Cheque).{{NHLE|desc=Listed building text|num=1378525|access-date=13 August 2015}} Work on the dockyard was completed by 1698. Two years later a chapel was built, alongside the Porter's Lodge at the main gate{{cite book |title=The Picture of Plymouth |date=1812 |publisher=Rees & Curtis |location=London |pages=102–115}} (it was destroyed by a fire in 1799).{{cite web |title=Plymouth Dockyard 1698 – 1843 |url=https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/people/cp136280/plymouth-dockyard |website=Science Museum Group |access-date=2 August 2019}}

Most of these buildings and structures were rebuilt over ensuing years, including Dummer's original wet dock and dry dock (completely rebuilt in the 1840s and now known as No. 1 Basin and No. 1 Dock).{{NHLE|desc=Listed building description|num=1388409|access-date=31 August 2016}} The terrace survived into the 20th century, but was largely destroyed in the Blitz along with several others of Devonport's historic buildings. Just one end section of the terrace survives; dating from 1692 to 1696, it is the earliest surviving building in any royal dockyard.

{{Gallery

|title=Plans and elevations from Edmund Dummer's 1694 survey of the building of the dockyard

|mode=packed

|height=140

|align=center

|File:Plan des ouvrages du port de Plymouth - document anglais - btv1b53010219q (01 of 10).jpg|The Plot of the Ground about Point Froward (site of the dockyard)

|File:Plan des ouvrages du port de Plymouth - document anglais - btv1b53010219q (02 of 10).jpg|The Yard and Dock Compleat

|File:Plan des ouvrages du port de Plymouth - document anglais - btv1b53010219q (03 of 10).jpg|The Wet Dock and Dry Dock

|File:Plan des ouvrages du port de Plymouth - document anglais - btv1b53010219q (04 of 10).jpg|The Officers' Dwelling Houses

|File:Plan des ouvrages du port de Plymouth - document anglais - btv1b53010219q (05 of 10).jpg|The Great Store house

|File:Plan des ouvrages du port de Plymouth - document anglais - btv1b53010219q (06 of 10).jpg|The Rope house 1056 foot long and 25 foot broad

|File:Plan des ouvrages du port de Plymouth - document anglais - btv1b53010219q (07 of 10).jpg|These Building [sic] belong to the Rope yard (Tarring and Yarn houses)

|File:Plan des ouvrages du port de Plymouth - document anglais - btv1b53010219q (08 of 10).jpg|Combined Boat house, Mast house, Joiners' and Smiths' shops

|Plan des ouvrages du port de Plymouth - document anglais - btv1b53010219q (09 of 10).jpg|The Barton of Mount Wise: the dockyard and surrounding fields

}}

Once the dockyard was up and running, people (among them civilian workers from the dockyard) began to settle and build houses in the immediate vicinity. The settlement came to be known as Plymouth Dock; it was renamed Devonport in 1824.{{cite book| title=Plymouth. A New History| last=Gill| first=Crispin| year=1993| publisher=Devon Books| isbn=0-86114-882-7}}

File:Pierre-Charles Canot - Near Plymouth with the Ordinance Wharfe... - B1977.14.1286 - Yale Center for British Art.jpg (1756) showing the extent of the yard before the Great Rebuilding.]]

The area where the dockyard began is now known as the South Yard. It was here that Dummer built his groundbreaking stone dry dock and basin. A further, double-dock (i.e. long enough to accommodate two ships of the line, end to end) was added, just north of the basin, in the 1720s.{{Cite web|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1432153|title=No 2 Dock, including bollards and capstans, Non Civil Parish - 1432153 | Historic England|website=historicengland.org.uk}} Slipways were also added in the early 18th century, either side of the dry docks, to enable shipbuilding to take place. The numbers employed at the yard increased from 736 in 1711 to 2,464 in 1730. Around this time the small cove on the south side of the dockyard was partially reclaimed to create an enclosed mast pond and ground which was used for storing timber.{{cite book |title=Devonport: Characterisation Study and Management Proposals |date=2006 |publisher=Plymouth City Council |location=Plymouth |pages=56–66 |url=https://www.plymouth.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Dv12aDevonportCharacterisationStudyOptimised.pdf |access-date=23 August 2023}}

File:Plymouth Dockyard RMG BHC1914.tiff (1798) shows the yard after the recently-completed Great Rebuilding. Centre front is Dummer's 1690s stone basin and dock: to its left, one double and two single dry docks; to its right, the 1761 double quadrangle storehouse. Behind the docks: pedimented workshops and the 1691 officers' terrace. On the right of the picture: building slips on the foreshore, then the smithery, timber stores, mast and boat houses, with the long 1760s roperies beyond them (in front of Mount Wise).]]

In the 1760s a period of expansion began, leading to a configuration which (despite subsequent rebuildings) can still be seen today : five slipways, four dry docks and a basin. The two additional docks were built, in place of a pair of slips to the north of the double-dock, in 1762 and 1789. (Slipways were used for shipbuilding, but the main business of the eighteenth-century yard was the repair, maintenance and equipping of the fleet, for which the dry docks and basin were used).{{cite web|url=http://m.english-heritage.org.uk/publications/thematic-survey-navy/|archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130204202749/http://m.english-heritage.org.uk/publications/thematic-survey-navy/|url-status=dead|archive-date=2013-02-04|title=Thematic Survey of English Naval Dockyards|first=English|last=Heritage}} New slips were built on the New Ground to the south. One slipway (Slip No.1 of 1774) survives unaltered from this period: a rare survival.{{NHLE|desc=Listed building description|num=1388431|access-date=31 August 2016}} It is covered with a timber superstructure of 1814, a similarly rare and early survival of its type; indeed, only three such timber slip covers have survived in Britain, two of them at Devonport. (The second, of similar vintage, stands over the former No.5 Slip; in 1870 it was converted to house a scrieve board, for full-size drafting of ship designs).{{NHLE|desc=Listed building description|num=1388417|access-date=31 August 2016}}

