HMS Royal Arthur (shore establishment)
File:ETS basic training photo April 1943 back row 6th from left20241001 20094654.jpg
{{other ships|HMS Royal Arthur}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2019}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=Recruits at HMS Royal Arthur.jpg |Ship caption=The Petty Officer in charge meets trainee Belgian sailors as they arrive at HMS Royal Arthur, Skegness, Lincolnshire. }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=United Kingdom |Ship flag=File:Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg |Ship name=HMS Royal Arthur |Ship operator= |Ship ordered= |Ship awarded= |Ship builder= |Ship yard number= |Ship laid down= |Ship launched= |Ship sponsor= |Ship christened= |Ship completed= |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned=*22 September 1939 (at Skegness)
|Ship decommissioned=*1946 (Skegness)
|Ship recommissioned= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship homeport= |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours= |Ship honors= |Ship fate=*Name transferred to Camp Kingsmoor in 1950
|Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class=Stone frigate |Ship notes= }} |
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' (for the duration of the war only) communications branch ratings and officers (signalmen, telegraphists, coders and wireless operators).
Skegness
Shortly after the start of the Second World War, the Admiralty requisitioned the Butlins holiday camp at Ingoldmells near Skegness to be the first Royal Arthur stone frigate (land based establishment). It was commissioned as a training establishment on 22 September 1939.
Over 4000 naval personnel were based at Royal Arthur at one time. In 1942 a lowflying German bomber wrecked dozens of the chalets and killed four men.
It served throughout the Second World War as the central reception depot for new naval recruits after HMS Raleigh was transferred to the British Army in February 1944. Royal Arthur continued in service until being paid off in 1946.
Corsham
The establishment was recommissioned on 2 January 1947 in Westwells Road, Corsham as a leadership training establishment, and one of several assessment camps where new recruits were assessed, kitted out and sent to their various depots.{{cite web | url = http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Ops-Events1946-50.htm | title = POST-WAR CHRONOLOGY OF ROYAL NAVY EVENTS, Part 1 – 1946–50 | access-date = 15 August 2008}}
The last recruits arrived on 31 October 1949 and on 15 March 1950 it ceased to be used for training National Service inductees and concentrated on leadership training of Petty Officers at the instigation of Lord Louis Mountbatten.{{cite web | url = http://www.u-35.com/mountbatten/index.html | title = Correspondences between Lord Mountbatten and Gerhard Stamer and Werner Lott, 1946–1978 | access-date = 15 August 2008}}
The name was then transferred to the recently paid off Camp Kingsmoor on 16 March 1950. The camp continued in service until the last trainees left on 11 December 1992 and personnel finally left on 5 March 1993.{{cite web |url=http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.com/pa/cm199091/cmhansrd/1991-07-17/Debate-1.html |title=House of Commons Hansard Debates for 17 Jul 1991 |publisher=HMSO |access-date=4 August 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120225164534/http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.com/pa/cm199091/cmhansrd/1991-07-17/Debate-1.html |archive-date=25 February 2012 }}
The site suffered heavy vandalism since its abandonment and in 2014 the site was demolished to build a retirement home complex, complete with a spa and restaurant.{{cite web |last1=Hicks |first1=Amber |title=Work begins on new retirement apartments in Corsham |url=https://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/11468362.work-begins-on-new-retirement-apartments-in-corsham/ |publisher=Gazette and Herald |access-date=19 May 2020 |date=14 September 2014 }}
Gallery
File:Royal Arthur Memorial.jpg|HMS Royal Arthur commemorative stone in Skegness
File:Butlins Skegness Memorial 1 (Nigel Coates).jpg|Butlins Skegness Memorial
File:HMS Royal Arthur Corsham Road View.jpg|HMS Royal Arthur Corsham site in 2011
References
=Footnotes=
{{Reflist}}
=Further reading=
- Warlow, Ben, Shore Establishments of the Royal Navy, Liskeard : Maritime, 2000. {{ISBN|978-0-907771-73-9}}
External links
- [https://wartimememoriesproject.com/ww2/ships/ship.php?pid=2550 The Wartime Memories Project – HMS Royal Arthur]
{{Royal Navy shore establishments}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Royal Arthur}}
Category:Royal Navy bases in England
Category:Royal Navy shore establishments
Category:Former training establishments of the Royal Navy