HMS Fisgard was a shore establishment of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 active at different periods and locations between 1848 and 1983. She was used to train artificers and engineers for the Navy.

The first Fisgard

HMS Fisgard

HMS Fisgard (1819)

HMS Fisgard was a 46-gun fifth rate Leda-class frigate of the Royal Navy. She spent sixty years in service on a variety of duties.-Construction and commissioning:...

 was a 46-gun fifth rate Leda class

Leda class frigate

The Leda-class frigates, were a successful class of forty-seven British Royal Navy 38-gun sailing frigates. The design of Leda was based on the Sané-designed Hébé, a French Hébé class frigate that the British 44-gun fifth rate HMS Rainbow captured in 1782...

 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"...

. She had been a depot ship and harbour 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...

 for Woolwich

Woolwich

Woolwich is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.Woolwich formed part of Kent until 1889 when the County of London was created...

 since 1848, and was used to train engineers and support those working onshore. The facility closed in 1872 and Fisgard herself was broken up in 1879.

Fisgard revived

The idea for a specialised department to train engineers for an increasingly mechanised and professionalised navy came from the First Sea Lord

First Sea Lord

The First Sea Lord is the professional head of the Royal Navy and the whole Naval Service; it was formerly known as First Naval Lord. He also holds the title of Chief of Naval Staff, and is known by the abbreviations 1SL/CNS...

 Admiral Sir John Fisher. By early 1903 he had become concerned that the Imperial German Navy represented a threat to the interests of the Royal Navy, which might be in danger of being overtaken in seagoing technical expertise. He initiated a programme whereby engineers and artificers could be trained for service in the navy, and within two years the navy had established training centres in the major naval bases of Chatham

Chatham Dockyard

Chatham Dockyard, located on the River Medway and of which two-thirds is in Gillingham and one third in Chatham, Kent, England, came into existence at the time when, following the Reformation, relations with the Catholic countries of Europe had worsened, leading to a requirement for additional...

, Plymouth Dockyard

HMNB Devonport

Her Majesty's Naval Base Devonport , is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy . HMNB Devonport is located in Devonport, in the west of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England...

 and Portsmouth

HMNB Portsmouth

Her Majesty's Naval Base Portsmouth is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the British Royal Navy...

. The Portsmouth base was established in a number of Victorian hulks, initially the old battleship

Battleship

A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...

 HMS Audacious

HMS Audacious (1869)

HMS Audacious was the lead ship of the s built for the Royal Navy in the late 1860s. They were designed as second-class ironclads suitable for use on foreign stations and the ship spent the bulk of her career on the China Station. She was decommissioned in 1894 and hulked in 1902 for use as a...

. This centre was named HMS Fisgard in 1904, in recognition of the previous engineer training establishment at Woolwich. Audacious was joined by HMS Invincible

HMS Invincible (1869)

HMS Invincible was an Audacious-class ironclad battleship of the Royal Navy. She was built at the Napier shipyard and completed in 1870. Completed just 10 years after , she still carried sails as well as a steam engine.-Armament:...

, named HMS Fisgard II in 1906, HMS Hindustan

HMS Hindustan (1841)

HMS Hindustan was an 80-gun two-deck second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 2 August 1841. Her design was based on an enlarged version of the lines of .She was used as a training ship from 1868, and was sold out of the navy in 1921....

, named HMS Fisgard III in 1905 and HMS Sultan

HMS Sultan (1870)

HMS Sultan was a broadside ironclad of the Royal Navy of the Victorian era, who carried her main armament in a central box battery. She was named for Sultan Abdülâziz of the Ottoman Empire, who was visiting England when she was laid down. Abdülâziz cultivated, good relations with the Second French...

, named HMS Fisgard IV in 1906. The hulks were commissioned on 1 January 1906 under the joint name of HMS Fisgard.

Audacious left the establishment in 1914 to serve as a repair workshop at Scapa Flow

Scapa Flow

right|thumb|Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern endScapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy. It is about...