File:Devonport South Yard - East Ropery.jpg

Before the expansion could begin, a rocky hillside to the south had to be cut away; the rubble was used to reclaim the mudflats ready for building. To open up the site, the old ropehouse was demolished and a new rope-making complex built alongside the east perimeter wall of the expanded site (where it still survives in part, albeit rebuilt following a fire in 1812). Where the old ropehouse had stood a short canal known as the Camber was laid out, terminating in a boat basin with a boathouse. On the New Ground to the south a new smithery was constructed, in 1776, containing 48 forges; though subsequently rebuilt it too still stands, the earliest surviving smithery in any royal dockyard.{{NHLE|desc=Listed building description|num=1392692|access-date=31 August 2016}} Initially used for the manufacture of anchors and smaller metal items, it would later be expanded to fashion the iron braces with which wooden hulls and decks began to be strengthened; as such, it provided a hint of the huge change in manufacturing technology that would sweep the dockyards in the nineteenth century as sail began to make way for steam, and wood for iron and steel. In the space between the new slips and the new ropehouse, south of the boat pond and smithery, was a sizeable mast pond, flanked by mast-houses.

The most imposing building of this period was a double-quadrangular storehouse of 1761 (probably designed by Thomas Slade); replacing the 17th-century Great Storehouse, it also incorporated a new rigging house and sail loft. It remained in use until it was destroyed in the Plymouth Blitz. The same fate befell several other buildings of the 18th and early 19th century, including a long and prominent pedimented workshop with a central clocktower, built to accommodate a range of woodworkers and craftsmen, and an adjacent pedimented block containing the dockyard offices, as well as Edward Holl's replacement Dockyard Church of 1814.{{cite book|last1=Coad|first1=Jonathan|title=Support for the Fleet: architecture and engineering of the Royal Navy's bases 1700–1914|date=2013|publisher=English Heritage|location=Swindon}}

File:This View representing the Fire in H.M. Dock Yard at Devonport, on the morning of the 27th Sepr, 1840, by W. Clerk, after Nicholas Condy.jpg, which threatened to destroy the dockyard]]

The dockyard suffered severe damage in a large-scale fire on 25 September 1840, which started in the North Dock on {{HMS|Talavera|1818|6}}. Talavera and {{HMS|Imogene|1831|2}} were completely gutted; the fire threatened {{HMS|Minden|1810|6}}, and spread to nearby buildings and equipment. Estimates for the damage were put at £150,000 in the values of the day, and would have totalled £500,000 had the fire not been contained by demolishing several surrounding buildings.{{cite news |author1= |title=Dreadful Fire at Devonport |url=http://www.devonportonline.co.uk/historic_devonport/navy-dockyard/1840-fire/1840-fire.aspx |access-date=26 April 2020 |publisher=The Morning Chronicle |date=25 September 1840 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190317100348/http://www.devonportonline.co.uk/historic_devonport/navy-dockyard/1840-fire/1840-fire.aspx |archive-date=17 March 2019 |location=London}}

The South Yard continued to be upgraded to keep abreast of changes in shipbuilding technology. The docks and slips were expanded and extended at various points in the 19th century, with the double dock being reconfigured to form a single dock (No. 2 Dock) in 1860. At the end of the century the mast ponds were filled in to provide room for a new and very much larger No. 3 Slip, designed for the construction of dreadnoughts. Machine shops and plank stores were also put in place alongside. In 1912 the new No. 3 Slip was further extended in length, from {{convert|520|ft|abbr=on}} to {{convert|752|ft|abbr=on}}, ready for the building of the superdreadnought HMS Warspite. Meanwhile the 18th-century No. 1 Slip was converted into a patent slip for the repair of small craft, and in 1909 No. 2 Slip was made into a shallow dock for torpedo boats.{{cite web|url=https://www.olddevonport.uk/Royal%20Dockyard-South%20Yard-Building%20Slip%202.htm|title=Building Slip 2 (Shallow Dock) |publisher=Old Deveonport|access-date=31 August 2024}}

The South Yard was drastically impacted by aerial bombardment during the Second World War: by the end of 1942, 85% of its buildings had been either heavily damaged or destroyed.

File:HMNB Devonport - Morice Yard.jpg

Provision of ships' armaments was not the responsibility of the Navy but of the independent Board of Ordnance, which already had a wharf and storage facility in the Mount Wise area of Plymouth. This, however, began to prove insufficient and in 1719 the board established a new gun wharf on land leased from one Sir Nicholas Morice, immediately to the north of the established Dockyard. The Morice Yard was a self-contained establishment with its own complex of workshops, workers, officers, offices and storehouses. Gunpowder was stored on site, which began to be a cause for concern among local residents (as was the older store in the Royal Citadel within the city of Plymouth); so new gunpowder magazines were built further to the north, at Keyham, in the 1770s. (In the mid-19th century, to make room for the dockyard's expansion into Keyham, the gunpowder magazines were relocated to Bull Point, north of Weston Mill Lake).{{Cite web|url=http://m.english-heritage.org.uk/publications/thematic-survey-ordnance/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140822013505/http://m.english-heritage.org.uk/publications/thematic-survey-ordnance/|url-status=dead|title=English Heritage: Thematic History of Ordnance Yards and Magazine Depots|archive-date=22 August 2014}}

In 1855 the Board of Ordnance was abolished and the War Office then took over management of the Morice Yard. Morice Ordnance Yard remained independent from the dockyard until 1941, at which point it was integrated into the larger complex. In contrast to South Yard, which fared badly in the Blitz, most of the original buildings survive at Morice Yard, enclosed behind their contemporary boundary wall; over a dozen of these are listed. On higher ground behind the wharf itself is a contemporary terrace of houses for officers (1720), built from stone rubble excavated during the yard's construction.

