19th century

The British Navy arrived during the First Opium War to protect the opium traders. Sir Edward Belcher, aboard HMS Sulphur landed in Hong Kong on 25 January 1841.^[1] Possession Street still exists to mark the event,^[1] although its Chinese name is 水坑口街 ("Mouth of the ditch Street").

Naval Dockyard buildings (centre), Queen's Road, 1894

Commodore Sir Gordon Bremer raised the Union Jack and claimed Hong Kong as a colony on 26 January 1841.^[1] Naval store sheds were erected there in April 1841.^[2] The site had been referred to as the "HM Victualling Yard" in the Navy's own register.^[3] The first naval storekeeper and agent victualler, Thomas McKnight, appointed on 21 March 1842, served until October 1849. Early maps show that major construction was also carried out at another, slightly more westward site, between 1845 and 1855.^[2] In fact, the naval authorities demolished the West Point store sheds and surrendered the land to the colonial government in 1854 in exchange for a plot of land where the Admiralty station of the Mass Transit Railway stands.^[4]

The Second Opium War in China (1856–1860) caused a military build-up, in which the yard expanded westwards in April 1858. A victualling yard was added at what was then the North Barracks. Two officers were initially appointed as responsible for the machinery and spare parts, respectively, needed to maintain and repair ships in the dockyard, and for dry goods and foodstuff in the victualling yard.^[4]

HMS Tamar, was a 3,650 ton British troopship laid down in 1862^[5] and launched in 1863. She first visited Hong Kong in 1878 with reliefs crews, returned once in 1886.^[4] She finally arrived in Victoria City on 11 April 1897.^[1] She was stationed permanently in the harbour from 1897 to 1941, when she was scuttled during the Battle of Hong Kong during World War II, to avoid being used by the invading Japanese Imperial forces.

20th century

HMS Tamar (white vessel) anchored off the Naval Dockyard (1905)

The Prince of Wales Building, the main headquarters building of HMS Tamar from 1978 to 1997

A plaque engraved with the crest of HMS Tamar. Collected by Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence

At the turn of the 20th century, land adjacent to the site was needed for expansion. Unable to obtain it, as the site was surrounded by army barracks, the Navy began work on the construction of a floating basin (sheltered bay) and the reclamation of the east arm of the dockyard, in 1902. This project, involving 160,000 square metres of land reclamation, a 36,000 square metre floating basin to repair and refit vessels afloat, and also a 183-metre graving dock,^[4] was completed by 1908.^[3]

At the end of World War II, the Royal Navy re-established their naval base at Wellington Barracks, vacated by the British Army.^[6]

On 28 November 1957, the Navy announced that the dockyard would be closed down over a 2-year period. However, in 1959, the Navy, which had retained some land on the waterfront, began planning a compact naval base on the site.^[3]

From 1959 to 1962, the Wellington Barracks were upgraded to better serve the colony and reflect the changing times for the Royal Navy in the Pacific region. Old naval buildings were demolished, and the rubble used as landfill for the reclamation of the dry dock in October 1959.^[3]

The Royal Navy decided to demolish the Wellington Barracks and build a modern naval facility in Hong Kong. The Prince of Wales Building was completed in 1978 and became the headquarters of the new naval base, HMS Tamar.

Shortly before the departure of British forces in 1997, the Tamar basin was reclaimed, and the People's Liberation Army of the People's Republic of China occupied the Prince of Wales Building (now Chinese People's Liberation Army Forces Hong Kong Building, or collectively with other buildings and the area enclosed by walls, the Central Barracks).

HM Naval Base was relocated to the northern side of Stonecutter's Island, off Kowloon, prior to the handover in 1997. On 11 April 1997, just over a hundred years since HMS Tamar's definitive arrival for service as a base depot ship (the Tamar had arrived in Hong Kong for conversion on 30 September 1895) and just under a century after her commissioning on 1 October 1897, the British naval shore establishment in Hong Kong was de-commissioned.

The last HMS Tamar on Stonecutters Island is now a government marine facility, now known as the Government Dockyard. The vacated site in Central, Hong Kong Central, now known as the Tamar site, became a valuable piece of real estate and after much debate as to how to best use the site has now become the location of the new Hong Kong Government's Central Government Complex.

