HMS ''St Christopher'' was a Coastal Forces training base of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

operational during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and located in and around Fort William,

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

History

Commissioned in October 1940, HMS ''St Christopher'' was in service for a total of four years, until being decommissioned in December 1944. The base was first commanded by Commander A.E.P. Welman DSO DSC RN, and existed to train the crews of a variety of different inshore patrol craft. To enable this, an

Admiralty Floating Dock The Royal Navy had a number of floating drydocks for the repair of warships where there was no fixed dry dock available. The docks did not receive a name and were known as "Admiralty Floating Dock" with a number. In size they went up to ones cap ...

was moored at Corpach in

Loch Linnhe Loch Linnhe ( ) is a sea loch in the Highland Council area, in the west of Scotland. The part upstream of Corran is known in Gaelic as (the black pool, originally known as Loch Abar), and downstream as (the salty pool). The name ''Linnhe ...

for some of the time. Most of the courses lasted a number of weeks and involved such activities as firing

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

es from Motor Torpedo Boats. A

Westland Lysander The Westland Lysander is a British Army cooperation aircraft, army co-operation and liaison aircraft produced by Westland Aircraft that was used immediately before and during the Second World War. After becoming obsolete in the army co-operat ...

or a

Blackburn Skua The Blackburn B-24 Skua was a carrier-based low-wing, two-seater, single-radial engine aircraft by the British aviation company Blackburn Aircraft. It was the first Royal Navy carrier-borne all-metal cantilever monoplane aircraft, as well as th ...

would occasionally fly over the base to allow practices on anti-aircraft guns. Over its time in service, the base is estimated to have trained around 55,000 personnel from a number of different allied countries. The base had a staff of several hundred, billeted in hotels around the town, with extra space being provided by

Nissen hut A Nissen hut is a prefabricated steel structure originally for military use, especially as barracks, made from a 210° portion of a cylindrical skin of corrugated iron. It was designed during the First World War by the Canadian-American-British e ...

s. Most of the engineering and mechanical works were based at Corpach, and consisted of a number of sheds and

slipway A slipway, also known as boat ramp or launch or boat deployer, is a ramp on the shore by which ships or boats can be moved to and from the water. They are used for building and repairing ships and boats, and for launching and retrieving smal ...

s. The base was defended by a number of anti-aircraft guns and searchlights, which were also used to defend the town of Fort William herself. By April 1942 there were around 80 to 90 boats at the training base, comprising a number of different flotillas. They consisted of nine Motor Torpedo Boats, thirty seven

Motor Gun Boat The motor gunboat (MGB) was a small, high-speed British military vessel of the Second World War, which was armed with a mix of guns, in contrast to the physically similar motor torpedo boat (MTB), whose main offensive weapon were torpedoes. ...

s, fourteen high speed motor anti-submarine boats, and a number of

motor launch Launch is a name given to several different types of boat. The wide range of usage of the name extends from utilitarian craft through to pleasure boats built to a very high standard. In naval use, the launch was introduced as a ship's boat ...

es, many of them of the B Class Thorneycroft -Fairmile design. Several harbour defence motor launches were also attached to defend the base. A number of different boats were attached at different times to serve as depot ships, training vessels and accommodation ships. The Admiralty Floating Drydock ''AFD 22'' was used as the base's main repair facility. After the base closed in 1944 she was towed to

Trincomalee Trincomalee (; , ; , ), historically known as Gokanna and Gokarna, is the administrative headquarters of the Trincomalee District and major resort port city of Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, Eastern Province, Sri Lanka. Located on the east coast o ...

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

(now

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

), where she replaced ''AFD 23'' which had been damaged beyond repair in an accident.A.F.D. 22
Royal Navy Research Archive

Legacy

A number of the outbuildings and storage sheds can still be seen today, as can some of the old searchlight and gun emplacements. There are a number of commemorative and memorial plaques in the town, often located at the hotels where the recruits were billeted. The base is also commemorated in the name of the Lochaber Sea Cadet unit's current training ship, the TS ''St Christopher''.

References

*
History of HMS St Christopher
{{DEFAULTSORT:St Christopher Royal Navy bases in Scotland Former training establishments of the Royal Navy Fort William, Highland

History

Legacy

See also

References