Dates: 1940 - 1947

HMS Ferret was a shore establishment and naval base of the Royal Navy during the Second World War, located in Londonderry. It was given a ship’s name as a stone frigate.

With the outbreak of the Second World War and the start of the Battle of the Atlantic, the Admiralty decided to develop a large new naval base in Northern Ireland to serve as a base for convoy escorts, providing repair and refuelling facilities. Londonderry was selected as a prime location, as being the UK’s most westerly port it provided the fastest access into the Atlantic. Royal Navy warships could then quickly come to the aid of convoys under attack by German U-boats, and help to escort the convoys in and out of British ports.

The old Ebrington Barracks were taken over by the navy and commissioned on 9 December 1940 as HMS Ferret. The shipyard at Pennyburn was also taken over as "Fort George", and used as a ship repair facility, manned by workers from the Harland and Wolff yards at Belfast. Ships based at Ferret were under the control of Western Approaches Command, located in Plymouth for the early part of the war. The main headquarters for the Western Approaches Command was moved to Liverpool in February 1941 as the North Western Approaches became the most vital area of convoy activity. Ferret was then the backup for the Liverpool headquarters, with the other main bases in the area being at Greenock, and later at Belfast. The organisational function of Ferret was to form escort groups of the warships based there, mostly small destroyers, frigates, corvettes and armed trawlers. From 1 February 1941 these craft had a separate accounting system from the main base. By 1942 this system had been extended to handle the accounts of Royal Navy ships based at St’ John’s and Argentia. A Coastal Forces base was established in April 1941, under the name HMS Ferret II.

View your bookmarks