HMS Excellent (shore establishment)

HMS Excellent is a Royal Navy "stone frigate" (shore establishment) sited on Whale Island near Portsmouth in Hampshire. HMS Excellent is itself part of the Maritime Warfare School, with a headquarters at HMS Collingwood, although a number of lodger units are resident within the site including the offices of the First Sea Lord.^[1]

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Excellent.

HMS Excellent
Whale Island, Portsmouth, Hampshire in England
An aerial photo of HMS Excellent during 2005. The red building is Navy Command Headquarters
HMS Excellent Location in Hampshire
Coordinates	50°49′09″N 1°05′48.5″W
Type	Naval shore establishment
Area	32 hectares (79 acres)
Site information
Owner	Ministry of Defence
Operator	Royal Navy
Condition	Operational
Website	Official website
Site history
Built	1885 (1885) – 1891
In use	1891–present
Garrison information
Current commander	Commander Simon Turnbull

History

RN Gunnery School afloat

Whaley (later Whale) Island in 1833

In the 1829 a Commander George Smith advocated the establishment of a Naval School of Gunnery; accordingly, the following year, the third-rate HMS Excellent was converted into a training ship and moored just north of Portsmouth Dockyard, opposite Fareham Creek.^[2] Smith was given oversight and set up Excellent not only as a training establishment but also as a platform for experimental firing of new weapons (the creek was used as a firing range). In 1832 Smith was replaced in command by Captain Thomas Hastings, under whom the school grew both numerically and in reputation, as trained gunners began to prove their effectiveness in combat situations. In 1834 the original Excellent was replaced by the second rate HMS Boyne which was duly renamed Excellent.^[3]

In 1845 Captain Henry Ducie Chads took over command of Excellent in succession to Hastings. He remained in post until 1854, by which time the Admiralty had purchased 'Whaley Island' (which at the time was little more than a sandbank). Chads was succeeded first by Captain Thomas Maitland and then, in 1857, by Richard Hewlett. In December 1859 the first-rate Queen Charlotte took over the role of gunnery training ship and was likewise renamed Excellent.^[4]

In 1863 Hewlett was replaced by Captain Astley Cooper Key, who was in turn succeeded by Captain Arthur Hood some three years later. By this time, a rifle range had been established on the island for the use of HMS Excellent and the first building appeared there, the land having been somewhat drained and levelled. Under Hood's leadership a torpedo section was set up within the school; overseen by Commander Jacky Fisher (who would later return to Excellent as commanding officer), this was made a separate establishment, as HMS Vernon, in 1876.^[5]

RN Gunnery School ashore

It was under Fisher's command, in the 1880s, that approval was given to move the gunnery school ashore, on to Whale Island. The initial proposal had come from a Lieutenant Percy Scott, who (having arrived to train as a gunnery lieutenant in 1878) initially used the island as a running track. The island had grown significantly in size since the 1850s: indeed, up until the early 1890s excavated spoil from the expansion of the Dockyard was routinely conveyed there, using convict labour, to build the island up. Scott returned to Excellent as an instructor in 1883 and took the opportunity to submit a detailed proposal to Fisher which was accepted. (Later in his career Scott was again posted to HMS Excellent on two occasions, returning first as Commander in 1890 and then as Captain of the establishment in the early 1900s.)^[6]

HMS Excellent: the Quarterdeck Block (originally containing a gymnasium, lecture theatre, warrant officers' mess, church rooms and the Church of St Barbara).

The first buildings of the shore establishment were begun in 1885, including what is now known as the Quarterdeck Block.^[7] Building work then continued alongside the tasks of draining and levelling the land (the site was known colloquially as 'Mud Island').^[8] By 1891 the whole operation had moved ashore and the old ship was paid off. Centred on a large open drill ground, the site includes the officers' mess in a range to the north with rows of barracks blocks for ratings (demolished and rebuilt c. 2010) arrayed behind. To the west, opposite the Quarterdeck, were long gun battery sheds; the long low drill shed to the south is a listed building (1892).^[9] Firing training took place on the batteries and all different varieties of guns were kept on site for instruction on their maintenance and operation. During the 2 February 1901 funeral of Queen Victoria sailors from HMS Excellent provided an honour guard. When the horses of the Royal Artillery intended to pull the gun carriage that bore her coffin from Windsor railway station became unmanageable, the sailors took their place, for which King Edward VII conferred the Victoria medal upon them on 16 March, 1901 at Portsmouth, at the commencement of a world tour by the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York.^[10] The Anti-Aircraft Experimental Section of the Munitions Inventions Department was based here from September 1916,^[11] under Archibald Hill.^[12] Later, full-sized dummy gun turrets were provided for training purposes. Seagoing training also took place up until 1957 on a series of battleships, cruisers and destroyers that were attached to the facility. From the late 1950s guided missile training was also provided.^[8]

