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Astone frigate is a naval establishment on land.
'Stone frigate' is an informal term which has its origin in Britain'sRoyal Navy (RN), after its use ofDiamond Rock, an island offMartinique, as a 'sloop of war' to harass theFrench in 1803–1804. The Royal Navy was prohibited from ruling over land, so the land wascommissioned as a ship. The command of this first stone frigate was given toCommodore Hood's first lieutenant,James Wilkes Maurice, who, with cannon taken off the Commodore's ship, manned it with a crew of 120 until its capture by the French in theBattle of Diamond Rock in 1805.
Until the late 19th century, the Royal Navy housed training and other support facilities inhulks; old woodenships of the line, moored in ports asreceiving ships,depot ships, or floating barracks. TheAdmiralty regarded shore accommodation as expensive, and liable to lead to indiscipline.
As ships began to use increasingly complex technology during the late 19th century, these facilities became too large to continue afloat, and were moved to shore establishments while keeping their former names. An early 'stone frigate' was the engineering training collegeHMS Marlborough (1855), moved ashore toPortsmouth in 1880. The gunnery school continued to be namedHMSExcellent after its move ashore toWhale Island in 1891. ByWorld War I there were about twenty-five 'stone frigates' in theUnited Kingdom.
Under Section 87 of theNaval Discipline Act 1866 (29 & 30 Vict. c. 109),[1] the provisions of the act only applied toofficers andmen of the Royal Navy borne on the books of awarship. When shore establishments began to become more common, it was necessary to allocate the title of the establishment to an actual vessel which became thenominal depot ship for the men allocated to the establishment, and thus ensured they were subject to the provisions of the act.[2] By example, in theImperial fortresscolony ofBermuda, the depot ship permanently berthed at theRoyal Naval Dockyard from 1857 to 1897 wasHMS Terror, which was replaced by the former troopshipHMS Malabar (renamed HMSTerror in 1901). The former HMSMalabar was sold in 1918, following which the name HMSMalabar was applied to the Casemates Naval Barracks in the Royal Naval Dockyard as a stone frigate (under command of theCaptain in Charge of the dockyard) to which all shore personnel at Bermuda, whether belonging to the dockyard, to outlying naval facilities (such asAdmiralty House, Bermuda,Royal Naval Air Station Bermuda, or the Royal Naval wireless station (from 1961,NRS Bermuda) atDaniel's Head), or to minor vessels assigned to the dockyard for local use, were administratively assigned. As a consequence, HMSMalabar was often used interchangeably with HMDockyard Bermuda orRoyal Naval Dockyard Bermuda, and has been often mistaken as referring only to specific subordinate naval facilities in Bermuda, such as the wireless station at Daniel's Head or the Royal Naval Air Station. After the Bermuda dockyard was reduced to a base in the 1950s, the part that continued to operate as a naval base was commissioned as HMSMalabar until 1995.[3]
The use of stone frigates continues in the Royal Navy and some other navies of theCommonwealth of Nations, including theRoyal Canadian Navy, theIndian Navy, theRoyal Australian Navy, and theRoyal New Zealand Navy.
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