RN Barracks - HMS Drake (Devonport)

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jbryce1437
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RN Barracks - HMS Drake (Devonport)

Unread post by jbryce1437 »

HMS Drake is the Royal Naval Barracks at Keyham, Devonport. It was previously named after the Commander in Chief's yacht HMS Vivid and the name was changed in 1934.
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 accommodation for 2,500; sailors and officers moved in in June of that year. In 1894 a contingent of sixty Royal Navy homing pigeons was accommodated on the site.
The barracks was first used from 1889, when 500 men transferred ashore from HMS Royal Adelaide and the name Vivid was used from 1890.
More recently the barracks and dockyard have come under the collective name of Her Majesty's Naval Base Devonport and the barracks buildings termed the Fleet Accommodation Centre.
You can find out more about the HMNB Devonport here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMNB_Devonport

An old aerial view of the barracks
Drake[1].jpg
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HMS Raleigh 1963 , HMS Collingwood 1963 & 67 , HMS Ark Royal 1964-7, HMS Undaunted 1968-71, HMS Victory (Fleet Maintenance Group) 1971-72, HMS Exmouth 1972-74
JEM, EM, OEM, LOEM, POOEL
Then 28 years in the Fire Brigade
Retired since 2002
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oldsalt
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Re: RN Barracks - HMS Drake (Devonport)

Unread post by oldsalt »

I am still hoping there is a photo out there that shows the inside of one of the mess decks in 1950. The mess tables shown in earlier photos. had gone, we had dining halls. The mess decks were just empty spaces, a balcony at one end for stowing kit bags, we slept in hammocks.
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Re: RN Barracks - HMS Drake (Devonport)

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This is how I remember the big messes in Drake, although we had metal kit lockers - two high, probably slept about 200 on each floor. Fortunately, I only spent a short time in one and then moved into one of the huts next to the Field Gun Training area, middle left in second photo (the hut behind the church in the third image.
Drake%2C%20Old%20Block%20mess%20before%20start%20of%20major%20upgrade%20in%201971.[1].jpg
Devonport Guzz%203[2].jpg
Drake[1].jpg
drake barracks postcard.jpg
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HMS Raleigh 1963 , HMS Collingwood 1963 & 67 , HMS Ark Royal 1964-7, HMS Undaunted 1968-71, HMS Victory (Fleet Maintenance Group) 1971-72, HMS Exmouth 1972-74
JEM, EM, OEM, LOEM, POOEL
Then 28 years in the Fire Brigade
Retired since 2002
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Little h
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Re: RN Barracks - HMS Drake (Devonport)

Unread post by Little h »

jbryce1437 wrote: Sun Sep 02, 2018 5:10 pm This is how I remember the big messes in Drake, although we had metal kit lockers - two high, probably slept about 200 on each floor. Fortunately, I only spent a short time in one and then moved into one of the huts next to the Field Gun Training area, middle left in second photo (the hut behind the church in the third image.
Ah Yes, I remember it(them) well!!

1st; Jago's during refit on Camperdown D32

2nd; Huts next to Field Gun Training Area whilst the dockies conducted what was described as a 'Clean Refit Trial' on Falmouth F113 - and yes; the trial worked... they conducted the days work at the end of which the compartment(s) worked on/in were vacuumed and/or swept clean.

Jim, a couple of questions arising from your 1st attachment:-
a) Had the level you were on been subdivided (athawrtships)? and b) and also gained some heating equipment?
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jbryce1437
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Re: RN Barracks - HMS Drake (Devonport)

Unread post by jbryce1437 »

Little h wrote: Sun Sep 02, 2018 6:03 pm
jbryce1437 wrote: Sun Sep 02, 2018 5:10 pm This is how I remember the big messes in Drake, although we had metal kit lockers - two high, probably slept about 200 on each floor. Fortunately, I only spent a short time in one and then moved into one of the huts next to the Field Gun Training area, middle left in second photo (the hut behind the church in the third image.
Ah Yes, I remember it(them) well!!

