Themes

Under Attack

All of the Royal Dockyards played a vital role during the Second World War, and Portsmouth Dockyard was no exception. As with the First World War the numbers in the Dockyard swelled to cope with the increased workload. By the end of the Second World War in 1945 there were over 22000 workers in the Dockyard.

The Dockyard built, repaired and stocked up the Navy's ships, in as short a time as possible. Portsmouth Dockyard also hosted ally ships from many countries including the USA, the Netherlands, France and Poland.

From the beginning of the war there was a steady flow of work into the Dockyard. Work included repairing damage to ships caused by accidental groundings, collisions and mechanical breakdowns. As the war went on, workers also carried out repairs on ships damaged during conflict. Eventually damaged ships swamped the repair facilities in the yard. Part of the Dockyard's work included converting merchant ships to armed merchant cruisers to guard against commerce raiders.

By 1940, the British were fearful about the threat of invasion. The Commander-in-Chief Naval Home Command received a secret memo on the subject in relation to the Dockyard on 24 May 1940. The Supporting Naval Store Officer circulated the memo below in July 1940 instructing Dockyard workers what to do in the case of an invasion of parachutists.

The Dockyard gave facilities and help to the city of Portsmouth during the Blitz of Portsmouth such as temporarily supplying electrical power from its generating station when the city's own was bombed.