In 1588, the ships of the English Navy set sail to attack the Spanish Armada through the mouth of the River Plym, thereby establishing the naval presence in Plymouth.

In 1689 Prince William of Orange became William III and almost immediately required the building of a new dockyard west of Portsmouth. Edmund Dummer, Surveyor of the Royal Navy, travelled to Devon searching for an area where a dockyard could be built; he sent in two estimates for sites, one in Plymouth, Cattewater and one further along the coast, on the Hamoaze, a section of the River Tamar. Having dismissed the Plymouth site as inadequate, he settled on the Hamoaze area which soon became known as Plymouth Dock, later renamed Devonport. On 30 December 1690, a contract was let for a dockyard to be built: the start of Plymouth (later Devonport) Royal Dockyard. Dummer was given responsibility for designing and building the new yard.

At the heart of his new dockyard, Dummer placed a stone-lined basin, giving access to what proved to be the first successful stepped stone dry dock in Europe. Previously the Navy Board had relied upon timber as the building material for dry docks. The docks Dummer designed were stronger with more secure foundations and stepped sides that made it easier for men to work beneath the hull of a docked vessel.

Dummer wished to ensure that naval dockyards were efficient working units that maximised available space, as evidenced by the simplicity of his design layout at Plymouth Dock. He introduced a centralised storage area alongside the basin, and a logical positioning of other buildings around the yard. His double rope house combined the previously separate tasks of spinning and laying while allowing the upper floor to be used for the repair of sails. On high ground overlooking the rest of the yard he built a grand terrace of houses for the senior dockyard officers.

Most of Dummer's buildings and structures were rebuilt over ensuing years, including the basin and dry dock (today known as No. 1 Basin and No. 1 Dock). The terrace survived into the 20th century, but was largely destroyed in the Plymouth Blitz along with several others of Devonport's historic buildings. Just one end section of the terrace survives; dating from 1692–96, it is the earliest surviving building in any royal dockyard.

Thus the Royal Dockyard Devonport has a history going back over 300 years. From its inception, ships were being refitted in the new Dockyard and within twelve months, the first two Devonport Warships built had been launched. Many, many more followed - including some illustrious and historic names HMS ROYAL OAK, HMS WARSPITE and HMS EXETER. The last warship to be launched at Devonport was the frigate HMS SCYLLA, launched in 1968 and completed in 1969. The last large vessel to come off the slip was the Research Vessel Crystal, launched in 1971.

NavyBooks will be publishing its next new book on 13 June 2016 - a revised, updated and reformatted edition of our 1981 book Devonport Built Warships. It includes new images, more details and extended captions for almost every one of the 145 ships built between 1860 and 1971; ships that include illustrious and historic names such as HMS ROYAL OAK, HMS WARSPITE and HMS EXETER.

This book is intended to be the first of several to chronicle the shipbuilding activity of the Royal Dockyards since 1860, a year widely recognised as the beginning of the modern Royal Navy.