HMS Eaglet is a training centre for the Royal Naval Reserve

Royal Naval Reserve

The Royal Naval Reserve is the volunteer reserve force of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. The present Royal Naval Reserve was formed in 1958 by merging the original Royal Naval Reserve and the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve , a reserve of civilian volunteers founded in 1903...

. It serves Merseyside

Merseyside

Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...

, North West England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 and North Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

, HMS Eaglet trains over 300 reservists each year and shares a new building with RMR Merseyside in Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

.

History

The Mersey Division of the RNVR was established in Customs House, Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

 in 1904, before moving to HMS Eagle

HMS Eagle (1804)

HMS Eagle was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 27 February 1804 at Northfleet.In 1830 she was reduced to a 50-gun ship, and became a training ship in 1860. She was renamed HMS Eaglet in 1919, when she was the Royal Naval Reserve training centre for North West...

, a 50 gun frigate

Frigate

A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...

 at Brunswick Dock

Brunswick Dock

Brunswick Dock is a dock, on the River Mersey and part of the Port of Liverpool. It is situated in the southern dock system, connected to Coburg Dock to the north, Toxteth Dock to the south. The dock was opened in 1832, designed by Jesse Hartley, specifically as a timber dock...

, in 1911. Mersey Division was mobilised in 1914 to form part of the Royal Naval Division, serving at Gallipoli

Battle of Gallipoli

The Gallipoli Campaign, also known as the Dardanelles Campaign or the Battle of Gallipoli, took place at the peninsula of Gallipoli in the Ottoman Empire between 25 April 1915 and 9 January 1916, during the First World War...

, the battles of Battle of Vimy Ridge

Battle of Vimy Ridge

The Battle of Vimy Ridge was a military engagement fought primarily as part of the Battle of Arras, in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France, during the First World War. The main combatants were the Canadian Corps, of four divisions, against three divisions of the German Sixth Army...

, Passchendaele and Cambrai. To avoid confusion with a newer HMS Eagle

HMS Eagle (1918)

HMS Eagle was an early aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy. Ordered by Chile as the Almirante Cochrane, she was laid down before World War I. In early 1918 she was purchased by Britain for conversion to an aircraft carrier; this work was finished in 1924...

, the frigate was renamed HMS Eaglet in 1919. The ship was destroyed in a fire in 1926, and replaced by the First World War 24 class

24 class sloop

The 24 class was a class of minesweeping sloops. Derived from the preceding , but designed to appear double-ended. Twenty-four ships to this design were ordered between December 1916 and April 1917 under the Emergency War Programme for the Royal Navy in World War I, although two of them were...

 sloop

Sloop

A sloop is a sail boat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter....

 HMS Sir Bevis, which was renamed Eaglet. The new Eaglet was berthed at Salthouse Dock

Salthouse Dock

Salthouse Dock is a dock on the River Mersey, England and part of the Port of Liverpool. It is situated in the southern dock system, connected to Canning Dock to the north, Wapping Dock to the south and Albert Dock to the west....

. During the Second World War, Eaglet became the flagship

Flagship

A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...

 of Commander-in-Chief

Commander-in-Chief

A commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...

 Western Approaches

Western Approaches Command

Commander-in-Chief, Western Approaches was the commander of a major operational command of the Royal Navy during World War II. The admiral commanding, and his forces, sometimes informally known as 'Western Approaches Command,' were responsible for the safety of British shipping in the Western...

. In 1971, the sloop was scrapped and HMS Eaglet moved ashore to a new HQ at Princes Dock

Princes Dock

Princes Dock is a dock on the River Mersey, England and part of the Port of Liverpool. It is the most southerly of the docks situated in the northern part of the Liverpool dock system, connected to Princes Half Tide Dock to the north...

. In 1993, Eaglet received freedom of the city of Liverpool.

Tenders

• The River class
  River class minesweeper
  The River class was a class of minesweeper built for the British Royal Navy in the 1980s, designated Fleet Minesweepers .-Design:The Rivers were built with a traditional steel hull to a design based on a commercial offshore support vessel...
  
   minesweeper
  Minesweeper (ship)
  A minesweeper is a small naval warship designed to counter the threat posed by naval mines. Minesweepers generally detect then neutralize mines in advance of other naval operations.-History:...
  
  s HMS Humber and HMS Ribble until 1995.
• The Archer class
  Archer class patrol vessel
  The Archer class is a class of patrol and training vessels in service with the British Royal Navy, commonly referred to as a Fast Training Boat.-History & operations:...
  
   patrol vessel HMS Biter
  HMS Biter (P270)
  HMS Biter is an Archer-class P2000-type patrol and training vessel of the British Royal Navy. She is assigned to Manchester & Salford Universities Royal Naval Unit, a Royal Naval Reserve unit based in Manchester. The ship is based at HMS Eaglet, the Royal Naval Headquarters in Liverpool...
  
   at Manchester URNU and HMS Charger
  HMS Charger (P292)
  HMS Charger is an Archer-class Fast Patrol Vessel completed by Vosper Thornycroft. She is just over 20 metres long and 5.8 metres wide and powered by two Rolls-Royce turbo engines...
  
  at Liverpool URNU, the current tender.

External links

• HMS Eaglet on the Royal Navy website