Volume Six - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - Select Aspects - The Royal Navy and Royal Naval Reserve Fleet at Penarth Dock

Two years ago (1952) a start was made to lay up ships in reserve in various commercial ports round the coasts, where they are dehumidified and economically looked after by civilian shipbuilding firms. These ships are dehumidified and so the amount of work required is small, and this deployment scheme has resulted already in savings of several thousand officers and ratings who would have otherwise have to be employed looking after these ships in the Home Ports.

Another important aspect of the work of the Reserve Fleet is that of taking over from their builders the many small craft now being delivered - coastal and inshore minesweepers, seaward defence boats and fast patrol boats of various types. The work of ferrying them form the builders to H.M.S. Diligence or Hornet, putting on board their armament and equipment and carrying out trials, and subsequently preserving those destined for reserve is all part of the Reserve Fleet's task. The old B.O.A.C. Flying-Boat Base on Southampton Water was commissioned as H.M.S. Diligence for this purpose, while a section of H.M.S. Hornet deals with some of the craft.

At present the Reserve Fleet is very short-handed, and the work is hard and often monotonous, but there is a constant search for new and more efficient methods to save work and improve the preservation of the ships and their gear. Those who serve in the Reserve Fleet would much rather be getting ships ready for service than laying them up in the state our forefathers called "in-ordinary," but the importance of the task is realised and there is plenty of determination to finish the job.' Portsmouth Navy News [262] October 1954.

The Naval Review [097] No. 1 Vol. XLII. of February 1954 reported upon the future of the Reserve Fleet stating:

“By the beginning of 1953, some 300 ships and major landing craft were being looked after by an authorised complement of about 8,500 men; thus some 6% of the men were looking after 50% of the ships in the Navy.”

The report outlined many aspects of the Reserve Fleet including defect lists, rationed refits and methods of preservation. It goes on the state: “It must be recognised that these little ships are delicate and very expensive” and that they require “refitting annually and docked or slipped every 6 months.”