His Majesty's Naval Base, Singapore, also Her Majesty's Naval Base, Singapore (HMNB Singapore), alternatively known as the Singapore Naval Base, Sembawang Naval Base and HMS Sembawang, was situated in Sembawang at the northern tip of Singapore and was both a Royal Navyshore establishment and a cornerstone of British defence policy (the Singapore strategy) in the Far East between the World Wars. From 1921 to 1941 it was a China Station base, from 1941 to 1945 a repair facility for the Imperial Japanese Navy and from 1945 to 1958 a Far East Fleet base. Today, it is a commercial dockyard but British military activity still exists at the British Defence Singapore Support Unit (BDSSU).[1]
Through the 19th century, the British Government relied on four Imperial fortress colonies as primary bases for the Royal Navy and British Army for control of the World's oceans. These were Bermuda and Halifax, Nova Scotia (military control of the latter was handed to the Canadian militia following Canadian Confederation in 1867, and naval control to the Royal Canadian Navy after 1905, along with Esquimalt Royal Naval Dockyard, which had been the main base of the Pacific Station) in the North Atlantic, and Gibraltar and Malta. As it was presumed that the only navies that could challenge the Royal Navy were those of European powers, no base equivalent to an Imperial fortress had been constructed outside of the Atlantic and its connected seas. This was despite the growing threats of the Pacific fleets of the Russian Empire and the United States during the 19th Century.[2][3] After the Great War, the British Government devoted significant resources into building a naval base on Singapore Island, where the capital of the Straits Settlements was located, as a deterrent to the increasingly ambitious Japanese Empire with its growing fleet. Britain lacked a naval 'Imperial fortress' in the broad region of Asia, the Indian Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean. Instead, the British Empire relied on the squadron of the Bermuda based America and West Indies Station, utilising the Panama Canal after its 1914 completion, to patrol the western Atlantic and the eastern Pacific, while vessels based in Malta in the Mediterranean Sea could project naval and military force to the Indian and western Pacific oceans via the Suez Canal, which had been completed in 1869. In light of the rising threat of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), this was no longer adequate.[4]
Singapore Naval Base, view of the Navy Office, which was the Headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief China Station and the Rear Admiral Malaya.
Originally announced in 1923, the construction of the base proceeded slowly at Sembawang until the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931. It was completed in 1938, at a staggering cost of £60 million[5] – equivalent to £2½ billion in 2006. The base covered 21 square miles (54km2) and had what was then the largest dry dock in the world, the third-largest floating dock, and enough fuel tanks to support the entire Royal Navy for six months.
The base was renamed from HMS Terror to HMS Sultan on 1 January 1940 to acknowledge the proximity of the nine sultanates on the Malay Peninsula.[6]
After the fall of Malaya on 31 January 1942, Singapore came within range of the artillery guns of the Twenty-Fifth Army of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA), who were positioned in Johor within sight of the base. The IJA was poised to capture Singapore within a fortnight. The base was subsequently captured, largely intact, by units of the advancing IJA and became the IJN No. 101 Repair Facility[7] through to the end of the Second World War during which time it was used by all 3 Axis powers. It was used by Italian cargo-carrying submarines[8] until the Italian Armistice, and by German cargo-carrying submarines[9] until the German surrender.
In line with the Royal Navy's tradition of naming their respective naval base and dockyard, the accommodation barracks adjacent to the base became known as HMS Terror (from 1945 to 1971) in honour of HMSTerror, an Erebus-classmonitor armed with twin 15-inch guns, which was based at one time in Singapore before the war. Since 1972, part of the compound is now occupied by the Republic of Singapore Navy's Naval Diving Unit (NDU). During the 1970s and 1980s, part of this former British naval base became the Singapore Armed Forces' Infantry Training Depot that served to provide a three-month-long basic military training (BMT) course to mostly national service recruits, and the premises continued the legacy of HMS Terror by being popularly referred to as "Terror Camp" .
The troopship RMS Queen Mary in Singapore Graving Dock, August 1940.
After the short term ANZUK arrangement was terminated (started in 1971 and ended in 1974), New Zealand Force South East Asia (NZFORSEA) was created with the HQ being sited at the Stores Basin area adjacent to the current Sembawang Naval Basin. NZFORSEA consisted of 1 Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment (RNZIR), which was based at Dieppe Barracks near Yishun New Town, No. 141 Flight of Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF), with its Bell UH-1D/H Hueys based at Sembawang Air Base and frequent deployments of Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) frigates. This was the last major foreign military presence based in Singapore. Total military strength at the time stood at 850 with some 700 dependents. Under the auspices of the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA), NZFORSEA took over the Royal Navy married quarters and billets, while the Installations Auxiliary Police Force (IAPF) was formed, the small police force was staffed by Singaporeans but commanded by an NZ officer to provide security to the whole area. This security blanket covered the British, UK and Australian facilities and personnel. When NZFORSEA withdrew from Singapore in 1989, it was replaced by the smaller NZ Defence Support Unit, the South East Asia (NZDSU SEA), with the IAPF still providing security to other nations including the US facilities and personnel.
