H.M.S. Excellent (Gunnery Training School)

H.M.S. Excellent in 1869.

Captain and Staff of Excellent, 1884.

Captain and Staff, 1909.

Junior Staff Officer W. W. Fisher observing drill on a gun.

H.M.S. Excellent, also known as Portsmouth Gunnery School or Whale Island was the British Royal Navy's main gunnery training establishment for most of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

History

The foundation of a gunnery school in the Royal Navy has been attributed to Sir John Bechell and Captain William L. Bowles who had deplored the poor standard of gunnery which could be found after the War of 1812. In 1830 Commander George Smith, having suggested the creation of a gunnery establishment, was directed by Admiral Sir George Cockburn to find a spot in Portsmouth Harbour where a ship could be moored and fire without inconvenience. Sir Byam Martin, Controller of the Navy, gave Smith permission to choose whatever old ship he needed for the purpose. The ship he chose was the Excellent which was already moored in the site desired by Smith. He was then appointed to the Excellent, in Cockburn's words, "for the purpose of establishing and carrying into effect a system of gunnery, for the instruction and information of the naval service in that branch of their duty." In 1832 Captain Thomas Hastings succeeded Smith and remained in command until 1845, when he was succeeded by Captain Henry Ducie Chads. The Excellent, formerly Collingwood's ship at St. Vincent, was broken up in 1834 and replaced by the Boyne, which was in turn replaced by the Queen Charlotte in 1859, both ships being renamed Excellent.

First World War

Upon mobilisation in August, 1914, the Gunnery Schools were cleared, it being thought that they wouldn't be necessary in time of war. The school was left in the charge of the Commander, Arthur J. Davies, and in the rush to mobilise some two hundred officers had left their kit in their cabins, taking only essentials with them. Men of the Royal Naval Reserve and Royal Fleet Reserve came for training, and Excellent began to become overcrowded.

The Sub-Lieutenants course was discontinued, and was later described by the Admiralty as "unfortunate for the future training efficiency of the Fleet." In 1915 the Long Course for Lieutenants qualifying in Gunnery Duties was restarted but was reduced by 50% to six months' length. The officers on the course were instructed by a Commander (G) from the Grand Fleet.

In 1917, women of the Women's Royal Naval Service were sent to Whale Island after the Director of the service, Dame Katherine Furse visited Excellent to check, in the words of one author, "the lay of the land". She apparently compared the place to a large London club. Captain Henry Ralph Crooke later described the only incident he knew of between women and the men there:

I had only once any difficulty with the Wrens. About a week after their arrival the Commander came to my office with a very gloomy face, to report that on the previous evening about seven o'clock he had come across one of our men embracing a Wren in the Rock Garden. I directed the Wren Officer to deal with the female delinquent—in public before the rest of the detachment—and said I would see the man.

Him I found to be a 3rd Class Officer's Steward and very ill-looking to boot. I sentenced him to 14 days No. 10A and told him to tell everyone else the next offender would get a fortnight in sells, and that the east end of Stamshaw bridge was the limit for osculation.

Numbers trained by Excellent August, 1914 - August, 1918
Lieuts. (G)	41
Officers R.N. for T.B.D.'s	99
Other commissioned officers R.N.	203
R.N.A.S. officers	382
R.N.V.R. officers	339
R.N.R. officers	2526
Gunners [O.C.R. error?]	168
Gunners (T)	186
Gunners [O.C.R. error?]	14
Boatswains	36
Gunner's Mates	623
Gunlayer I.	410
Gunlayer II.	2,171
Gunlayer III.	404
P.O. (G)	460
Seaman Gunners	5,343
Rangetakers	296
Lieut. (G)'s Writers	42
Divers—Seamen	350
Divers—Artisan	130
A.B.	572
D.A.M.S. Gunlayers D.A.M.S. 2nd Hands	10,237
Trawler Ratings	876
D.F.C.	605
Ratings for Motor Boats	874
Ratings for Tank Corps	1,958
Ratings for Machine Guns	63
Ratings for Air Service	203
Motor Mechanics	520
R.N.V.R. Seamen	627
R.N.R. Seamen	1,931
New Ships' Companies	5,672
E.R.A.s	346
Marine Recruits	1,086
Warrant Armourers	26
Chief Armourers	8
Armourers	12
Armourer's Mates	33
Armourer's Crew	421
Miscellaneous Officers and Men	1,760