Morice Yard remains part of the operational Naval Base; in 2022 it became the headquarters of Surface Fleet Command.{{cite news |last1=Quayle |first1=Thomas |title=Royal Navy surface fleet command finds new home in Morice Yard |url=https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/plymouth-news/royal-navy-surface-fleet-command-7105727 |access-date=19 August 2023 |work=Plymouth Live |date=20 May 2022}}

{{also|Fortifications of Plymouth}}

File:Plan of Stoke Town and Plymouth Dock - Benjamin Donn, 1765.jpg

In 1758, the Plymouth and Portsmouth Fortifications Act provided the means to construct a permanent landward defence for the dockyard complex. The Lines round Plymouth Dock (later 'Devonport Lines') were a bastion fortification which consisted of an earthen rampart with a wide ditch and a glacis. The lines ran from Morice Yard on the River Tamar, enclosing the whole dockyard and town, finally meeting the river again at Stonehouse Pool, a total distance of 2,000 yards (1,800 metres). There were four bastions, Marlborough Bastion to the north, Granby Bastion to the north-east, Stoke Bastion to the east and George Bastion to the south east. There were originally two gates in the lines, the Stoke Barrier at the end of Fore Street and the Stonehouse Barrier. A third gate called New Passage was created in the 1780s, giving access to the Torpoint Ferry. After 1860, the fortifications were superseded by the Palmerston Forts around Plymouth and the land occupied by the lines was either sold or utilised by the dockyard.{{cite web|url=http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/ppp_dock_lines.pdf |title=Plotting Plymouth's Past – Devonport's Dock Lines |website=www.plymouth.gov.uk |publisher=Old Plymouth Society |access-date=20 April 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160428044331/http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/ppp_dock_lines.pdf |archive-date=28 April 2016 }} Also in 1860 the main dockyards' policing was transferred to the new dockyard divisions of the Metropolitan Police, in Devonport's case No. 3 Division, which remained in that role until 1934.{{Cite web|url=https://british-police-history.uk/f/royal-marine/|title=British Police History|website=british-police-history.uk}}

File:Devonport Keyham Road - Plymouth Citybus 504 (WF63LZD).JPG

File:HMS Cumberland in Devonport.jpg

In the mid-nineteenth century, all royal dockyards faced the challenge of responding to the advent first of steam power and then metal hulls. Those unable to expand were closed; the rest underwent a transformation through growth and mechanisation. At Devonport, in 1864, a separate, purpose-built steam yard was opened on a self-contained site at Keyham, a little to the north of the Morice Yard (and a tunnel was built linking the new yard with the old). A pair of basins (8–9 acres each) were constructed: No. 2 Basin gave access to three large dry docks, while No. 3 Basin was the frontispiece to a huge integrated manufacturing complex. This 'steam factory' became known as the Quadrangle: it housed foundries, forges, pattern shops, boilermakers and all manner of specialized workshops. Two stationary steam engines drove line shafts and heavy machinery, and the multiple flues were drawn by a pair of prominent chimneys. The building still stands, and is Grade I listed; architectural detailing was by Sir Charles Barry. English Heritage calls it 'one of the most remarkable engineering buildings in the country'.

File:HMS Westmister Undergoes Refit at Devonport MOD 45151169.jpg inside the Frigate Refit Complex, 2009]]

In the 1970s the three dry docks (Nos. 5, 6 and 7) were rebuilt, expanded and covered over to serve as an up-to-date Frigate Refit Complex.{{cite web|title=Devonport in the Twentieth Century|url=https://content.historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/twentieth-century-naval-dockyards-devonport-portsmouth-characterisation-report/part2-twentieth-century-naval-dockyards-devonport-portsmouth-characterisation.pdf/|website=Historic England}} They remain very much in use, together with the adjacent Quadrangle building, which (while extensively modernised within its original walls and roofs) continues to fulfil its original purpose, manufacturing items for ships in refit.

In 1880 a Royal Naval Engineering College was established at Keyham, housed in a new building just outside the dockyard wall alongside the Quadrangle where students (who joined at 15 years of age) gained hands-on experience of the latest naval engineering techniques. (The Engineering College moved to nearby Manadon in 1958; the Jacobethan-style building then went on to house the Dockyard Technical College for a time, but was demolished in 1985.)

Until the late nineteenth century, sailors whose ships were being repaired or refitted, or who were awaiting allocation to a vessel, were accommodated in floating hulks. Construction of an onshore barracks, just north-east of the North Yard, was completed in 1889, with the barracks being named "HMS Vivid", after the base ship of the same name. It could accommodate 2,500 sailors and officers, and the first personnel moved in during June of that year. The barracks were renamed HMS Drake on 1 January 1934;{{cite web |last1=Moseley |first1=Brian |title=Royal Navy Barracks "HMS Vivid" / "HMS Drake" |url=http://www.plymouthdata.info/Royal%20Navy%20Estabs-RN%20Barracks.htm |website=Plymouth Data |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120318073336/http://www.plymouthdata.info/Royal%20Navy%20Estabs-RN%20Barracks.htm |access-date=14 March 2023|archive-date=18 March 2012 }} in the early 21st century the barracks area remained part of HMNB Devonport,{{cite web|url=https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/locations-and-operations/bases-and-stations/hmnb-devonport|title=HMNB Devonport|publisher=Royal Navy|access-date=1 September 2024|quote=Hasler Naval Service Recovery Centre is in HMS Drake, which is part of HMNB Devonport.}} but was re-designated the Fleet Accommodation Centre.{{Cite web|url=http://www.nff.org.uk/pdfdocs/devonport_naval_base_unit_information_booklet_nov09_smaller.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150405040735/http://www.nff.org.uk/pdfdocs/devonport_naval_base_unit_information_booklet_nov09_smaller.pdf|url-status=dead|title=Devonport Naval Base Handbook, 2010|archive-date=5 April 2015}} It remains in Ministry of Defence ownership.{{cite web|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/twentieth-century-naval-dockyards-devonport-portsmouth-characterisation-report/part2-twentieth-century-naval-dockyards-devonport-portsmouth-characterisation |last1=Coats|first1=Ann|last2=Davies|first2=David|year=2013|title=20th Century Naval Dockyards: Devonport and Portsmouth Characterisation Report: Part 2|location=Portsmouth, Hants|publisher=Naval Dockyards Society|access-date=1 September 2024}}

