page_title: Royal Navy Dockyard
section_title: 16th century
hierarchical_section_title: Royal Navy Dockyard / United Kingdom dockyards / 16th century
caption_attribution_description: English: The Historic Dockyard, Chatham across Mast Pond This large attraction in Chatham. See http://www.chdt.org.uk/ for more details. Seen from North Pondside Road, near the Ramada Hotel. "Before they were prepared, the tall pine or fir timbers used for masts were kept in the ponds, potentially for decades, so they wouldn't become brittle and easily breakable as the resin dried. Brick arches kept the masts completely submerged in lime-treated water which prevented creatures from damaging the wood." See http://www.johnsmilitaryhistory.com/chatham.html for more details on the dockyard. Wikidata has entry Q17649580 with data related to this item.This is a photo of listed building number 1003382.
context_page_description: Royal Navy Dockyards were state-owned harbour facilities where ships of the Royal Navy were built, based, repaired and refitted. Throughout its history, the Royal Navy has made extensive use of private shipyards, both at home and abroad; but at the same time it also had a policy of establishing and maintaining its own dockyard facilities. Portsmouth was the first; it was followed by Deptford, Woolwich, Chatham and others. By the 18th century, Britain had a string of these state-owned naval dockyards, located not just around the country but across the world; each yard was sited close to a safe harbour or anchorage used by the fleet. Most Royal Dockyards had a dual function, providing for both ship building and ship maintenance. Over time, they accrued additional on-site facilities for the support, training and accommodation of naval personnel.
  For centuries, in this way, the name and concept of a Royal Dockyard was largely synonymous with that of a naval base.
context_section_description: Woolwich Dockyard (1512) Important shipbuilding centre, 16th–17th centuries. Became a specialist steam yard 1831. Closed 1869.
  Erith Dockyard (1512) Erith Dockyard was used as an advance base for routine maintenance before ships were transferred to Deptford Dockyard. It closed due to persistent flooding in 1521. However, according to naval historian Nicholas A. M. Rodger although Erith dockyard closed it was an important center of naval administration of the English Navy from 1514 into the 1540s.
  Deptford Dockyard (1513) Important shipbuilding centre, 16th-17th centuries. Experimental yard for new technology, early nineteenth century. Closed 1869. (The adjacent victualling yard, which supplied the Thames and Medway yards, remained open for a further 98 years.)
  Chatham Dockyard (1567) The leading Royal Dockyard during the 16th–17th centuries, when the Fleet was principally based in and around the River Medway. Began to suffer from silting in the eighteenth century, but remained active. During the nineteenth century, other more accessible yards led on fleet repairs and maintenance, while Chatham focused more on shipbuilding. The following century, it specialised in building submarines. In 1960 the adjacent Royal Navy barracks and facilities were closed; the Dockyard itself closed in 1984. (Today the site is preserved as Chatham Historic Dockyard.)
caption: Shipbuilding slips at Chatham
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