HMS Tamar (shore station)

HMS Tamar
	Stonecutter's Island, Hong Kong
	Gate emblem
Type	Naval base
Site information
Controlled by	RN
Site history
Built	1897–1997
In use	1897–1997
Battles/wars	Battle of Hong Kong 1941
Garrison information
Past; commanders	Commodore-in-Charge, Hong Kong
Garrison	British Forces Overseas Hong Kong (naval)

HMS Tamar (Chinese: 添馬艦) was the name for the British Royal Navy's base in Hong Kong from 1897 to 1997. It took its name from HMS Tamar, a ship that was used as the base until replaced by buildings ashore.

History

19th century

The British Navy arrived during the First Opium War to protect the opium traders. Sir Edward Belcher, aboard HMS Sulphur landed in Hong Kong on 25 January 1841.[1] Possession Street still exists to mark the event,[1] although its Chinese name is 水坑口街 ("Mouth of the ditch Street").

Naval Dockyard buildings (centre), Queen's Road, 1894

Commodore Sir Gordon Bremer raised the Union Jack and claimed Hong Kong as a colony on 26 January 1841.[1] Naval store sheds were erected there in April 1841.[2] The site had been referred to as the "HM Victualling Yard" in the Navy's own register.[3] The first naval storekeeper and agent victualler, Thomas McKnight, appointed on 21 March 1842, served until October 1849. Early maps show that major construction was also carried out at another, slightly more westward site, between 1845 and 1855.[2] In fact, the naval authorities demolished the West Point store sheds and surrendered the land to the colonial government in 1854 in exchange for a plot of land where the Admiralty station of the Mass Transit Railway stands.[4]

The Second Opium War in China (1856–1860) caused a military build-up, in which the yard expanded westwards in April 1858. A victualling yard was added at what was then the North Barracks. Two officers were initially appointed as responsible for the machinery and spare parts, respectively, needed to maintain and repair ships in the dockyard, and for dry goods and foodstuff in the victualling yard.[4]

HMS Tamar, was a 3,650 ton British troopship laid down in 1862[5] and launched in 1863. She first visited Hong Kong in 1878 with reliefs crews, returned once in 1886.[4] She finally arrived in Victoria City on 11 April 1897.[1] She was stationed permanently in the harbour from 1897 to 1941, when she was scuttled during the Battle of Hong Kong during World War II, to avoid being used by the invading Japanese Imperial forces.

20th century

HMS Tamar (white vessel) anchored off the Naval Dockyard (1905)

The Prince of Wales Building, the main headquarters building of HMS Tamar from 1978 to 1997

At the turn of the 20th century, land adjacent to the site was needed for expansion. Unable to obtain it, as the site was surrounded by army barracks, the Navy began work on the construction of a floating basin (sheltered bay) and the reclamation of the east arm of the dockyard, in 1902. This project, involving 160,000 square metres of land reclamation, a 36,000 square metre floating basin to repair and refit vessels afloat, and also a 183-metre graving dock,[4] was completed by 1908.[3]

At the end of World War II, the Royal Navy re-established their naval base at Wellington Barracks, vacated by the British Army.[6]

On 28 November 1957, the Navy announced that the dockyard would be closed down over a 2-year period. However, in 1959, the Navy, which had retained some land on the waterfront, began planning a compact naval base on the site.[3]

From 1959 to 1962, the Wellington Barracks were upgraded to better serve the colony and reflect the changing times for the Royal Navy in the Pacific region. Old naval buildings were demolished, and the rubble used as landfill for the reclamation of the dry dock in October 1959.[3]

The Royal Navy decided to demolish the Wellington Barracks and build a modern naval facility in Hong Kong. The Prince of Wales Building was completed in 1978 and became the headquarters of the new naval base, HMS Tamar.

Shortly before the departure of British forces in 1997, the Tamar basin was reclaimed, and the People's Liberation Army of the People's Republic of China occupied the Prince of Wales Building (now Chinese People's Liberation Army Forces Hong Kong Building, or collectively with other buildings and the area enclosed by walls, the Central Barracks).

HM Naval Base was relocated to the northern side of Stonecutter's Island, off Kowloon, prior to the handover in 1997. On 11 April 1997, just under over hundred years of HMS Tamar's definitive arrival for service as a base depot ship (the Tamar had arrived in Hong Kong for conversion on 30 September 1895) and just under a century after her commissioning on 1 October 1897, the British naval shore establishment in Hong Kong was de-commissioned.

The last HMS Tamar on Stonecutters Island is now a government marine facility, now known as the Government Dockyard. The vacated site in Central, Hong Kong Central, now known as the Tamar site, became a valuable piece of real estate and after much debate as to how to best use the site has now become the location of the new Hong Kong Government's Central Government Complex.

Administration

Commodore-in-Charge, Hong Kong

Post holders included:[7]