, having been named Imperieuse. Invincible also left in 1914 for the same purpose but sank en route whilst under tow. Audacious was replaced as Fisgard by HMS Spartiate

HMS Spartiate (1898)

HMS Spartiate was a ship of the Diadem-class of protected cruiser in the Royal Navy. She was built at Pembroke Dock and launched on October 27, 1898. She was a stokers' training ship in 1914 and was renamed Fisgard in June 1915. She survived the War and was sold in July 1932. She returned to...

 which took the name on 17 July 1915. Invincible was replaced as Fisgard II by HMS Hercules

HMS Hercules (1868)

HMS Hercules was a central-battery ironclad of the Royal Navy in the Victorian era, and was the first warship to mount a main armament of calibre guns....

 which also took the name on 17 July 1915. They were joined in 1919 by HMS Terrible

HMS Terrible (1895)

HMS Terrible was a ship of the Powerful-class of protected cruiser in the Royal Navy.-Terrible 1898 Trials:* 60 hours at 1/5 power 5084 ihp = * 68 hours at 2/5 power = * 60 hours at 3/5 power = * 60 hours at 3/4 power =...

, and when Hindostan left in 1920 Terrible became Fisgard III in her place.

Move to Chatham and the Second World War

The experiment proved a success and by the early 1920s the training of Artificer Apprentices had been expanded with an electrical and ordnance branch. The entire operation was concentrated in Fisgard at Portsmouth, before being moved to Chatham in 1930. The decision was made to move ashore and by July 1932 all of the hulks had been sold off with the exception of Fisgard IV, the old HMS Sultan. She was renamed HMS Sultan and retained as a depot ship. The establishment remained ashore at Chatham until 1939, when the pressures of the Second World War brought more apprentices into the service. At the same time the risk of German bombs led to the decision to disperse the base's resources. Two new training establishments were established, one at Rosyth

Rosyth

Rosyth is a town located on the Firth of Forth, three miles south of the centre of Dunfermline. According to an estimate taken in 2008, the town has a population of 12,790....

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 and another at Torpoint

Torpoint

Torpoint is a civil parish and town on the Rame Peninsula in southeast Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated opposite the city of Plymouth across the Hamoaze which is the tidal estuary of the River Tamar....

, Cornwall

Cornwall

Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

 in October 1940. The Scottish branch was named HMS Caledonia

HMS Caledonia

Five ships and three shore establishments of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Caledonia after the Latin name for Scotland:Ships was a 3-gun brig launched in 1807. She was captured by the Americans in 1812, and burnt several days later. was a 120-gun first rate ship of the line launched in 1808...

 and the Cornish one was named RNATE (Royal Navy Artificer Training Establishment) Torpoint. RNATE Torpoint was commissioned as HMS Fisgard in December 1946. HMS Sultan remained as the depot ship until being sold on 13 August 1946.

Postwar

After the end of the war and by the late 1940s the artificer training was concentrated back into Fisgard, taking on the shipwright and Fleet Air Arm

Fleet Air Arm

The Fleet Air Arm is the branch of the British Royal Navy responsible for the operation of naval aircraft. The Fleet Air Arm currently operates the AgustaWestland Merlin, Westland Sea King and Westland Lynx helicopters...

 apprentices of all specialisations. It was commissioned as an independent command on 1 December 1946. During the 1980s, further training was carried out by the apprentices at either HMS Caledonia (Rosyth) (then later at HMS Sultan, Gosport) for Marine Engineering specialisation, HMS Collingwood

HMS Collingwood (establishment)

For ships of the same name see HMS Collingwood.HMS Collingwood is a stone frigate of the Royal Navy. It is the lead establishment of the Maritime Warfare School and the largest naval training organisation in Western Europe...

 (Fareham) for Weapons Electrical specialisation or HMS Daedalus (Lee on Solent) for Air Electrical Engineering specialisation. The base continued in service until 21 December 1983, when it was absorbed into HMS Raleigh

HMS Raleigh (shore establishment)

HMS Raleigh is the modern-day basic training facility of the Royal Navy at Torpoint, Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is spread over several square miles, and has damage control simulators and fire-fighting training facilities...

, which retained a Fisgard squadron to train artificers and engineers until the decision was taken to end the separate role of artificers. The Artificer Apprentices museum is also situated here.