1st; Jago's during refit on Camperdown D32

2nd; Huts next to Field Gun Training Area whilst the dockies conducted what was described as a 'Clean Refit Trial' on Falmouth F113 - and yes; the trial worked... they conducted the days work at the end of which the compartment(s) worked on/in were vacuumed and/or swept clean.

Jim, a couple of questions arising from your 1st attachment:-
a) Had the level you were on been subdivided (athawrtships)? and b) and also gained some heating equipment?
I think the mess photo was taken in the 1970s and possibly just before the messes were made into cabin type accommodation.
I was in those messes in 1964 and I think the only heating was pot belly stoves scattered here and there. The mess cooks had to refill the coke buckets and keep the fires going.

Jim
HMS Raleigh 1963 , HMS Collingwood 1963 & 67 , HMS Ark Royal 1964-7, HMS Undaunted 1968-71, HMS Victory (Fleet Maintenance Group) 1971-72, HMS Exmouth 1972-74
JEM, EM, OEM, LOEM, POOEL
Then 28 years in the Fire Brigade
Retired since 2002
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Re: RN Barracks - HMS Drake (Devonport)

Unread post by Little h »

jbryce1437 wrote: Sun Sep 02, 2018 5:10 pm This is how I remember the big messes in Drake, although we had metal kit lockers - two high, probably slept about 200 on each floor. Fortunately, I only spent a short time in one and then moved into one of the huts next to the Field Gun Training area, middle left in second photo (the hut behind the church in the third image.
Little h wrote: Sun Sep 02, 2018 6:03 pm
Ah Yes, I remember it(them) well!!
1st; Jago's during refit on Camperdown D32
2nd; Huts next to Field Gun Training Area whilst the dockies conducted what was described as a 'Clean Refit Trial' on Falmouth F113 - and yes; the trial worked... they conducted the days work at the end of which the compartment(s) worked on/in were vacuumed and/or swept clean.

Jim, a couple of questions arising from your 1st attachment:-
a) Had the level you were on been subdivided (athawrtships)? and b) and also gained some heating equipment?
jbryce1437 wrote: Sun Sep 02, 2018 7:19 pm
I think the mess photo was taken in the 1970s and possibly just before the messes were made into cabin type accommodation.
I was in those messes in 1964 and I think the only heating was pot belly stoves scattered here and there. The mess cooks had to refill the coke buckets and keep the fires going.

Jim
Thanks for your reply Jim.
Both my sojourns to the Barracks were in the period 1960 to 1963.

My recollection of Jago's floor levels were of 'enormous' open spaces, uninterrupted by any partitioning save the double stacked kit lockers. I also have some inkling that more than one ship's company (of destroyer/frigate size) could be accommodated on any/each floor level .... might that just be me overemphasizing some mythical impression developed over time :oops:
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Re: RN Barracks - HMS Drake (Devonport)

Unread post by jbryce1437 »

Little h wrote: Sun Sep 02, 2018 8:21 pm
jbryce1437 wrote: Sun Sep 02, 2018 5:10 pm This is how I remember the big messes in Drake, although we had metal kit lockers - two high, probably slept about 200 on each floor. Fortunately, I only spent a short time in one and then moved into one of the huts next to the Field Gun Training area, middle left in second photo (the hut behind the church in the third image.
Little h wrote: Sun Sep 02, 2018 6:03 pm
Ah Yes, I remember it(them) well!!
1st; Jago's during refit on Camperdown D32
2nd; Huts next to Field Gun Training Area whilst the dockies conducted what was described as a 'Clean Refit Trial' on Falmouth F113 - and yes; the trial worked... they conducted the days work at the end of which the compartment(s) worked on/in were vacuumed and/or swept clean.

Jim, a couple of questions arising from your 1st attachment:-
a) Had the level you were on been subdivided (athawrtships)? and b) and also gained some heating equipment?
jbryce1437 wrote: Sun Sep 02, 2018 7:19 pm
I think the mess photo was taken in the 1970s and possibly just before the messes were made into cabin type accommodation.
I was in those messes in 1964 and I think the only heating was pot belly stoves scattered here and there. The mess cooks had to refill the coke buckets and keep the fires going.

