History
The training of naval officers at Dartmouth dates from 1863 when the wooden hulk HMS Britannia was moved from Portland and moored in the River Dart. In 1864, after an influx of new recruits, Britannia was supplemented by HMS Hindustan. Prior to this there had been a Royal Naval Academy (later Royal Naval College) at Portsmouth from 1733 to 1837. The original Britannia was replaced by the Prince of Wales in 1869, which was renamed Britannia. Sir Aston Webb designed the shore-based college at Dartmouth, which was built by Higgs and Hill and practically completed in 1905. The first term of cadets entered at the R.N. College Osborne were transferred to Dartmouth in September 1905.
| “ | The Britannia training establishment was closed at the same time, the cadets then under instruction being embarked on two cruisers for the purpose of completing their instructions under the old system. The headquarters of the cruisers was established at Bermuda, where suitable arrangements had been made for the convenience of the cadets. The cadets entered in September under the old system, and those entered in January 1906 (the last to be so entered), were received at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, where they were instructed, as far as possible, side by side with the cadets transferred from Osborne. | ” |
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—Lord Tweedmouth, First Lord of the Admiralty, 26 February 1906 |
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The college was originally known as the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, and as a Royal Naval shore establishment was later additionally known by the ship name HMS Britannia (there was a battleship called Britannia from 1904 to 1918). The college received its present name (ship name: HMS Dartmouth) in 1953, when the name Britannia was given to the newly-launched royal yacht HMY Britannia. The training ship moored in the River Dart at Sandquay, currently the former Sandown class minehunter HMS Cromer, continues to bear the name Hindostan.
Cadets originally joined the Royal Naval College, Osborne, at the age of 13 for two years before joining Dartmouth, and spent four years there before starting sea training at 17. RNC Osborne closed in 1923, and the entry age was changed to 16 in 1948, and to 17 and 6 months in 1955. Until 1941, Dartmouth was in effect a specialised boarding school, with parents paying fees for tuition and board.
During the Second World War students and staff moved activities to Eaton Hall in Cheshire until the autumn of 1946 after six Focke-Wulf aircraft bombed the College in September 1942. Two bombs penetrated the College's main block, causing damage to the quarterdeck and surrounding rooms.
Read more about this topic: Britannia Royal Naval College
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“History takes time.... History makes memory.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)