HMS ''Tormentor'' was a

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. ...

of the British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, based near Warsash, on the River Hamble.

Service history

The area around Warsash on the Hamble had been the site of earlier Royal Navy use when part of the shore was used as a training site for boys. This included construction of a pier for the Admiralty built in 1913. The pier onto the Hamble was later rebuilt in concrete in 1938. Following the outbreak of World War II, the Royal Navy requisitioned the remaining part of the grounds and buildings located on the shore of the River Hamble just south of Warsash village. This included the old Coast Guard House and RAF wireless station at Warsash, as well as the home of the Household Brigade Yacht Club. In July 1940, HMS ''Tormentor'' was officially commissioned as a combined operations base. The purpose of the base was the training of

landing craft Landing craft are small and medium seagoing watercraft, such as boats and barges, used to convey a landing force ( infantry and vehicles) from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. The term excludes landing ships, which are large ...

crews and

British Commandos The Commando, Commandos, also known as the British Commandos, were formed during the World War II, Second World War in June 1940, following a request from Winston Churchill, for special forces that could carry out Raid (military), raids against ...

. As well as serving as a training establishment, the site also served as a base for cross-channel raids. From 1940 until 1942, the establishment was under the command of F. N. Cook, DSC, a Commander in the

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...

. In 1942, the Southampton School of Navigation was relocated to the Warsash site and after the war, the RN establishment was decommisioned with the campus eventually becoming the Warsash Maritime School. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. undertook intensive training at HMS Tormentor in 1942, which provided some lessons in tactics that would eventually assist his founding of the US Beach Jumpers. On 13 August 1942, Major Herbert Hasler and Captain J. D. Stewart visited HMS Tormentor to attend a demonstration of fast motorboat training, in preparation for

Operation Frankton Operation Frankton was a commando raid on ships in the German occupied French port of Bordeaux in southwest France during the Second World War. The raid was carried out by a small unit of Royal Marines known as the Royal Marines Boom Patrol D ...

. In 1944, Patricia Knatchbull, Countess Mountbatten, was serving as a signals rating on the base.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tormentor, HMS Royal Navy shore establishments Royal Navy bases in England Military history of Hampshire