HMNB Singapore The Singapore Naval Base (or HMS Sembawang), situated in Sembawang at the northern tip of Singapore, was a Royal Navy Shore establishment as well as being a cornerstone of British Defence policy in the Far East between the World Wars. Originally announced in 1923, the construction of the base proceeded slowly at Sembawang until the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931. It was completed in 1939. The dock covered 21 square miles (54 km2) and had what was then the largest dry dock in the world, the third-largest floating dock, and enough fuel tanks to support the entire British Navy for six months. It was defended by heavy 15-inch naval guns stationed at Johore battery, Changi, and at Buona Vista Battery. Other important batteries of smaller calibre were located at Fort Siloso, Fort Canning, and Labrador. Air defence relied on the Royal Air Force airfields at RAF Tengah and RAF Sembawang. After the fall of Malaya on 31 January, 1942 Singapore came within range of the artillery guns of Imperial Japanese Twenty-fifth Army positioned within sight of the base in Johor, which was poised to capture Singapore within 2 weeks thereafter. The base was subsequently captured, largely intact, by units of the advancing Japanese Army and remained in Japanese control through the end of World War Two. With the surrender of Japan in August, 1945 control of the naval base and Singapore was reverted to British and Commonwealth Forces in September, 1945 when allied units of South East Asia Command started to arrive in Singapore. In line with Royal Navys tradition of naming their respective naval base and dockyard, the accommodation barracks adjacent to the base became known as HMS Terror (from 1945 to 1971) in honour of HMS Terror, an Erebus-class monitor armed with twin 15-inch guns, which was based at one time in Singapore before the war. Since 1972, part of the compound is now occupied by the Republic of Singapore Navys Naval Diving Unit. With the complete withdrawal of British forces from Singapore in 1971, the Naval Base has since been handed over to the Singapore government, which in 1968 converted it into a commercial dockyard (as Sembawang Shipyard, now part of Singapore Exchange-listed SembCorp Marine). However, the British Ministry Of Defence continues to maintain a small logistics base at Sembawang wharf in order to control most of the foreign military activities there, which includes repair, refuel and resupply for ships of the Australian, British and New Zealand navies as well as those from other Commonwealth countries under the auspices of Five Power Defence Arrangements. As part of a 1990 agreement (concluded in 1992) between Singapore and the United States, American military forces (primarily navy and air force) have been making use of Sembawangs base facilities. The Task Force Commander, Logistics Group Western Pacific, has been headquartered in Sembawang since 1992, providing logistic support for the U.S. 7th Fleet in its operations in the Pacific and Southeast Asia.
Posted on: Wed, 22 Oct 2014 10:27:49 +0000
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