Portland Naval Communication Headquarters
The Portland Naval Communication Headquarters is a former underground naval headquarters and communications centre of World War II origin at the rear of the former Royal Navy dockyard. The former headquarters is now the private property of Portland Port Ltd and has not been opened to the public.
History
With the outbreak of World War II in 1939, plans were developed for a naval headquarters and communications centre to be constructed at Portland. In order to protect the centre from potential air raids, it was to be built underground into the hillside at the rear of the naval dockyard. The contractors, Sir Robert McAlpine, began work in 1940, excavating two pairs of entrance tunnels to provide access to a series of rooms from where the centre's operations would take place. In addition to the centre, work also commenced on a nearby fuel storage facility, which was also based underground, above C Battery of the East Weare Batteries. The centre was completed by 1941 and was designated a sub-command of the Commander in Chief, Portsmouth at Fort Southwick, which itself was completed the following year as a naval control centre for wartime use.
The two pairs of entrance tunnels formed into single tunnels twenty yards into the hillside. After a further fifty yards, the tunnels reached their respective airlocks, with the control centre beyond. The centre featured a series of rooms set out in a rectangular shape, with an extension on the south side to house the ventilator and standby generator. The rooms included a naval operations room, staff room, military plotting room, wireless telegraphy office, signal distribution office, a teleprinters room, and a messengers and telephones section. Although extensions and layout revision plans were made in 1943-44, they never came to fruition.
With the allied victory of World War II in 1945, the centre was reduced to care and maintenance. Later in 1952, in the face of the Cold War, the centre underwent refurbishment and was transformed into a standby headquarters in the event of a nuclear attack. As part of the work, the original partition walls were removed and a new room layout installed. The original operations room and staff room was transformed into a teleprinter room, plotting room and staff office. The wireless telegraphy office, signal distribution office and teleprinters room were now a signal office and coders with additional office space. The messengers and telephones section became a telephone exchange, and a cypher room, while the military plotting room became a series of seven smaller offices.
Placed under the control of the Naval Officer in Charge (NOIC), the headquarters remained in a state of readiness and was expected to be operational within eight weeks if required. During the 1960s, with the formation of the Royal Naval Auxiliary Service in 1963, some of the centre's rooms were occupied by the RNXS for a short period. The centre was abandoned in the late 1960s. Portland Port Ltd became the new owners of the centre in 1996, following the closure of HM Naval Base Portland.
Modern state
Nick Catford of Subterranea Britannica inspected the site in September 2004 and reported that tunnels remained in "extremely good condition", but were generally damp. The tunnels as they remain today have been largely stripped of all original fixtures and fittings. The ventilation and filtration plant, including trunking and electrical control equipment is still in place with ventilation trunking running into some of the rooms. A remaining concrete engine bed indicates the position of the standby generator. By 2014, a makeshift storage yard had almost completely covered one of the tunnel entrances outside.
Following an inspection of the centre in 2017, Historic England noted that the "tunnel complex survives well", but added that "the extent of alteration has diminished their interest and integrity".
References
The following is an A-Z list of references for this page.
1) Atlantik Wall - Portland Underground Fuel Depot - website page
2) Heritage Gateway - East Weare's C19 and C20 military structures: Portland naval communications headquarters - website page
3) Military Dorset Today: Second World War Scenes and Settings That Can Still Be Seen 50 Years On - Colin A. Pomeroy - Silver Link Publishing Ltd. - 1995 - ISBN: 978-1857940770 - page 21 - book
4) Subterranea Britannica Gallery - Portland underground Naval Headquarters and communications centre - Nick Catford - 2004 - page 1 of 2 - website page
5) Subterranea Britannica Gallery - Portland underground Naval Headquarters and communications centre - Nick Catford - 2004 - page 2 of 2 - website page
6) Subterranea Britannica Report - Portland underground Naval Headquarters and communications centre - Nick Catford - 2004 - page 1 of 2 - website page
7) Subterranea Britannica Report - Portland underground Naval Headquarters and communications centre - Nick Catford - 2004 - page 2 of 2 - website page
8) The Urban Explorer - Underground Naval HQ & Communications Centre - website page
History
With the outbreak of World War II in 1939, plans were developed for a naval headquarters and communications centre to be constructed at Portland. In order to protect the centre from potential air raids, it was to be built underground into the hillside at the rear of the naval dockyard. The contractors, Sir Robert McAlpine, began work in 1940, excavating two pairs of entrance tunnels to provide access to a series of rooms from where the centre's operations would take place. In addition to the centre, work also commenced on a nearby fuel storage facility, which was also based underground, above C Battery of the East Weare Batteries. The centre was completed by 1941 and was designated a sub-command of the Commander in Chief, Portsmouth at Fort Southwick, which itself was completed the following year as a naval control centre for wartime use.