File:Plymouth , Trafalgar Submarine at Devonport Naval Dockyard - geograph.org.uk - 1151394.jpg

In 1895 the decision was taken to expand the Keyham Steam Yard to accommodate the increasing size of modern warships. By 1907 Keyham, now renamed the North Yard, had more than doubled in size with the addition of No. 4 and No. 5 Basins (of 10 and 35 acres respectively), linked by a very large lock-cum-dock (the North Lock), 730 ft in length, alongside three more dry docks of a similar size (Nos. 8, 9 and 10), able to "accommodate ships larger than any war-vessel yet constructed".{{cite web|url=http://www.devonportonline.co.uk/historic_devonport/navy-dockyard/dockyard/1914-guide-dockyard.aspx|title=1914 Guide for Visitors to Devonport Dockyard|author=Liz Cook|access-date=19 March 2016}} At the northernmost end of the site the north-west promontory, together with the wharves facing on to Weston Mill Lake, functioned as a vast coaling yard for the steam-powered fleet.{{cite web|url=https://www.worldnavalships.com/keyham_dockyard.htm|title=Keyham Dockyard|publisher=World Naval Ships|access-date=31 August 2024}}

In the 1970s a new Fleet Maintenance Base was built at the North West Corner of the North Yard; opened in 1978, it was commissioned as HMS Defiance (remaining so until 1994, when it was amalgamated into HMS Drake). At the same time, a new Submarine Refit Complex was created, alongside the Fleet Maintenance Base, in the north-west corner of No. 5 Basin. It opened in 1981. Within it, two new dry docks were created (Nos. 14 and 15) for nuclear-powered fleet submarines, and between them an 80-ton cantilever crane, one of the largest in western Europe, was installed to lift nuclear cores from submarines for maintenance and refuelling. As part of the same works, the North Lock (at the opposite end of the basin) was divided to form two submarine docks (Nos. 11 and 12).{{cite web|url=https://navaldockyards.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/part2-twentieth-century-naval-dockyards-devonport-portsmouth-characterisation.pdf |page=85|title=Twentieth century naval dockyards Devonport Portsmouth characterisation report|publisher=Naval Dockyard Society|access-date=31 August 2024}}

In 1993 the Submarine Refit Centre was upgraded following the announcement that Devonport was to become the Royal Navy's only nuclear refit yard; among other things Nos. 9 and 10 dry docks were strengthened and reconfigured so as to be able to accommodate the much larger Vanguard-class submarines, which entered into service from that year; the work was completed by Carillion in 2002.{{cite web|url=https://www.isurv.com/directory_record/3911/carillion_construction_ltd_v_devonport_royal_dockland_2003|title=Cases – Carillion Construction Ltd v Devonport Royal Dockland |year=2003|publisher=RICS|access-date=31 August 2024}}{{cite news|url=https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/sections/news/carillion-wins-10m-in-trident-dock-claim-12-05-2005/ |title=Carillion wins £10m in Trident dock claim|date=12 May 2005|newspaper=Construction News| access-date=31 August 2024}}

In 2011 the MOD sold the freehold of much of the North Yard to the Dockyard operator, Babcock; the site includes Basins No. 2 and No. 5 and their adjoining dry docks, together with the land between and around them (containing six listed buildings and structures, including the Grade I listed Quadrangle).{{cite web|title=MOD Heritage Report 2009–2011|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/33359/heritage_rpt_200911.pdf/|website=UK Government}}

To the north of No. 5 Basin, land around Weston Mill Lake was reclaimed in the 1970s and the following decade the area (including the former coaling wharves) was repurposed to provide frigate berths for the Type 22 fleet.{{cite journal|url=http://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/doi/abs/10.1680/iwtme.1992.21672|title=Weston Mill Lake, HM Naval Base Devonport: Construction of a jetty using concrete caissons|year=1992|publisher=Institution of Civil Engineers|doi=10.1680/iwtme.1992.21672|access-date=15 July 2017|last1=MacIntyre|first1=H.|journal=Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Water Maritime and Energy|volume=96|issue=4|pages=227–234|url-access=subscription}} It is now where the Navy's amphibious warfare ships are based. In 2013 a new Royal Marines base, RM Tamar, was opened alongside; as well as serving as headquarters for 1 Assault Group Royal Marines, it can accommodate marines, alongside their ships, prior to deployment.{{cite web|title=RM Tamar|url=http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/our-organisation/where-we-are/marines-base/tamar|website=MOD|access-date=1 September 2016}} Weston Mill Lake and its surrounding wharves remain in MOD ownership.

File:Naval Depot Sept 8th 1895 at Sunset RMG PU6202.jpg

The civilian streets around Devonport (like the dockyard itself) were heavily bombed during the Plymouth blitz. Post-war reconstruction was mainly focused on Plymouth itself. Several damaged streets in the vicinity of the dockyard were not rebuilt, but instead brought within Admiralty ownership to allow for future dockyard expansion. An area around Goschen Street, to the east of the North Yard, became known as the Goschen Yard: a factory and workshops were built on the site (which is now owned by Babcock); there was also an apprentice training centre (which later became part of City College Plymouth).{{cite web |title=Goschen Yard |url=https://www.olddevonport.uk/Royal%20Dockyard-Goschen%20Yard.htm |website=Old Devonport UK |access-date=22 August 2023}}