Whale Island in 1945

The Portsmouth Field Gun Crew, competing in the Royal Navy field gun competition at the Royal Tournament, used to be based at the site.^[13] A small museum in the Quarterdeck block preserves artefacts from Excellent's days as a gunnery school; among them is the Royal Navy State Funeral Gun Carriage which is drawn by naval ratings at state funerals of monarchs and other distinguished UK citizens.^[14]

Decommissioning and recommissioning

The Royal Navy's Fire Fighting Training Unit has been based at the northern tip of Whale Island since the 1990s.

The gunnery school closed in 1985 whereupon HMS Excellent was decommissioned. The site then became part of HMS Nelson.^[13]

The establishment was recommissioned as HMS Excellent in 1994 following the closure of the old HMS Phoenix in nearby Tipner and Horsea Island, and the relocation of the school of Fire Fighting and Damage Control from there to Whale Island.^[13]

Captains of HMS Excellent

The following list goes as far as 1984. It shows the date of appointment, and rank and decorations held at the time. In some cases a captain held several sequential appointments. It does not show captains held on the books of the Excellent who were not commanding officers of Excellent.

List of captains^[15]

Name	Date of appointment	Sources
Commander George Smith	19 June 1830	[note 1]
Captain Sir Thomas Hastings	13 April 1832	[16] [17]
Captain Sir Thomas Hastings, Kt	2 December 1834	[18]
Captain Sir Thomas Hastings, Kt	3 June 1842	[19] [20]
Captain Henry D. Chads	28 August 1845	[21]
Captain Henry Ducie Chads, KB	1 July 1847	[22]
Captain Henry Ducie Chads, KB	1 July 1851	[23]
Captain Sir Thomas Maitland, KB	17 January 1854	[24]
Captain Richard S. Hewlett, CB	29 June 1857	[25]
Captain Richard S. Hewlett, CB	31 December 1859	[26]
Captain Astley C. Key, CB	30 June 1863	[27]
Captain Astley Cooper Key, CB	1 January 1866	[28]
Captain Arthur W.A. Hood	3 September 1866	[29]
Captain Henry Boys	13 July 1869	[30]
Captain Thomas Brandreth	18 May 1874	[31] [32] [33]
Captain Frederick A. Herbert	1 January 1877	[34]
Captain John O. Hopkins	4 March 1880	[35]
Captain William Codrington, CB, AdC	21 June 1881	[36]
Captain John A. Fisher, CB	6 April 1883	[37]
Captain Compton E. Domvile, AdC	1 November 1886	[38]
Captain Hugo L. Pearson, ADC	12 June 1890	[39]
Captain Lewis A. Beaumont	12 June 1893	[40]
Captain Archibald L. Douglas	3 July 1894	[41]
Captain Edmund F. Jeffreys	9 November 1895	[42]
Captain William H. May, MVO	10 August 1897	[43]
Captain Arthur Barrow, AdC	21 November 1900	[44]
Captain Percy M. Scott, CVO, CS, LL.D, AdC	1 April 1903	[45]
Captain Frederick T. Hamilton, MVO, AdC	6 March 1905	[46]
Captain Reginald G.O. Tupper, AdC.	15 July 1907	[47]
Captain Frederick C.T. Tudor, AdC.	18 August 1910	[48]
Captain Morgan Singer, AdC.	1 June 1912	[49]
Captain Cole C. Fowler	19 August 1914	[50]
Captain H. Ralf Crooke	23 May 1917	[51]
Captain Robert N. Bax CB	13 June 1918	[52]
Captain Francis H. Mitchell DSO	13 June 1920	[53]
