It’s about time that I said a bit about Boathouse 4 and its history, and about the Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust and its links with IBTC Portsmouth.

Boathouse 4 is the last boathouse built for the Royal Navy.  It was constructed between 1938 – 40 – the only boathouse to be built in a home dockyard during the rapid rearmament period of the 1930s.

The building was originally to be built in two phases. The second phase would have extended it to Victory Gate, making it at least twice its current size. It was intended for Phase 1 to be fully operational before Phase 2 commenced, so a temporary corrugated steel wall was erected on the southern side. However, the Second World War broke out before Phase 1 was complete and, as a result, Phase 2 was never built – the temporary wall became permanent, and is still to be seen today. Whether true or not, holes in this corrugated steel wall are said by some to be bullet holes from marauding Messerschmidt fighters.

Boathouse 4 has its own dock, from which boats can be lifted onto the boathouse floor with the gantry cranes, some of which still have their WW2 camouflage. On the other side of the building is a canal with lock gate – the canal continues under the main road of the dockyard to the mast pond, where spars were soaked. With a thin metal sheet wall, and two areas of water open to the harbour and the prevailing winds, it’s no wonder that Boathouse 4 is perishingly cold in the winter. Ah, the joys of the boatbuilder’s life!

In 1941-43 it is believed that the building was involved in the construction of the secret prototype three-man midget submarine X4 and later X-craft developments. King George VI noted in his diaries that he secretly visited the Dockyard to view the X4 project. X-Craft were deployed to neutralise the German battleship Tirpitz in 1943. 

After a major refurbishment of Boathouse 4 in 2014/5 commissioned by the Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust, the IBTC Portsmouth was duly established in 2015 – as an independent registered charity. However, it found itself unable to secure sufficient funding streams to make it viable, and ceased operating in August 2017. Certain assets were sold to Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust, which took over the college.

In 2017, the Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust was granted £2.4m in LIBOR funding by the Chancellor for its Memorial Fleet project. The project’s aim is to create an operational Memorial Fleet of small craft which have played a significant role in the defence of the nation during the 20th century. (LIBOR funding comes from fines levied on the banking industry for manipulating the LIBOR rate, and has being used to support “those that represent the best of values,” in particular military and emergency services charities and other related good causes.)

The Trust’s Memorial Fleet project comprises: the First World War Armed Steam Cutter Falmouth, which served aboard the cruiser HMS Falmouth in 1916 and is one of only two known Jutland survivors to still exist; Foxtrot 8, a landing craft formerly aboard HMS Fearless which took part in the Falklands conflict; High Speed Launch 102 (HSL 102); and the Second World War Motor Gun Boat 81 (MGB 81). There is also a collection of other historic craft, including Cyclops, a 1916 workboat belonging to the World War 1 battleship Royal Sovereign, which is currently being worked upon.

In addition, a replica is currently being built of Coastal Motor Boat 4 (CMB 4) which, under the command of Lt Augustus Agar, sank the Bolshevik cruiser Oleg in 1919. This most extraordinary Thornycroft designed 40 ft torpedo boat is worthy of its own blog post in due course. The only remaining original example of the CMBs is about to be moved to Boathouse 4 from the Imperial War Museum Duxford.

Boathouse 4 is free to visit (there’s only a fee for visiting HMS Warrior, HMS Victory and the Mary Rose Museum). There’s lots to see, and you can see me and the other students at work on the the boathouse floor. There are tours at 1400 daily with a volunteer, and I can also give friends and family a tour of the floor too.