H.M.S. IMPREGNABLE

 

There has been a training ship of this name at Devonport for many years. Orininally there were four hulks Impregnable I this was the cruiser HMS Powerful - then Impregnable II which was the cruiser Andromeda - then came Impregnable III formely the Ganges, built in Bombay in 1821 and the Impregnable IV was the light cruiser Caroline.
With the increase of entries into the Royal Navy and to make good the deficiences in the personnel of the navy it was found the need to provide a third training establishment centre on land for boys. The others are at Shotley (HMS Ganges) and at Forton (Gosport - HMS St. Vincent). These were regarded as being more hygienie and satisfactory than the Old Harbour hulks. Thus in November 1936 the former St Budeaux Naval Barracks became known as HMS Impregnable [This was reported in the Times Newspaper in February 1936]

The Original Hulk of HMS Impregnable was abollished in 1928 and with the new shore establishment it is anticipated that about 100 boys will be entered first. The maximum number of boys under training in the navy this year (1935) is 3,495, an increase of 305 on the corresponding total of 1933. Among the officers appointed to the new Impregnable is Lieutenant Cmd. Mundy transferred from HMS St Vincent. Also will be Lieutenat Michael Everard from the School of Physical & Recreational Training School Portsmouth and also E.N. Punphrey from HMS Ganges.

With the new start and a push on recruitment the training facility at St Budeaux soon grew in reputation and fame. With the outbreak of World war Two the training for Boys became training for new entry Signalmen to prepare them for the war period. As the was was coming to an end it became a centre for being demobilisation and in 1946 it was changed back to being a Boys training establishment. The First Boys entered the portals in May 15th 1947. I was included !. Having left Boarding school in Margate in Kent I was accepted into the service as a Boy Second Class, having passed on the required exams at the London Recruitemnt Centre based in Charing Cross Road.. On this day there were about 430 boys sent to begin their life in the Royal Navy, Some from Northern Ireland, wales and scotland with a lot from the Midlands. The batch from London was about 35 boys.

For a full year we trained, played usual games such as Football, Rugby Hockey, put out a good Boxing team who boxed against Ganges and St Vincent. of note in both Football and Boxing was a boy called P.Harburn, who went on to play for clubs such as Brighton & Hove, Everton and Scunthorpe. It is reported that during the war years people such as the pianist Ross Conway, Double O7 (Connery), also trained at the Impregnable.

After a year and we had been made Boy First Class we were sent to our official Port Division. most of the Devonport Boys went on to the Battleship Vanguard who had just come back from South Africa. For me it was Hello to Chatham (HMS Pembroke) and then on to the famous Dido class cruiser HMS Cleopatra.

Following the introduction of a book written by Robbie Robson "Boy Seaman RN" I decided to try and find my old shipmates from the Impregnable days so with help from Navy News, Pam Ayres (BBC Radio) Channel Four TV (Teletext - lost shipmates) we found 178 ex boys and shipmates. This first reunion after 50 years was a great success and is growing every month. for full details check www.hmsimpregnable. co.uk the official web site for this association.

 

Peter R Moss Co Founder/President HMS Impregnable