Captain Arthur J. Davies	18 August 1922	[54]
Captain Hon M.R. Best DSO MVO	15 August 1924	[55]
Captain F.L. Tottenham CBE	14 August 1926	[56]
Captain Charles A. Scott	20 August 1928	[57]
Captain G.C.C. Royle CMG	7 May 1930	[58]
Captain E.O.B.S. Osborne DSO ADC	26 July 1932	[59]
Captain A. Francis Pridham	18 July 1933	[60]
Captain Arthur J. Power CVO	3 October 1935	[61] [62]
Captain H.M. Burrough	20 September 1937	[63]
Captain A.F.E. Palliser DSC	19 December 1938	[64]
Captain Eric J.P. Brind	15 May 1940	[65]
Captain Oliver Bevir	28 November 1940	[66] [67] [68]
Captain H.A. Packer	15 June 1941	[69]
Captain R.D. Oliver CB DSC	15 January 1943	[70]
Captain W.G. Agnew CB DSO	23 February 1944	[71]
Captain W.R. Slayter CB DSO DSC	3 September 1945	[72]
Captain P.V. McLaughlin DSO	7 January 1947	[73]
Captain S.H. Carlill DSO	5 January 1949	[74]
Captain Robert F. Elkins OBE	11 April 1950	[75] [76]
Captain Varyl C. Begg DSC	12 April 1952	[77] [78]
Captain A. Davies	1954
Captain W.F.H.C. Rutherford DSO	11 March 1954	[79]
Captain R. Casement OBE	2 January 1956	[80]
Captain H.C. Martell CBE	21 January 1958	[81]
Captain J.S. Dalglish CVO	7 September 1959	[82]
Captain John G. Wells DSC	3 August 1961	[83]
Captain H.H. Dannreuther	8 February 1963	[84] [85]
Captain Arthur M. Power MBE	15 October 1964	[86]
Captain W.J.M. Teale	31 August 1966	[87]
Captain G.R. Villar DSC	10 January 1969	[88]
Captain P.D. Nichol	11 November 1970	[89]
Captain R.S. Falconer	18 September 1972	[90]
Captain M.C.M. Mansergh	28 October 1974	[91]
Captain Peter Lucas	15 October 1976	[92]
Captain Richard K.S. Bethell OBE	10 October 1978	[93]
Captain J.J. Streatfeild-James	1980?	[94]
Captain J.T. Lord CBE	1982?	[95] [96] [97]

Elements within the site

HMS Bristol alongside Whale Island.

Maritime Warfare School elements within the site are:^[98]

• MWS Phoenix school of Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Defence, damage control and fire fighting HMS Phoenix
• South East Naval Military Training Centre
• Defence Diving School Boat Section

HMS Excellent also provides administrative and infrastructure support to the Maritime Warfare School elements at Defence Diving School, Horsea Island, and small arms ranges at Tipner.

Lodger units

Lodger units are:

• Navy Command Headquarters – Fleet Commander
• Headquarters of UK Maritime Battle Staff
• Fleet Regional Photographic Unit (South East Region)
• DASA (Navy Branch): Defence Analytical Services and Advice is a Division of the MOD tasked with providing statistical and analytical support to the Navy Statistical Publications produced by DASA Navy

Cadets

HMS Excellent is home to a number of Royal Navy cadet units:

• Volunteer Cadet Corps^[99]
  • Portsmouth Division Royal Marines Volunteer Cadet Corps^[100]
  • HMS Excellent Royal Naval Volunteer Cadet Corps^[101]
• TS Alamein Sea Cadet Corps^[102]
• Sea Cadet Corps National Training Centre

Notes

1. Supernumerary commander on the books of HMS St Vincent at Portsmouth Navy List corrected to the 20th December 1830, p. 79

