HMS ''Europa'' was a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. 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 ...

Shore establishment A stone frigate is a naval establishment on land. "Stone frigate" is an informal term that has its origin in Britain's Royal Navy after its use of Diamond Rock, an island off Martinique, as a 'sloop of war' to harass the French in 1803–04. ...

active between 1939 and 1946 during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

as the central depot for the

Royal Naval Patrol Service The Royal Naval Patrol Service (RNPS) was a branch of the Royal Navy active during both the First and Second World Wars. The RNPS operated many small auxiliary vessels such as naval trawlers for anti-submarine and minesweeping operations to prot ...

(RNPS).The Royal Naval Patrol Service at war
Harry Tate's Navy. Retrieved 2021-06-19. It was established after the commandeering of Sparrows Nest Gardens, a private residence in Lowestoft in Suffolk. Originally named ''Pembroke X'', the base was the headquarters of the RNPS, responsible for protecting coastal Britain and its convoys, in particular undertaking minesweeping duties. Over 70,000 men and 6,000 vessels, many of them small civilian vessels such as

armed trawler Naval trawlers are vessels built along the lines of a fishing trawler but fitted out for naval purposes; they were widely used during the First and Second World Wars. Some—known in the Royal Navy as "Admiralty trawlers"— were purpose-built t ...

s, served in the RNPS during the war.History
Royal Naval Patrol Service Association. Retrieved 2021-06-19. The base was decommissioned in 1946. It is now the site of

Lowestoft War Memorial Museum The Lowestoft War Memorial Museum is a museum located in Lowestoft in the English county of Suffolk. It is housed in the World War II headquarters of the Royal Naval Patrol Service in Sparrows Nest Gardens in the north of the town. The museum ...

References

Bibliography

*Warlow, Ben, ''Shore Establishments of the Royal Navy'', Liskeard : Maritime, 2000.

External links

The Wartimes Memories ProjectImperial War Museum
Royal Navy bases in England Royal Navy shore establishments Military installations established in 1939 Military installations closed in 1946 Military history of Suffolk {{UK-navy-stub