Raleigh honours victims of the Blitz

TODAY’S trainee sailors paid tribute to their forebears as the 70th anniversary of HMS Raleigh’s darkest hour was commemorated.

Forty-four sailors and 21 Royal Engineers were killed when a German bomb destroyed their air raid shelter at the Torpoint base on April 28 1941 – during the height of the Blitz on Plymouth.

All 65 fallen are buried at Horson Cemetery in Torpoint, where their graves are maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and are honoured by Raleigh personnel each Remembrance Sunday with a service at the graveyard.

But their sacrifice is also commemorated in the establishment itself with a memorial plaque.

And so on the April 28 2011, trainees and Raleigh staff, led by CO Capt Steve Murdoch, joined chaplain the Rev David Wylie around the monument for a commemorative service.

New RAS'll dazzle them at Raleigh

A NEW £25m mock-up refuelling complex is to be built at HMS Raleigh to meet the demands of 21st Century warships.

Replenishing at Sea – known throughout the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary as ‘RASing’ – is vital to support the operations of Britain’s warships around the globe.

There’s already a replica RAS rig at the Torpoint establishment, where sailors from both the RN and RFA learn the art of transferring fuel, ammunition and general stores from one ship to another in a benign environment ashore.

Raleigh stages mock disaster for medics

"CALM down dear, it's just a doll…"

Casualties comfort each other at HMS Raleigh as doctors and medics from across the South West try to deal with a major disaster.

The Torpoint establishment hosted an exercise for the civilian emergency services to hone their skills coping with a large-scale tragedy – in this instance an explosion aboard a ship.

Oscar winning Sir Ben seeks inspiration at HMS Raleigh

ONE of Britain’s greatest actors spent a day at HMS Raleigh as he sought inspiration for a film.

Oscar-winner Sir Ben Kingsley is looking into a Great War project – and was keen to see one of the Torpoint establishment’s most prized possessions to assist his research.

A century ago boy seaman John Travers Cornwell became one of the country’s most celebrated naval heroes and earned a posthumous Victoria Cross for his actions at Jutland in 1916.

The 16-year-old continued to serve at his post aboard HMS Chester despite his gun receiving four direct hits; when the cruiser withdrew from the battle, Cornwell finally received treatment but succumbed to his wounds in hospital in Grimsby two days after the battle.