A welcome return ‘home’ for navy's raw recruits

There is something strangely rather comforting about what’s going on at HMS Collingwood at the moment. In case you had not realised, there has been a renaissance in the Royal Navy’s fortunes in recent years.

There has been a huge investment of public money in, first, a new generation of destroyers. Soon there will also be a raft of sparkly new frigates.

And of course, and putting leaks to one side for now, there are the Senior Service’s spectacular flagships, the two aircraft carriers HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales. Both based in Portsmouth, the home of the Royal Navy.

But what that home of the Royal Navy has peculiarly been lacking for years is a basic training base. Why on earth Portsmouth and its hinterland has not been deemed suitable to take civilians and turn them into sailors has been beyond most of us.

But at last that missing link has made a welcome return. Baby steps they might be but 22 men and women have arrived at HMS Collingwood at Fareham to be converted from civvy street to service life. In all, 500 will be turned into sailors there this year.

And it seems to be a Covid-19 spin-off.

T he reason for Collingwood’s partial conversion to a basic training centre – just as it was 80 years ago – is that the navy is being swamped by young people wanting to join its ranks.

It seems they are seeking the relative security of a military career in these uncertain times.

In the past 18 months, nearly 6,000 people have applied to become officers and applications to become a rating or join the marines rose from 14,700 to nearly 19,000.

It was not so long ago the navy was worried it did not have enough sailors to keep those two new carriers operational. It will do soon and largely thanks to the home of the Royal Navy.