In 2005 a sizeable area of the historic town centre of Devonport, which had been annexed after the war and was known as the South Yard Enclave, was released from MOD ownership.{{cite book |title=Devonport Area Action Plan 2006-2021 |date=2007 |publisher=Plymouth City Council |location=Plymouth |pages=13–16 |url=https://www.plymouth.gov.uk/sites/default/files/DevonportChapters1To4.pdf |access-date=22 August 2023}} The area, west of Chapel Street and north of Duke Street, had since 1956 been enclosed behind a perimeter wall and used as a naval stores yard;{{cite web |title=Central Devonport |url=https://www.devonportonline.co.uk/millennium_devonport/visiting/central/central.aspx |website=Devonport Online |access-date=22 August 2023}} it has since been redeveloped with housing and other amenities. A few surviving buildings have been restored, most notably the Grade II listed Victorian former Market Hall{{cite web |title=Former Devonport Market House, South Yard |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1378509 |website=Historic England |access-date=22 August 2023}} (which had been used as a sale store for the Naval Supply and Transport Service).{{cite news |last1=Elmes |first1=Sarah |title=Inside the derelict market hall in Devonport which is about to be transformed |url=https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/plymouth-news/inside-derelict-market-hall-devonport-1141967 |access-date=22 August 2023 |work=Plymouth Live |date=31 January 2018}}

File:Slip 1, Devonport Dockyard.jpg

Despite significant damage during the blitz, the South Yard still contains four scheduled monuments and over thirty listed buildings and structures{{cite web|title=Historic England|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing|access-date=30 August 2016}} (though some of these have been allowed to fall into a derelict state in recent years: the 18th-century South Sawmills and South Smithery are both on the Heritage at Risk Register).{{cite web|title=HAR register – Sawmills|url=https://www.historicengland.org.uk/advice/heritage-at-risk/search-register/list-entry/47828|website=Historic England}}{{cite web|title=HAR register – Smithery|url=https://www.historicengland.org.uk/advice/heritage-at-risk/search-register/list-entry/49704|website=Historic England}}

A number of these listed buildings and scheduled ancient monuments are now owned by Princess Yachts, which took over the southern part of the site in 2012, most notably the Grade I listed East Ropery{{NHLE|desc=Listed building description|num=1388400|access-date=31 August 2016}} (together with several other 18th-century buildings and structures associated with rope-making in the Yard), the covered slip (No. 1 Slip) and the 'King's Hill Gazebo', built to commemorate a visit by King George III.{{NHLE|desc=Listed building description|num=1388430|access-date=31 August 2016}} Others are in the Oceansgate area, including Nos. 2, 3 and 4 dry docks, and seven buildings (two of which are currently occupied by the Naval Heritage Centre: the former Dockyard Fire Station{{NHLE|desc=Listed building description|num=1378506|access-date=31 August 2016}} and the 18th-century Pay Office).{{NHLE|desc=Listed building description|num=1388408|access-date=31 August 2016}}

File:Drake House, HMS Drake - geograph.org.uk - 1708601.jpg

Other parts of the yard also contain significant collections of listed buildings and structures: there are fourteen in the Barracks area (HMS Drake), thirteen in the Morice Yard; and seven in the North Yard (including the Grade I listed Quadrangle workshops) which are now in the care and custody of Babcock International.{{cite web|url=https://navaldockyards.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/part2-twentieth-century-naval-dockyards-devonport-portsmouth-characterisation.pdf |page=77|title=Twentieth century naval dockyards Devonport Portsmouth characterisation report|publisher=Naval Dockyard Society|access-date=31 August 2024}}

{{main|Devonport Naval Heritage Centre}}

Devonport Naval Heritage Centre is a maritime museum located within the Oceansgate area of Devonport's historic South Yard.{{cite web|url=https://www.devonmuseums.net/Devonport-Naval-Heritage-Centre/Devon-Museums/|title=Devonport Naval Heritage Centre |publisher=Devon Museums|access-date=2023-04-06}} Run by volunteers, it is currently (as of 2023) open on Wednesdays and occasional Saturdays, March-October.{{cite web |title=Welcome |url=https://devonportnhc.wordpress.com/ |website=Devonport Naval Heritage Centre |access-date=18 August 2023}} The nuclear-powered submarine {{HMS|Courageous|S50|6}}, used in the Falklands War, is preserved in North Yard as a museum ship, managed by the Heritage Centre (although it is currently closed to visitors until further notice).{{cite web |title=HMS Courageous |url=https://devonportnhc.wordpress.com/warshiptours/ |website=Devonport Naval Heritage Centre |date=22 February 2013 |access-date=17 August 2023}} In 2018 the National Museum of the Royal Navy announced a 12-year plan to establish a 'full-time visitor attraction' in Devonport, based around a new museum (to be located in the surviving portion of the Officers' Terrace, the oldest building in any Royal Dockyard) and the decommissioned HMS Courageous (which would be preserved in the historic No. 1 Dry Dock).{{cite web |title=Plymouth to get £5m new naval museum |url=https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news-and-latest-activity/news/2018/january/10/180110-plymouth-to-get-new-naval-museum |website=Royal Navy |access-date=17 August 2023}}

Devonport has been the site of a number of leaks of nuclear waste associated with the nuclear submarines based there.

• November 2002: "Ten litres of radioactive coolant leaked from {{HMS|Vanguard|S28|6}}''".{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2524573.stm | work=BBC News | title=Radioactive leak at Devonport | date=28 November 2002 | access-date=4 May 2010}}
• October 2005: "Previous reported radioactive spills at the dockyard include one in October 2005, when it was confirmed 10 litres of water leaked out as the main reactor circuit of HMS Victorious was being cleaned to reduce radiation."{{cite web |last=Enforcer |first=The |url=http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/news/RADIOACTIVE-LEAK-SUB-BASE/article-463707-detail/article.html |title=Radioactive leak at Devonport |publisher=This is Plymouth |date=11 November 2008 |access-date=6 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090529010834/http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/news/RADIOACTIVE-LEAK-SUB-BASE/article-463707-detail/article.html |archive-date=29 May 2009 |url-status=dead }}
• November 2008: "The Royal Navy has confirmed up to 280 litres of water, likely to have been contaminated with tritium, poured from a burst hose as it was being pumped from the submarine in the early hours of Friday."
• March 2009: "On 25 March radioactive water escaped from HMS Turbulent while the reactor's discharge system was being flushed at the Devonport naval dockyard".{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/may/18/mod-nuclear-waste-submarines | work=The Guardian | location=London | title=Ministry of Defence admits to further radioactive leaks from submarines | date=18 May 2009 | access-date=4 May 2010 | first=Rob | last=Edwards}}