Captains

Dates of appointment given:

• Commander Geoffrey Smith, June, 1830
• Captain Sir Thomas Hastings, April, 1832
• Captain Henry D. Chads, 28 August, 1845
• Captain Sir Thomas Maitland, 17 January, 1854
• Captain Richard S. Hewlett, 29 June, 1857 – 30 June, 1863
• Captain Astley C. Key, 30 June, 1863
• Captain Arthur W. A. Hood, 3 September, 1866
• Captain Henry Boys, 13 July, 1869
• Captain Thomas Brandreth, 18 May, 1874
• Captain F. A. Herbert, 1 January, 1877
• Captain John O. Hopkins, 4 March, 1880 – 21 June, 1881
• Captain William Codrington, 21 June, 1881
• Captain John A. Fisher, 6 April, 1883
• Captain Compton E. Domvile, 1 November, 1886 – 17 July, 1889
• Captain Compton E. Domvile, 16 September, 1889 – 11 June, 1890
• Captain Hugo L. Pearson, 12 June, 1890 – 12 June, 1893
• Captain Lewis A. Beaumont, 12 June, 1893 – 2 July, 1894
• Captain Archibald L. Douglas, 3 July, 1894 – 9 November, 1895
• Captain Edmund F. Jeffreys, 9 November, 1895 – 10 August, 1897
• Captain William H. May, 10 August, 1897
• Captain Arthur Barrow, 20 January, 1901 – 1 April, 1903
• Captain Percy M. Scott, 1 April, 1903 – 5 March, 1905
• Captain Frederick T. Hamilton, 24 February, 1905 – 14 July, 1907  (Commodore, Second Class from 29 June, 1906)
• Captain Reginald G. O. Tupper, 15 July, 1907 – 16 August, 1910
• Captain Frederick C. T. Tudor, 16 August, 1910 – 29 May, 1912
• Captain Morgan Singer, 1 June, 1912 – 4 August, 1914
• Captain Cole C. Fowler, 19 August, 1914
• Captain H. Ralph Crooke, 23 March, 1917 – 13 June, 1918
• Captain Robert N. Bax, 13 June, 1918 – 13 June, 1920
• Captain Francis H. Mitchell, 13 June, 1920
• Captain Arthur J. Davies, 18 August, 1922 – 15 August, 1924
• Captain The Hon. Matthew R. Best, 15 August, 1924 – 14 August, 1926
• Captain Charles A. Scott, 20 April, 1928 – 7 May, 1930
• Captain Guy C. C. Royle, 1 May, 1930 – 26 July, 1932
• Captain Arthur F. Pridham, 18 July, 1933 – 3 October, 1935
• Captain Arthur J. Power, 30 October, 1935 – 20 September, 1937
• Captain Harold M. Burrough, 20 September, 1937 – 19 December, 1938
• Captain Arthur F. E. Palliser, 19 December, 1938 – 15 May, 1940
• Captain Eric J. P. Brind, 15 May, 1940 – 2 December, 1940
• Captain Oliver Bevir, 28 November, 1940 – 1 July, 1941
• Captain Herbert A. Packer, 15 June, 1941 – 1 April, 1942
• Captain Robert D. Oliver, 15 January, 1943 – 23 February, 1944
• Captain William G. Agnew, 23 February, 1944 – 3 September, 1945
• Captain William R. Slayter, 3 September, 1945 – 7 January, 1947

See Also

• List of Royal Navy Gunnery Officers

Bibliography

• Lloyd, Christopher (1955). "The Origins of H.M.S. Excellent". The Mariner's Mirror 41 (3): pp. 193-197.
• Young, Robert Travers (1955). The House that Jack Built: The Story of H.M.S. Excellent. Aldershot: Gale & Polden Limited.