Commodore Oliver J. Jones: March 1866-December 1869
Commodore John A.P. Price: December 1869-September 1870
Commodore Francis H. Shortt: September 1870-August 1873
Commodore John E. Parish: August 1873-March 1876
Commodore George W. Watson: March 1876-March 1879
Commodore Thomas E. Smith: March 1879-May 1881
Commodore William H. Cuming: May 1881-February 1884
Commodore George Digby Morant: February 1884-February 1887
Commodore William H. Maxwell: February 1887-December 1888
Commodore Edmund J. Church: December 1888-December 1891
Commodore Henry St.L. Bury Palliser: December 1891-June 1893
Commodore George T.H. Boyes: June 1893-July 1896
Commodore Swinton C. Holland: July 1896-March 1899
Commodore Francis Powell: March 1899-March 1902
Commodore Charles G. Robinson: March 1902-February 1904
Commodore Charles Gauntlett Dicken: February 1904-September 1905
Commodore Hugh P. Williams: September 1905-April 1907
Commodore Robert H.S. Stokes: April 1907-October 1908
Commodore Herbert Lyon: October 1908-July 1910
Commodore Cresswell J. Eyres: July 1910-July 1912
Rear-Admiral Robert H. Anstruther: July 1912-May 1916 (as Rear-Admiral-in-Charge, Hong Kong)
Commodore Henry G.G. Sandeman: May 1916-May 1918
Commodore Victor G. Gurner: May 1918-June 1920
Commodore William Bowden-Smith: June 1920-June 1922
Commodore Henry E. Grace: June 1922-October 1924
Commodore Anselan J.B.Stirling: October 1924-November 1926
Commodore John L. Pearson: November 1926-October 1928
Commodore Richard A. S. Hill: October 1928-November 1930
Commodore Arthur H. Walker: November 1930-August 1932
Commodore Edward McC. W. Lawrie: August 1932-June 1933
Commodore Frank Elliott: July 1933-April 1935
Commodore Cyril G.Sedgwick: April 1935-April 1937
Commodore Edward B.C.Dicken: April 1937-April 1939
Commodore Arthur M. Peters: April 1939-November 1940 (as Commodore-in-Charge, Naval Establishments, Hong Kong)
Commodore Alfred C. Collinson: November 1940-December 1941
Commodore Douglas H. Everett: August 1945-June 1947
Commodore Charles L. Robertson: June 1947-June 1949
Commodore Leslie N. Brownfield: June 1949-July 1951
Commodore Harold G. Dickinson: July 1951-July 1953
Commodore Anthony H. Thorold: July 1953-June 1955
Commodore John H. Unwin: June 1955-March 1957
Commodore G. David A. Gregory: March 1957-April 1960
Commodore Adrian R.L. Butler: April 1960-October 1962
Commodore George O.Symonds: November 1962-February 1965
Commodore Frank D. Holford: February 1965-January 1967
Commodore Thomas H.P. Wilson: January 1967-October 1968
Commodore Philip R.C. Higham: October 1968-July 1970
Commodore Roger E.S. Wykes-Sneyd: July 1970-August 1972
Commodore John K. Stevens: August 1972-August 1973
Commodore John A.G. Evans: August 1973-October 1975

Captain-in-Charge, Hong Kong

Post holders included:[8]

Captain Richard L. Garnons-Williams: October 1975-March 1978
Captain Robert W. Moland: March 1978-June 1980
Captain Andrew A. Waugh: June 1980-June 1982
Captain Frederick A. Collins: June 1982-March 1985
Captain Christopher W. Gotto: March 1985-July 1987
Captain Peter Dalrymple-Smith: July 1987-January 1990
Captain Michael C. Gordon Lennox: January 1990 – 1992
Captain Thomas L.M. Sunter: 1992-1994
Captain Peter J. Melson: 1994-1995
Captain Andrew K. Steele: 1995-1996

Squadrons in Hong Kong

The following is a list of naval squadrons and fleets that called Tamar home:

China Squadron 1844–1941, 1945–1992
Far East Fleet/HK Sqdn 1969–1971
Dragon Squadron 1971–1992
3 Raiding Royal Marines
Hong Kong Royal Naval Volunteer Reserves 1967–1996; merged with Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) 1971
LEP 1905–1996
Dragon Squadron
120th Minesweeping Squadron 1958–1966; transferred to Singapore
6th Mine Countermeasure Squadron 1969–1997
6th Patrol Craft Squadron 1970–1997
Operations and Training Base 1934–1997
3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines
47 Royal Marines
British Pacific Fleet 1840s–1948; to Singapore as Far East Station
HK Flotilla 1840s–1941, 1948–1992
China Station — 4th Submarine Flotilla, Yangtse Flotilla, West River Flotilla, 8th Destroyer Flotilla
5th Cruiser Squadron
1st Escort Flotilla
4th Frigate Flotilla ?–1952
Frigate Squadron 1952–1976
Light Cruiser Squadron
415 Maritime Troop
Naval Party 1009 (Hovercraft Unit)

Naval facilities

A list of facilities used or built by the Royal Navy in Hong Kong:

Prince of Wales Building 1978–1997; now Central Barracks of the PLA
Lamont and Hope Drydocks
Aberdeen Docks — destroyed
Dry Dock 1902–1959
Taikoo Dockyard — Hong Kong United Dockyards
Royal Navy Dockyards 1902–1959
Sai Wan Barracks 1844–1846
Wellington Barracks 1946–1978, as HMS Tamar (demolished)
North Barracks 1850s–1856, 1887–1959; from the Army and to HK Government 1959
Victoria Barracks
Redoubt and Lei Yue Mun Fortifications 1885–1887
Lei Yue Mun Fort 1887–1987
Reverse, Central, West and Pass Batteries 1880s
Brennan Torpedo station 1890 — Lei Yue Mun
Royal Naval Hospital, Wan Chai; now Ruttonjee Sanatorium
Seaman's Hospital 1843–1873; replaced by Royal Naval Hospital
RMS Queen Mary 1945–1946, as a hospital
War Memorial Hospital (Matilda) 1946–1959
British Military Hospital 1959–1995
Island Group Practice 1995–1997, replaced British Military Hospital
HMS Charlotte and HMS Victor Emmanuel — Receiving Ships
Tidal Basin 1902–1959
Boat Basin 1902–1959
HM Victualling Yards 1859–1946