Marine History of Hampshire
As the First World War approached, Portsmouth Royal Dockyard was producing almost a warship a year. The last of these before the war was the Royal Sovereign. Unsurprisingly, the city of Portsmouth and the dockyard were major bombing targets during the Second World War. Over 65,000 homes in the city were hit and the dockyard suffered major losses. For the first time in the dockyard’s history, large ‘capital ships’ could not based at Portsmouth as it was simply too dangerous. However, the dockyard serviced and repaired thousands of ships and smaller vessels in dry dock and afloat during the war and played a major role in Operation Overlord — the D-Day landings.
Portsmouth Harbour and Dockyard 1906
Hampshire’s coastline is home to classic ports such as Portsmouth and Southampton and has a rich and varied history, please add your memories and stories to this Hampshire website.
1 Comment »
As a Soutampton resident all my life,now 60yrs.I remember seeing many changes, I have fond memories of the former floating bridges until the new Itchen bridge opened in 1977.
Also remember seeing RMS Queen Mary.
The first one in king George IV dry dock as a young child she seemed gigantic and her sister ship Queen Elizabeth, they were beautiful. Also saw them sail on their final voyages very sad.My parents have many wartime memories of Southampton during WW11, Also remember seeing the flying boats on river Itchen ,and the daily hovercraft journey. Big memories of when saints won. fa. cup. in 76, I followed the victory bus ride through the city the following day on my motorcycle, like many others did .It’s a good city to live in!
Comment by S.Jackson — July 5, 2012 @ 12:03 am
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