The British Ministry of Defence (MoD) continues to maintain a small logistics base at Sembawang wharf to control most of the foreign military activities there, which includes repair, refuel and resupply for ships of the Australian, British and New Zealand navies as well as those from other Commonwealth countries under the auspices of FPDA.[10]
Since 2002, Singapore has granted the Indian Navy in principle access to Sembawang Port and Indian patrol boats escorting American naval ships through the Straits of Malacca.[16]
Installations
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A Danae-class cruiser inside the Admiralty IX floating dry dock at Singapore Naval Base in September 1941
Admiralty IX Floating Dry Dock
Admiralty Floating Dock No.9, a large floating dry dock, the third-largest in the world at the time of its construction, was located at the base. It was used by the aircraft carrier HMSEagle for a refit in 1939. At the time, the dry dock was described as having been floated from England to Singapore 10 years before.[17]
King George VI Graving Dock
The graving dock was completed in February 1938 and was more than 300m (980ft) in length and was the largest dry dock in the world at the time.[18] With the impending capture of Singapore by the Imperial Japanese Army in 1942, the dry dock gates were blown off and machinery destroyed. The dock was subsequently repaired and used throughout the war and was subjected to Allied air attacks to disable the dry dock in late 1944 and early 1945.
Senior officer commanding
Captain-in-Charge, Singapore
Modern sources give the title "Captain-in-Charge" to the senior officer at Singapore Naval Base from 1921 to 1942, including flag officers.[19] However, contemporary sources state that the official title wasn't granted until 1931, when Captain Birkett took on the role.[20]
The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies, and a component of His Majesty's Naval Service. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against France. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the English Navy of the early 16th century; the oldest of the UK's armed services, it is consequently known as the Senior Service.
Sembawang is a planning area and residential town located in the North Region of Singapore. Sembawang planning area is bordered by Simpang to the east, Mandai to the south, Yishun to the southeast, Woodlands to the west and the Straits of Johor to the north.
The sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse was a naval engagement in World War II, as part of the war in the Pacific, that took place on 10 December 1941 in the South China Sea off the east coast of the British colonies of Malaya and the Straits Settlements, 70 miles east of Kuantan, Pahang. The Royal Navy battleship HMS Prince of Wales and battlecruiser HMS Repulse were sunk by land-based bombers and torpedo bombers of the Imperial Japanese Navy. In Japan, the engagement was referred to as the Naval Battle of Malaya.
The Tengah Air Base is a military airbase of the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) located in the Western Water Catchment, in the western part of Singapore.
The Royal Malaysian Navy is the naval arm of the Malaysian Armed Forces. RMN is the main agency responsible for the country's maritime surveillance and defence operations. RMN's area of operation consists of 603,210 square kilometers covering the country's coastal areas and Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ). RMN also bears the responsibility of controlling the country's main Sea Lines of Communications (SLOC) such as the Straits of Malacca and the Straits of Singapore and also monitors national interests in areas with overlapping claims such as in Spratly.
Royal Navy Dockyards were state-owned harbour facilities where ships of the Royal Navy were built, based, repaired and refitted. Until the mid-19th century the Royal Dockyards were the largest industrial complexes in Britain.
His Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy. Portsmouth Naval Base is part of the city of Portsmouth; it is located on the eastern shore of Portsmouth Harbour, north of the Solent and the Isle of Wight. For centuries it was officially known as HM Dockyard, Portsmouth: as a Royal Dockyard, Portsmouth functioned primarily as a state-owned facility for building, repairing and maintaining warships; for a time it was the largest industrial site in the world.
The Sembawang Air Base is a military airbase of the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) located at Sembawang, in the northern part of Singapore. The base motto is Swift and Resolute.
View Road Hospital was located at View Road, off Admiralty Road West, in Woodlands, Singapore. It was used as a branch of Woodbridge Hospital used for occupational therapy for long term schizophrenia patients until it was closed in 2001. The has been used on two occasions as a foreign workers dormitory known as View Road Lodge on two occasions from 2008 to 2017. It is now unoccupied.
HMS Tamar 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.
Sembawang Park is a 15-hectare park situated in Sembawang, in the north of Singapore facing the Straits of Johor overlooking Malaysia. It is located at the end of Sembawang Road, where the former Sembawang Road End Bus Terminal was.
The Johore Battery was a former British coastal artillery battery located in Changi on the easternmost side of mainland Singapore. It consisted of three large BL 15-inch Mk. I naval guns installed on land by the British government in the late 1930s to defend the approaching path to the east of the island to their large naval base located at Sembawang in the north from an attacking enemy naval force.
