Royal Navy Dockyards: Royal Navy Dockyards in Canada, Royal Navy Dockyards in England, Sheerness, Chatham Dockyard, Frindsbury, Hmnb Portsmo

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 29. Chapters: Royal Navy dockyards in Canada, Royal Navy dockyards in England, Sheerness, Chatham Dockyard, Frindsbury, HMNB Portsmouth, Convoys Wharf, HMNB Devonport, Esquimalt Royal Navy Dockyard, Shipbuilding in Frindsbury, Kent, Royal Naval Dockyard, Halifax, Kingston Royal Naval Dockyard, Woolwich Dockyard, Pentanguishene Naval Yard, Naval Shipyards, York, Amherstburg Royal Naval Dockyard, Navy Island Royal Naval Shipyard, Grand River Naval Depot. Excerpt: Sheerness ( ) is a town located beside the mouth of the River Medway on the northwest corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 12,000 it is the largest town on the island. Sheerness began as a fort built in the 16th century to protect the River Medway from naval invasion. In 1665, plans were first laid by the Navy Board for a Royal Navy dockyard where warships might be provisioned and repaired, a site favored by Samuel Pepys, then Clerk of the Acts of the navy, for shipbuilding over Chatham. After the raid on the Medway in 1667, the older fortification was strengthened; in 1669 was established the Royal Navy dockyard the town, where warships were stocked and repaired until its closure in 1960. Beginning with the construction of a pier and a promenade in the 19th century, Sheerness acquired the added attractions of a seaside resort. Industry retains its important place in the town and the port of Sheerness is one of the United Kingdom's leading car and fresh produce importers. The town is the site of one of the UK's first co-operative societies and also of the world's first multi-storey building with a rigid metal frame. The first structure in what is now Sheerness was a fort built by order of Henry VIII to prevent enemy ships from entering the River Medway and attacking the naval dockyard at Chatham. In 1666 work began to replace it...