References

1. "The First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin". The Society for Nautical Research. Retrieved 26 March 2023. So today we have for you Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the First Sea Lord, who invited me to come to his offices at HMS Excellent on Whale Island in Portsmouth.
2. Lavery, Ships of the Line, vol. 1, p. 180
3. Lavery, p. 183
4. Lavery, p. 187
5. Hoole, Rob. "HMS Vernon before the excavators came". Minewarfare & Clearance Diving Officers' Association. Archived from the original on 7 March 2014. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
6. Scott, Percy (1919). Fifty Years in the Royal Navy. London: John Murray. p. 178.
7. "HMS Excellent: Quarterdeck Block (Buildings Numbers 17 to 21,24 and 25)". Historic England. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
8. Brown, Paul (2016). Maritime Portsmouth. Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press.
9. "Listed building description". Historic England. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
10. "Our cable Dispatches: Miscellaneous". The Royal Gazette. City of Hamilton, Pembroke Parish, Bermuda. 19 March 1901. p. 1. Portsmouth, March 16.—Amidst the firing of a royal salute of the assembled fleet, and hearty cheers from the concourse of people gathered at all points of vantage, the steamer Ophir with the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York on board started at about four four o'clock this afternoon on the voyage which is not to terminate until their Royal Highnesses shall have made a tour of the world. King Edward and Queen Alexandra on board the royal yacht Victoria and Albert, accompanied by eight torpedo boat destroyers escorted the Ophir a few miles out. Before the departure of the royal party, King Edward conferred the Victoria medal on the Blue Jackets of H.M.S. Excellent who dragged the funeral gun-carriage of Queen Victoria after the horses became unmanageable at Windsor railway station.
11. Pattison, Michael (1983). "Scientists, Inventors and the Military in Britain, 1915–19: The Munitions Inventions Department". Social Studies of Science. 13 (4): 547. doi:10.1177/030631283013004004. ISSN 0306-3127. JSTOR 284847. S2CID 145727609. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
12. Katz, Bernard (1978). "Archibald Vivian Hill. 26 September 1886 – 3 June 1977". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 24: 71–149. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1978.0005. ISSN 0080-4606. JSTOR 769758. PMID 11615743. S2CID 46444782.
13. "History". Royal Navy. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
14. RNSC(4)11 postal cover "20th Anniversary of Sir Winston Churchill's Funeral", 30 January 1985.
15. Wells, John G (1980), Whaley, the story of HMS Excellent 1830 to 1980, HMS Excellent, Portsmouth, p. 213
16. Navy List corrected to the 20th March 1833, p. 71
17. Navy List corrected to the 20th June 1832, p. 68
18. Navy List corrected to the 20th March 1842, p. 71
19. Navy List for October 1844, p. 71
20. Navy List corrected to the 20th September 1842, p. 71
21. Navy List corrected to the 20th December 1846, p. 123
22. Navy List corrected to the 20th March 1851, p. 137
23. Navy List corrected to the 20th June 1853, p. 147
24. Navy List corrected to the 20th December 1856, p. 150
25. Navy List corrected to the 20th December 1858, p. 153
26. Navy List corrected to the 20th June 1862, p. 172
27. Navy List corrected to the 20th December 1864, p. 185
28. Navy List corrected to the 20th June 1866, p. 186
29. Navy List corrected to the 20th June 1868, p. 194
30. Navy List corrected to the 20th December 1873, p. 149
31. Navy List corrected to the 20th September 1876, p. 144
32. Navy List corrected to the 20th June 1876, p. 144
33. Navy List corrected to the 20th June 1874, p. 144
34. Navy List corrected to the 20th December 1879, p. 210
35. Navy List corrected to the 20th December 1880, p. 210
36. Navy List corrected to the 20th March 1883, p. 210
37. Navy List corrected to the 20th June 1886, p. 253
38. Navy List corrected to the 20th December 1889, p. 246
39. Navy List corrected to the 20th December 1892, p. 219
40. Navy List corrected to the 18th December 1893, p. 218
41. Navy List corrected to the 18th June 1895, p. 222
42. Navy List corrected to the 18th June 1897, p. 222
43. Navy List corrected to the 18th October 1900, p. 254