The Bombing of Singapore (1944–1945) was a military campaign conducted by the Allied air forces during World War II. United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) long-range bomber units conducted 11 air raids on Japanese-occupied Singapore between November 1944 and March 1945. Most of these raids targeted the island's naval base and dockyard facilities, and minelaying missions were conducted in nearby waters. After the American bombers were redeployed, the British Royal Air Force assumed responsibility for minelaying operations near Singapore and these continued until 24 May 1945.
The Singapore strategy was a naval defence policy of the United Kingdom that evolved in a series of war plans from 1919 to 1941. It aimed to deter aggression by Japan by providing a base for a fleet of the Royal Navy in the Far East, able to intercept and defeat a Japanese force heading south towards India or Australia. To be effective it required a well-equipped base. Singapore, at the eastern end of the Strait of Malacca, was chosen in 1919 as the location of this base; work continued on this naval base and its defences over the next two decades.
The Eastern Fleet, later called the East Indies Fleet, was a fleet of the Royal Navy which existed between 1941 and 1952.
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) Dockyard is the largest naval base of the Sri Lanka Navy and a major shipyard located in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka. Established by the British as the Royal Naval Dockyard, Trincomalee, it was home to the East Indies Station of the Royal Navy during World War II. Since the withdrawal of the Royal Navy, the Royal Ceylon Navy took over the dockyard. It became the home base of the RCyN fleet, and today it is home to the Eastern Naval Command and the Naval and Maritime Academy of the Sri Lanka Navy.
New Zealand Force South East Asia (NZFORSEA) (1974–1989) comprised the elements of the Royal New Zealand Navy, New Zealand Army and Royal New Zealand Air Force. Much of the New Zealand military left Singapore as part of operation Kupe in 1989, leaving behind a residual Defence Support Unit (NZDSU).
Operation Jurist referred to the British recapture of Penang following Japan's surrender in 1945. Jurist was launched as part of Operation Zipper, the overall British plan to liberate Malaya, including Singapore.
The British Defence Singapore Support Unit (BDSSU) is a British naval facility located in Sembawang, Singapore. A remnant of a larger naval base, known as HMNB Singapore, the facility provides fuel and other supplies to Royal Navy ships in the region, as well as those of other countries. It is the only permanent Royal Navy presence to remain at the former naval base, which is maintained by Naval Party 1022 under the auspices of the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA).
Woodlands Naval Base was a military base of the Royal Malaysian Navy in Woodlands, Singapore. It is on the opposite side of the Singapore Strait from Johor Bahru. This base served as the first headquarters of the Royal Navy Malay Section from 1952 until 9 September 1984, when the headquarters relocated to Lumut, Perak.
↑ Colomb, F.S.S., F.R.G.S., and Fellow Royal Colonial Institute, Captain J. C. R. (1880). Defence of Great and Greater Britain. 55, Charing Cross, London S.W.: Edward Stanford. Pages 60 to 63, Chapter III. Colonial Defence.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
↑ Colomb, F.S.S., F.R.G.S., and Fellow Royal Colonial Institute, Captain J. C. R. (1880). Defence of Great and Greater Britain. 55, Charing Cross, London S.W.: Edward Stanford. Pages 125 and 126, Chapter IV. Imperial and Colonial War Responsibilities.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
↑ Maurice-Jones, DSO, RA, Colonel KW (1959). History of The Coast Artillery in the British Army. UK: Royal Artillery Institution. p.203.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
1 2 "Base ship at Singapore; Capt. Mark-Wardlaw to command". Sunday Tribune. Singapore. 2 September 1934. p.1.
1 2 "Capt. M. L. Clarke; Official welcome this afternoon". The Straits Times. Singapore. 11 September 1936. p.12.
↑ "Commodore Drew due on Friday". Malaya Tribune. Singapore. 16 November 1938. p.12.
1 2 "Commodore T.B. Drew Promoted To Rear-Admiral". The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser. Singapore. 2 August 1939. p.3.
↑ ""S'pore itself match for anybody" Rear-Admiral Drew says goodbye to Malaya". Malaya Tribune. Singapore. 2 September 1941. p.3.
↑ "Admiral Spooner in Singapore". The Straits Times. Singapore. 22 August 1941. p.10.
Bibliography
Morris, James. Farewell the Trumpets. Penguin Books, 1979.
Further reading
W. David McIntyre. The Rise and Fall of the Singapore Naval Base, 1919–1942. Shoe String Pr Inc, January 1980. ISBN0-208-01835-2 / 978-0208018359
James Neidpath. Singapore Naval Base and the Defence of Britain's Eastern Empire, 1919–1941. Clarendon Pr, January 1981. ISBN0-19-822474-5 / 978-0198224747
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