Hornet Sailing Club Brief History

Haslar Bridge Circa 1921, from site of Hornet Sailing Club

The Hornet Sailing Club  is affiliated to the Royal Naval Sailing Association (RNSA). It is situated in Haslar Creek, Gosport, Hampshire, United Kingdom, on land leased from the Royal Navy. Members are either serving or retired members of the Royal Navy who live in the area, and come from all ranks. The club was formed/evolved, after the Royal Navy disbanded Coastal Forces, and HMS Hornet was closed in 1956.

The original wooden Wardroom and Captain's quarters are still maintained and form the comfortable club house which is now well attended by members and visiting yachtsmen and women. After the MTB's were moved to HMS Dolphin in 1956 all that remained were the torpedo recovery vessel and a floating 'shed' nicknamed the 'Ark' together with a small team of civilians who used the workshops to support the remaining MTB's. The concrete central finger pier and apron, which have been certified unusable for supporting traffic or heavy weights, were originally built in 1955, just before HMS Hornet was decommissioned.

With tacit approval of The Queens Harbour Master, a growing number of local naval personnel began to keep their yachts moored at Hornet and by 1962 the ex-German yachts Merlin, Sehexe and Suna were moored with the dozen or so other yachts. A proposal was put forward to form a Naval Yacht Club and tentative approval was given in 1962. The Club got off to a slow start through lack of funds and as a consequence a berthing fee of �20 was set per annum. Facilities were almost non existent. The pontoons were rescued from the navy when discarded and lacked adequate connecting rings and cleats. Apart from this they were huge affairs, built for ships rather than yachts.

In May of 1964, the club was formerly opened, and not surprisingly, a flood of applications for berths rolled in and it became necessary to establish ground rules. With limited space available, motor yachts would be excluded and there would be no living on board. Membership was limited to RNSA members with at least two years standing to prevent anyone joining the RNSA just to get a Hornet berth.

In 1969 the MTB workshop was finally closed and the torpedo recovery vessel was decommissioned and by 1970 there were about 120 established yachts berthed at Hornet. The first of the original wooden piers were demolished, and the large slip cradles were cut in half to make them suitable for yachts - In fact these lasted until the mid nineties before being replaced by a 'Wyse' hoist, hauled by tractor.

1972 saw a huge change. The Joint Services Sailing Centre was born and moved into Hornet. The club ran the risk of losing the site it had worked hard to develop, in the first instance to JSSC and in the second to members of the other two services. Fortunately, the club survived and has lived alongside JSSC since. A compromise was made with the Army and Royal Air Force and eight regimental and four RAF establishment together with a number of local RN yachts have been allocated berthing within Hornet. The club has been helped by the number of visiting service personnel, who take advantage of the opportunity to sail with JSSC. It was at this time that the JSSC took delivery of nine Nicholson 55's, nine Contessa 32's and nine Halcyon 27's. These were all moored in a well restored area of Hornet with new piles and pontoons.

In 1976 a programme of purchasing new pontoons was implemented, and after a fairly disastrous start using concrete floats, Walcon started production and there followed a steady replacement plan of the dockyard rejects.

The Submarine Museum was established in 1980 and as a result the club lost a lot of land required for public car parking and access to the museum. Throughout the eighties what still remained of the club facilities has been kept in good condition and developed up to the present day.

By the mid eighties the old MTB slip hauling winch gave up the ghost, probably as a result of being used in the operation to mount the Alliance submarine on its cradle. This led to the club making a decision, quite brave at the time, to purchase a tractor. This has proved to be great success.

JSSC became Joint Services Adventurous Sail Training Centre (JSASTC) in 1991 when they sold off their Contessa 32's and Halcyons. These were replaced with the fifteen Victoria 34's lovingly named the Mollusk Fleet as a result of their naming convention.

 SHIPS BEARING THE NAME HMS HORNET

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This page was last updated on Wednesday, December 28, 2011 14:56 by Richard Spencer.