The nuclear submarine refit base was put into special measures in 2013 by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR). Safety concerns on ageing facilities, stretched resources and increasing demand are blamed for the measures.{{cite news|last1=Morris|first1=Jonathan|title=Devonport nuclear base has special measures extended|work=BBC News |date=13 July 2015 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-33482210|access-date=14 July 2015}} A further report in 2022 looked at areas of improvement so that the base could move out of enhanced monitoring "at the earliest opportunity.{{cite web|url=https://www.onr.org.uk/media/m5nnf3fn/devonport-3-4.pdf|page=5|title=Devonport Royal Dockyard|publisher= Office for Nuclear Regulation|year=2022|access-date=31 August 2024}}

File:Stock Image-Gun Salute HMS Drake-RN MOD 45165427.jpg from the battery at HMS Drake]]

The Naval base at Devonport is still nicknamed "Guzz" (or, sometimes, "Guz") by sailors and marines. One suggestion is that this originates from the word guzzle (to eat or drink greedily), which is likely to refer to the eating of cream teas, a West Country delicacy and, therefore, one with strong connections to the area around Plymouth.{{cite web|url=http://www.royalnavalmuseum.org/info_sheets_nicknames.htm |title=Pompey, Chats and Guz: the Origins of Naval Town Nicknames | Online Information Bank | Research Collections | Royal Naval Museum at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard |publisher=Royalnavalmuseum.org |access-date=6 November 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101220215401/http://royalnavalmuseum.org/info_sheets_nicknames.htm |archive-date=20 December 2010 }} Another explanation advanced is that "GUZZ" was the radio call sign for the nearby Admiralty wireless station (which was GZX) at Devil's Point,{{cite web|url=http://www.plymouthdata.info/Royal%20Navy%20Estabs-RN%20Barracks.htm| website = The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History|title=Plymouth, Royal Navy Establishments – Royal Naval Barracks (HMS Vivid / HMS Drake)|publisher=Plymouth Data| date = February 2011| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120318073336/http://www.plymouthdata.info/Royal%20Navy%20Estabs-RN%20Barracks.htm| archive-date = 18 March 2012| access-date = 13 February 2015|last=Moseley|first=Brian}} (citing Brimacombe, Peter, "The History of HMS Drake", Rodney Brimacombe, Mor Marketing, Plymouth, July 1992.) though this is disputed and has recently been disproved by reference to actual wireless telegraphy callsigns in existence over the past century.See, for example:{{cite web|url=http://www.godfreydykes.info/THE_PLYMOUTH_COMMAND.htm|title=THE_PLYMOUTH_COMMAND|access-date=20 August 2011|last=Dykes|first=Godfrey|archive-date=20 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150120104416/http://www.godfreydykes.info/THE_PLYMOUTH_COMMAND.htm|url-status=usurped}}

Another explanation is that the name came from the Hindi word for a yard (36 inches), "guz", (also spelled "guzz", at the time) which entered the Oxford English Dictionary,{{cite web|title=A Minor case: OED contributions from a prison cell |url=http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2013/02/william-minor/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130216111334/http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2013/02/william-minor/|url-status=dead|archive-date=16 February 2013}} and Royal Navy usage,{{cite book|title=Royal Navy "Sailor's Pocket Book" |first= Sir Frederick |last=Bedford|year=1875 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BmABAAAAQAAJ&q=guz}} in the late 19th century, as sailors used to regularly abbreviate "The Dockyard" to simply "The Yard", leading to the slang use of the Hindi word for the unit of measurement of the same name.{{Cite web|url=http://www.godfreydykes.info/THE_PLYMOUTH_COMMAND.htm|title=THE_PLYMOUTH_COMMAND|website=www.godfreydykes.info|access-date=20 August 2011|archive-date=20 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150120104416/http://www.godfreydykes.info/THE_PLYMOUTH_COMMAND.htm|url-status=usurped}} The Plymouth Herald newspaper attempted{{cite web|url=http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/Plymouth-Devonport-called-Guzz/story-16428801-detail/story.html|title=Why are Plymouth and Devonport called Guzz|work=Plymouth Herald|access-date=19 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924122242/http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/Plymouth-Devonport-called-Guzz/story-16428801-detail/story.html|archive-date=24 September 2015|url-status=dead}} to summarise the differing theories, but no firm conclusion was reached. Charles Causley referred to Guz in one of his poems, "Song of the Dying Gunner A.A.1", published in 1951.{{cite book|author=Neil Philip, Michael McCurdy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MVGspZC1a-UC&pg=PA57 |title=War and the pity of war| year=1998 |page=57| publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | isbn=9780395849828 |access-date=6 November 2012}}

"Tiddy oggy" is naval slang for a Cornish pasty and was once the nickname for a sailor born and bred in Devonport.{{cite book|title=Jackspeak: A guide to British Naval slang & usage|last=Jolly|first=Rick|year=1989|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aYrpCgAAQBAJ&dq=devonport+%22oggy%22&pg=PA462|publisher=Conway Publishing|isbn=978-1-8448-6144-6|page=462}} The traditional shout of "Oggy Oggy Oggy" was used to cheer on the Devonport team in the Navy's field gun competition.{{cite web|url=http://portsmouth-guide.co.uk/local/gun-run.htm|title=Portsmouth Field Gun Crew, Whale Island|website=portsmouth-guide.co.uk|access-date=2 September 2007|archive-date=28 September 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928151716/http://portsmouth-guide.co.uk/local/gun-run.htm|url-status=live}}