Jim
Thanks for your reply Jim.
Both my sojourns to the Barracks were in the period 1960 to 1963.

My recollection of Jago's floor levels were of 'enormous' open spaces, uninterrupted by any partitioning save the double stacked kit lockers. I also have some inkling that more than one ship's company (of destroyer/frigate size) could be accommodated on any/each floor level .... might that just be me overemphasizing some mythical impression developed over time :oops:
Yes Harry, the messes were enormous and the number of people queueing in the bathroom to get washed each morning was testament to that. I was on the Ark at that time and we had a whole block, which was probably three floors, also, people in the huts over by the football fields and also in the huts next to the Field Gun track. On top of that, HMS Blake was our accommodation ship, so we were spread around everywhere, not counting the RA's either.

Jim
HMS Raleigh 1963 , HMS Collingwood 1963 & 67 , HMS Ark Royal 1964-7, HMS Undaunted 1968-71, HMS Victory (Fleet Maintenance Group) 1971-72, HMS Exmouth 1972-74
JEM, EM, OEM, LOEM, POOEL
Then 28 years in the Fire Brigade
Retired since 2002
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Little h
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Re: RN Barracks - HMS Drake (Devonport)

Unread post by Little h »

FOST HM, HMS Drake
A University of Plymouth academic partner

About us


​Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST) Hydrographic, Meteorological and Oceanographic (HM) school is located within HMS Drake, part of Her Majesty's Naval Base in Devonport, Plymouth. FOST HM trains specialist Officers and Ratings of the Royal Navy's Warfare Branch in hydrography, meteorology and oceanography to provide a thorough understanding of the complex physical environment in which the ships, aircraft, submarines and people of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines operate.

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Also the following from a link carried in the above:-


Academic Partnerships - FOST HM, HMS Drake

FOST HM trains specialist Officers and Ratings of the Royal Navy's Warfare Branch in hydrography, meteorology and oceanography to provide a thorough understanding of the complex physical environment in which the ships, aircraft, submarines and people of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines operate.

The school delivers internationally renowned training for Royal Navy personnel, as well as students sponsored by foreign governments.

Courses inevitably contain a good measure of theory and science but focus upon practical skills and experience, that prepare personnel for duties in sea-going and shore based jobs. You’ll gain the necessary skills to observe, record, analyse and forecast conditions from the seabed to the outer limits of the atmosphere

You'll use the latest equipment and techniques throughout each course to ensure that you are fully prepared to work in all manner of roles, in platforms that vary from the smallest to the largest in the Fleet. The advent of multi-beam echo sounders, digital side-scan sonar, underwater unmanned vehicles, 'on-screen' meteorological analysis and satellite remote sensing are a few examples of technological developments that continue to revolutionise the HM business.

Our courses are nationally and internationally accredited with certification provided by the International Hydrographic Organisation (IHO), the World Meteorological Organisation, the National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) Council (soon to be replaced with the Qualifications and Credit Framework) and the Institute of Marine Engineers, Scientists and Technicians (IMarEST).

Source; University of Plymouth
Little h
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Little h
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Re: RN Barracks - HMS Drake (Devonport)

Unread post by Little h »

Hydrographic, Meteorological and Oceanographic (HM)

No sooner introduced the topic into the thread than up pops the following tweet from Tweeto on PoW R09:-


HMS Prince of Wales on Twitter
‏Verified account @HMSPWLS

Our onboard meteorological team are pretty good... they can even predict rainbows #PWLSatSea
EGcM2SYX0AUZ7lO.jpg


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oldsalt
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Re: RN Barracks - HMS Drake (Devonport)

Unread post by oldsalt »

When I first entered Drake, 1950, there was a NAAFI canteen. It was constructed siting on brick pillars. The entrance was at one end. At the stand easy rush the building used to tilt towards the entrance, levelling off as the building filled up.
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