Commodore-in-Charge, Hong Kong

Post holders included:^[7]

• Commodore Oliver J. Jones: March 1866 – December 1869
• Commodore John A.P. Price: December 1869 – September 1870
• Commodore Francis H. Shortt: September 1870 – August 1873
• Commodore John E. Parish: August 1873 – March 1876
• Commodore George W. Watson: March 1876 – March 1879
• Commodore Thomas E. Smith: March 1879 – May 1881
• Commodore William H. Cuming: May 1881 – February 1884
• Commodore George Digby Morant: February 1884 – February 1887
• Commodore William H. Maxwell: February 1887 – December 1888
• Commodore Edmund J. Church: December 1888 – December 1891
• Commodore Henry St.L. Bury Palliser: December 1891 – June 1893
• Commodore George T.H. Boyes: June 1893 – July 1896
• Commodore Swinton C. Holland: July 1896 – March 1899
• Commodore Francis Powell: March 1899 – March 1902
• Commodore Charles G. Robinson: March 1902 – February 1904
• Commodore Charles Gauntlett Dicken: February 1904 – September 1905
• Commodore Hugh P. Williams: September 1905 – April 1907
• Commodore Robert H.S. Stokes: April 1907 – October 1908
• Commodore Herbert Lyon: October 1908 – July 1910
• Commodore Cresswell J. Eyres: July 1910 – July 1912
• Rear-Admiral Robert H. Anstruther: July 1912 – May 1916 (as Rear-Admiral-in-Charge, Hong Kong)
• Commodore Henry G.G. Sandeman: May 1916 – May 1918
• Commodore Victor G. Gurner: May 1918 – June 1920
• Commodore William Bowden-Smith: June 1920 – June 1922
• Commodore Henry E. Grace: June 1922 – October 1924
• Commodore Anselan J.B.Stirling: October 1924 – November 1926
• Commodore John L. Pearson: November 1926 – October 1928
• Commodore Richard A. S. Hill: October 1928 – November 1930
• Commodore Arthur H. Walker: November 1930 – August 1932
• Commodore Edward McC. W. Lawrie: August 1932 – June 1933
• Commodore Frank Elliott: July 1933 – April 1935
• Commodore Cyril G.Sedgwick: April 1935 – April 1937
• Commodore Edward B.C.Dicken: April 1937 – April 1939
• Commodore Arthur M. Peters: April 1939 – November 1940 (as Commodore-in-Charge, Naval Establishments, Hong Kong)
• Commodore Alfred C. Collinson: November 1940 – December 1941
• Commodore Douglas H. Everett: August 1945 – June 1947
• Commodore Charles L. Robertson: June 1947 – June 1949
• Commodore Leslie N. Brownfield: June 1949 – July 1951
• Commodore Harold G. Dickinson: July 1951 – July 1953
• Commodore Anthony H. Thorold: July 1953 – June 1955
• Commodore John H. Unwin: June 1955 – March 1957
• Commodore G. David A. Gregory: March 1957 – April 1960
• Commodore Adrian R.L. Butler: April 1960 – October 1962
• Commodore George O.Symonds: November 1962 – February 1965
• Commodore Frank D. Holford: February 1965 – January 1967
• Commodore Thomas H.P. Wilson: January 1967 – October 1968
• Commodore Philip R.C. Higham: October 1968 – July 1970
• Commodore Roger E.S. Wykes-Sneyd: July 1970 – August 1972
• Commodore John K. Stevens: August 1972 – August 1973
• Commodore John A.G. Evans: August 1973 – October 1975

Captain-in-Charge, Hong Kong

Post holders included:^[8]

• Captain Richard L. Garnons-Williams: October 1975 – March 1978
• Captain Robert W. Moland: March 1978 – June 1980
• Captain Andrew A. Waugh: June 1980 – June 1982
• Captain Frederick A. Collins: June 1982 – March 1985
• Captain Christopher W. Gotto: March 1985 – July 1987
• Captain Peter Dalrymple-Smith: July 1987 – January 1990
• Captain Michael C. Gordon Lennox: January 1990 – 1992
• Captain Thomas L.M. Sunter: 1992–1994
• Captain Peter J. Melson: 1994–1995
• Captain Andrew K. Steele: 1995–1996