Up until 1832 the Plymouth Royal Dockyard, was administered by a Commissioner of the Navy on behalf of the Navy Board in London included:{{cite web|last1=Archives|first1=The National|title=Navy Board and Admiralty: Yard Pay Books|url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/browse/r/h/C1751|website=discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk|publisher=The National Archives, 1660 to 1857, ADM 42|access-date=19 December 2017}}{{cite book|last1=Beatson|first1=Robert|title=A Political Index to the Histories of Great Britain and Ireland: Or, A Complete Register of the Hereditary Honours, Public Offices, and Persons in Office, from the Earliest Periods to the Present Time|date=1788|publisher=G. G. J. & J. Robinson|location=Oxford, England|pages=[https://archive.org/details/apoliticalindex04beatgoog/page/n369 352]–353|url=https://archive.org/details/apoliticalindex04beatgoog|quote=Sir Edward Gregory 1703.|language=en}}{{cite web|last1=Moseley|first1=Brian|title=Old Devonport: Commissioners of Dockyard|url=http://www.olddevonport.uk/Royal%20Dockyard-Commissioners.htm|website=olddevonport.uk|publisher=Old Devonport 5 May 2017|access-date=19 December 2017}}

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• Captain Henry Greenhill (appointed 25 December 1691)
• Captain George St Lo (appointed 26 March 1695)
• Captain William Wright (appointed 1 May 1703)
• Captain Henry Greenhill (appointed February 1704)
• Captain William Wright (appointed 1 July 1708)
• Captain Richard Edwards (appointed 19 June 1711)
• Captain Sir William Jumper (appointed 12 November 1714)
• Captain Thomas Swanton (appointed 30 March 1715)
• Captain Francis Dove (appointed 23 July 1716)
• Captain Sir Nicholas Trevanion (appointed 22 April 1726)
• Captain Matthew Morris (appointed 9 December 1737)
• Captain Philip Vanbrugh (appointed 8 January 1738)
• Captain Sir Frederick Rogers (appointed 3 October 1753)
• Mr Edward Le Cras (appointed December 1782)
• Captain Sir John Laforey (appointed 6 May 1784)
• Captain Robert Fanshawe (appointed 13 November 1789)
• Captain William Shield (appointed 12 December 1815 – 1822)

{{Div col end}}

• Captain William Shield, 1823–1828
• Captain Charles B H Ross, appointed 13 March 1829.

By An Order in Council dated 27 June 1832 the role of the commissioner was replaced by an admiral-superintendent.{{cite book|last1=Writer.)|first1=E. MILES (Nautical|last2=Miles|first2=Lawford|title=An epitome, historical and statistical, descriptive of the Royal Naval Service of England. By E. M., with the assistance of ... L. Miles ... With ... illustrations, etc|date=1841|publisher=Ackermann & Company|page=88|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m51WAAAAcAAJ&q=Royal+Navy+Admiral+Superintendents+introduced+in+1832&pg=PA88|language=en}}

In 1832 the Navy Board was abolished, everything except the gun wharves were brought under the direct control of the Admiralty. A serving Royal Navy officer, usually of rear-admiral rank, was appointed as admiral-superintendent of the dockyard; however, the post was sometimes held by a commodore-superintendent or even a vice-admiral. They were responsible for all the civilian support services operated by the dockyard departments.

Included:{{cite web|last1=Mackie|first1=Colin|title=Royal Navy Appointments from 1865|url=http://www.gulabin.com/armynavy/pdf/Senior%20Royal%20Navy%20Appointments%201865-.pdf|website=gulabin.com|publisher=Colin Mackie, p105, December 2017|access-date=19 December 2017}}

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• Rear-Admiral Sir Samuel Pym (appointed 16 December 1841)
• Rear-Admiral Sir John Louis (appointed 16 December 1846)
• Commodore Lord John Hay (appointed 9 February 1850)
• Commodore Michael Seymour (appointed 8 September 1851)
• Rear-Admiral Hon. Montagu Stopford (appointed 21 March 1854)
• Rear-Admiral Henry Eden (appointed 4 August 1854)
• Rear-Admiral Michael Seymour (appointed 12 December 1854)
• Rear-Admiral Sir James Hanway Plumridge (appointed 19 February 1855)
• Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Sabine Pasley (appointed 4 December 1857)
• Rear-Admiral Thomas Matthew Charles Symonds (appointed 1 December 1862)
• Vice-Admiral Hon. James Robert Drummond (appointed 24 April 1866)
• Rear-Admiral William Houston Stewart (appointed 5 June 1870)
• Vice-Admiral Sir William King-Hall (appointed 20 November 1871)
• Rear-Admiral William Charles Chamberlain (appointed 5 August 1875)
• Rear-Admiral George Ommanney Willes (appointed 1 May 1876)
• Rear-Admiral Charles Webley Hope (appointed 1 February 1879)
• Rear-Admiral Charles Thomas Curme (appointed 20 February 1880)
• Rear-Admiral John Crawford Wilson (appointed 23 February 1885)
• Vice-Admiral Henry Duncan Grant (appointed 10 July 1885)
• Vice-Admiral Sir Walter James Hunt-Grubbe (appointed 1 August 1888)
• Rear-Admiral Sir Robert Henry More Molyneux (appointed 4 August 1891)
• Rear-Admiral Edmund John Church (appointed 7 August 1894)
• Rear-Admiral Henry John Carr (appointed 3 November 1896)
• Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Sturges Jackson (appointed 7 July 1899)
• Rear-Admiral William Hanam Henderson (appointed 11 July 1902 – made Vice-Admiral while in post, 1904)
• Vice-Admiral Charles James Barlow (appointed 31 March 1906)
• Vice-Admiral Charles Henry Cross (appointed 31 March 1908)
• Vice-Admiral Robert Henry Simpson Stokes (appointed 4 October 1910)
• Rear-Admiral Godfrey Harry Brydges Mundy (appointed 11 December 1913)
• Rear-Admiral Sir Arthur Henniker-Hughan (appointed 18 December 1916)
• Rear-Admiral Edwin Veale Underhill (appointed 1 September 1919)
• Rear-Admiral Hugh Lindsay Patrick Heard (appointed 20 September 1922)
• Vice-Admiral Louis Charles Stirling Woollcombe (appointed 1 November 1926)
• Vice-Admiral Oliver Backhouse (appointed 1 March 1927 and re-appointed 10 October 1929)
• Vice-Admiral Harold Owen Reinold (appointed 2 March 1931)
• Vice-Admiral Arthur Lionel Snagge (appointed 1935)
• Vice-Admiral Arthur Ninian Dowding (appointed 27 September 1938)
• Vice-Admiral Randolph Stewart Gresham Nicholson (appointed 18 December 1945)
• Admiral Philip King Enright (appointed 6 February 1950)
• Vice-Admiral Leslie Newton Brownfield (appointed 31 March 1954)
• Vice-Admiral Lancelot Arthur Babington Peile (appointed November 1957)
• Vice-Admiral George David Archibald Gregory (appointed 29 September 1960)
• Rear-Admiral A J Cawthra (appointed 2 April 1964)
• Rear-Admiral Denis Bryan Harvey "Dick" Wildish (appointed 26 October 1966 until May 1970)