The two pairs of entrance tunnels formed into single tunnels twenty yards into the hillside. After a further fifty yards, the tunnels reached their respective airlocks, with the control centre beyond. The centre featured a series of rooms set out in a rectangular shape, with an extension on the south side to house the ventilator and standby generator. The rooms included a naval operations room, staff room, military plotting room, wireless telegraphy office, signal distribution office, a teleprinters room, and a messengers and telephones section. Although extensions and layout revision plans were made in 1943-44, they never came to fruition.
With the allied victory of World War II in 1945, the centre was reduced to care and maintenance. Later in 1952, in the face of the Cold War, the centre underwent refurbishment and was transformed into a standby headquarters in the event of a nuclear attack. As part of the work, the original partition walls were removed and a new room layout installed. The original operations room and staff room was transformed into a teleprinter room, plotting room and staff office. The wireless telegraphy office, signal distribution office and teleprinters room were now a signal office and coders with additional office space. The messengers and telephones section became a telephone exchange, and a cypher room, while the military plotting room became a series of seven smaller offices.
Placed under the control of the Naval Officer in Charge (NOIC), the headquarters remained in a state of readiness and was expected to be operational within eight weeks if required. During the 1960s, with the formation of the Royal Naval Auxiliary Service in 1963, some of the centre's rooms were occupied by the RNXS for a short period. The centre was abandoned in the late 1960s. Portland Port Ltd became the new owners of the centre in 1996, following the closure of HM Naval Base Portland.
Modern state
Nick Catford of Subterranea Britannica inspected the site in September 2004 and reported that tunnels remained in "extremely good condition", but were generally damp. The tunnels as they remain today have been largely stripped of all original fixtures and fittings. The ventilation and filtration plant, including trunking and electrical control equipment is still in place with ventilation trunking running into some of the rooms. A remaining concrete engine bed indicates the position of the standby generator. By 2014, a makeshift storage yard had almost completely covered one of the tunnel entrances outside.
Following an inspection of the centre in 2017, Historic England noted that the "tunnel complex survives well", but added that "the extent of alteration has diminished their interest and integrity".
References
The following is an A-Z list of references for this page.
1) Atlantik Wall - Portland Underground Fuel Depot - website page
2) Heritage Gateway - East Weare's C19 and C20 military structures: Portland naval communications headquarters - website page
3) Military Dorset Today: Second World War Scenes and Settings That Can Still Be Seen 50 Years On - Colin A. Pomeroy - Silver Link Publishing Ltd. - 1995 - ISBN: 978-1857940770 - page 21 - book
4) Subterranea Britannica Gallery - Portland underground Naval Headquarters and communications centre - Nick Catford - 2004 - page 1 of 2 - website page
5) Subterranea Britannica Gallery - Portland underground Naval Headquarters and communications centre - Nick Catford - 2004 - page 2 of 2 - website page
6) Subterranea Britannica Report - Portland underground Naval Headquarters and communications centre - Nick Catford - 2004 - page 1 of 2 - website page
7) Subterranea Britannica Report - Portland underground Naval Headquarters and communications centre - Nick Catford - 2004 - page 2 of 2 - website page
8) The Urban Explorer - Underground Naval HQ & Communications Centre - website page
Gallery
Photographs of the headquarters both exterior and interior can be seen on Nick Catford's Subterranea Britannica page by clicking here.