44. Navy List for November 1902, corrected to the 18th October 1902, p. 258
45. Navy List for July 1904, corrected to the 18th June 1904, p. 309
46. Navy List for January 1907, corrected to the 18th December 1906, p. 310
47. Navy List for June 1910, corrected to the 18th May 1910, p. 311
48. Navy List for March 1912, corrected to the 18th February 1912, p. 309
49. Navy List for December 1913, corrected to the 18th November 1913, p. 311
50. Navy List 1917 Pt.1a, p. 394i
51. Navy List 1918 Pt.1a, p. 791
52. Navy List for December 1919, corrected to the 18th November 1919, p. 772
53. Navy List for December 1920, corrected to the 18th November 1920, p. 771
54. Navy List for December 1922, corrected to the 18th November 1922, p. 756
55. Navy List for December 1924, corrected to the 18th November 1924, p. 238
56. Navy List for December 1926, corrected to the 18th November 1926, p. 238
57. Navy List for December 1928, corrected to the 18th November 1928, p. 238
58. Navy List for December 1930, corrected to the 18th November 1930, p. 238
59. Navy List for December 1932, corrected to the 18th November 1932, p. 237
60. Navy List for December 1934, corrected to the 18th November 1934, p. 239
61. Navy List for December 1936, corrected to the 18th November 1936, p. 237
62. Royal Navy (RN) Officers 1939–1945, B.C.G. Place to W.L. Puxley
63. Navy List for December 1938, corrected to the 18th November 1938, p. 240
64. Navy List for December 1939, corrected to the 18th November 1939, p. 631
65. Navy List for June 1940, corrected to the 18th May 1940, p. 795
66. Navy List for December 1940, corrected to the 18th November 1940, p. 973
67. Navy List for April 1941, corrected to the 18th March 1941, p. 1089
68. Royal Navy (RN) Officers 1939–1945, J.S. Bethell to J.A.F. Blight
69. Navy List for December 1941, corrected to the 18th November 1941, p. 1321
70. Navy List for December 1943, corrected to the 18th November 1943, p. 2245
71. Navy List for January 1945, Volume III, H.M. Ships and Establishments, Civil Officers, ETC. Corrected to 30th December 1944, p. 2605
72. Navy List for October 1946, corrected to the 30th September 1946, vol. 3, p. 1959
73. Navy List for July 1948, corrected to the 17th July 1948, p. 1099
74. Navy List for May 1949, corrected to the 18th April 1949, p. 466
75. Navy List for May 1950, corrected to the 18th April 1950, p. 406
76. Navy List for May 1951, corrected to the 18th April 1951, p. 417
77. Navy List for May 1952, corrected to the 18th April 1952, p. 455
78. Navy List for May 1953, corrected to the 18th April 1953, p. 478
79. Navy List for 1955, corrected to the 18th January 1955, p. 530
80. Navy List for 1957, corrected to the 18th January 1957, p. 327
81. Navy List for 1959, corrected to the 18th January 1959, p. 328
82. Navy List for 1961, corrected to the 18th January 1961, p. 326
83. Navy List for Spring 1962, p. 325
84. Navy List for Spring 1964, p. 212
85. Royal Navy (RN) Officers 1939–1945, J.R.H. D'Aeth to W.W. Davis
86. Navy List for Spring 1965, p. 603
87. Navy List for Spring 1967, p. 549
88. Navy List for Spring 1970, p. 155
89. Navy List for Spring 1971, p. 151
90. Navy List for Spring 1973, p. 150
91. Navy List for Spring 1975, p. 146
92. Navy List 1977, p. 142
93. Navy List for 1981, corrected to the 31st October 1980, p. 136
94. Navy List for 1982, corrected to the 31st October 1981, p. 135
95. Navy List for 1983, corrected to the 31st October 1982, p. 272
96. Navy List for 1984, corrected to the 31st October 1983, p. 277
97. Navy List for 1985, corrected to the 31st October 1984, p. 271
98. "Royal Navy shore establishments – major bases". Armed Forces. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
99. "Meet our units". Volunteer Cadet Corps. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
100. "Portsmouth". Volunteer Cadet Corps. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
101. "HMS Excellent". Volunteer Cadet Corps. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
102. "Portsmouth". Sea Cadets. Retrieved 27 January 2021.

Sources

• Lavery, Brian (2003). The Ship of the Line – Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650–1850. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-252-8.
• Lloyd, Christopher (1955). The Origins of H.M.S. Excellent. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)

External links

• Portsmouth Action Field Gun – Photos and Video
• Volunteer Cadet Corps