{{Div col end}}

On 30 December 1970, Vice-Admiral J R McKaig was appointed as Port Admiral, His Majesty's Naval Base, Devonport, and Flag Officer, Plymouth. On 5 September 1971, all Flag Officers of the Royal Navy holding positions of Admiral Superintendents at Royal Dockyards were restyled as Port Admirals.{{cite web|title=1971 – Admiral Superintendents become Port Admirals – Portsmouth Royal Dockyard Historical Trust|url=http://portsmouthdockyard.org.uk/timeline/details/1971-admiral-superintendents-become-port-admirals|website=portsmouthdockyard.org.uk|publisher=Portsmouth Historical Dockyard Trust|access-date=19 December 2017|language=en}}

Post holders included:{{cite web|last1=Mackie|first1=Colin|title=Royal Navy Senior Appointments from 1865: (Flag Officer, Plymouth from 1969 until 1996|url=http://www.gulabin.com/armynavy/pdf/Senior%20Royal%20Navy%20Appointments%201865-.pdf|website=gulabin.com|publisher=Colin Mackies. p.71. 2018|access-date=22 March 2018}}

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• Vice-Admiral Sir Rae McKaig (December 1970 – March 1973)
• Vice-Admiral Sir Arthur Power (March 1973 – February 1975)
• Vice-Admiral Sir Gordon Tait (February 1975 – January 1977)
• Vice-Admiral Sir John Forbes (January 1977 – January 1979)
• Vice-Admiral Sir Peter Berger (January 1979 – February 1981)
• Vice-Admiral Sir Simon Cassels (February 1981 – September 1982)
• Vice-Admiral Sir David Brown (September 1982 – 1985)
• Vice-Admiral Sir Robert Gerken (September 1985 – March 1987)
• Vice-Admiral Sir John Webster (March 1987 – April 1990)
• Vice-Admiral Sir Alan Grose (April 1990 – September 1992)
• Vice-Admiral Sir Roy Newman (September 1992 – 1996)

{{Div col end}}

Several establishments were set up in the vicinity of Devonport and Plymouth in direct relationship either to the Royal Dockyard or to Plymouth's use as a base for the Fleet, including:

• Royal Citadel, Plymouth (1665), built to defend the harbour and anchorage, currently the base of 29 Commando Regiment, Royal Artillery
• Dockyard defences, including Devonport Lines (1758) and the later Palmerston Forts, Plymouth
• Royal Naval Hospital, Stonehouse (1760, closed 1995)
• Stonehouse Barracks (1779), headquarters of UK Commando Force, Royal Marines
• Admiralty House, Mount Wise (1789), former headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth (together with the Second World War Combined Military Headquarters (later Plymouth Maritime Headquarters) it was decommissioned in 2004).{{Cite web|url=https://www.subbrit.org.uk/sites/mount-wise-plymouth-maratime-hq/|title=Mount Wise Plymouth Maritime HQ – Subterranea Britannica|website=www.subbrit.org.uk}}
• Plymouth Breakwater (1812)
• Royal William Victualling Yard (1835) built by the Victualling Commissioners in nearby Stonehouse for supplying the Royal Navy (closed 1992 and converted into housing)
• HMS Raleigh, RN basic training establishment, across the Hamoaze at Torpoint, Cornwall
• RM Turnchapel, a former Royal Marines military installation (decommissioned 2014)

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book |last1=Duffy |first1=Michael |editor1-last=MacDougall |editor1-first=Philip |title=British Dockyards in the First World War|date=2019 |publisher=The Naval Dockyards Society |location=Southwick, UK |isbn=978-1-9164797-1-5 |pages=123–139 |chapter=William James’s Record of the Work Done at Devonport Yard During the War by the Engineering Department |series=Transactions of the Naval Dockyards Society|volume=12: Conference held at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, March 2014}}

• {{Official website|https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/our-organisation/bases-and-stations/naval-base/devonport}}
• [http://devonportnhc.wordpress.com/ Devonport Naval Heritage Centre]
• [https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/qhm/plymouth Queen's Harbour Master Plymouth]

{{Royal Navy shore establishments}}

{{Navy Department (Ministry of Defence)}}

{{Admiralty Department|state=collapsed}}

{{Navy Board|state=collapsed}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Devonport}}

Category:Buildings and structures in Plymouth, Devon

Category:Royal Navy bases in England

Category:Royal Navy dockyards in England

Category:Tourist attractions in Plymouth, Devon

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Category:Trident (UK nuclear programme)

Category:Royal Navy submarine bases

Category:Industrial archaeological sites in Devon

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