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Her Majesty's Naval Base Portsmouth, which also incorporates the area known as HMS ''Nelson'', is a large naval base to the east of the city of Portsmouth on Portsea Island in Hampshire on the south coast of England. It is the largest base of the Royal Navy. It utilises the north eastern area of Portsmouth Harbour. It is operated by the Queen's Harbour Master, Commander K Carter the regulatory authority of the Dockyard Port of Portsmouth, an area of approximately 50 square miles that encompasses Portsmouth Harbour and the Eastern Solent. Shipping movements are handled by a team of admiralty pilots headed by Chief Admiralty Pilot Anthony Bannister.
Functioning base It plays host to a large part of the surface fleet of the Royal Navy including ''Invincible''-class aircraft carriers, Type 42 destroyers, the majority of the Type 23 frigates, fishery protection vessels and two squadrons of mine counter-measures vessels (minesweepers and mine hunters). Most of the vessels based in Portsmouth form part of the Portmouth Flotilla, under the Fleet First reorganisation which saw the three port flotillas replace the frigate & destroyer squadrons and other groupings. In total some 17,200 people work in the base. Until recently it was the base of the Second Sea Lord who flies his flag in HMS ''Victory'', which is the oldest commissioned warship in the world (but was built at Chatham Dockyard). Portsmouth Historic Dockyard In addition to HMS Victory, a portion of the base serves as a maritime museum (now called Portsmouth Historic Dockyard) and plays host to: Across the bay is Gosport, centre of naval munitions at Priddy's Hard and of Royal Navy submarines (HMS Dolphin shore-establishment, and the Royal Navy Submarine Museum). History Along with Chatham, Woolwich, Plymouth and Deptford, it has been one of the main dockyards for the Royal Navy throughout its history. The Tudors Napoleonic Wars From here Nelson, embarking on HMS ''Victory'', left Britain for the final time before his death at the Battle of Trafalgar. Victorian HMS ''Warrior'' Second World War Portsmouth and the Naval Base itself were the headquarters and main departure point for the military and naval units destined for Sword Beach on the Normandy coast as a part of Operation Overlord and the D-Day Landings on June 6 1944 Falklands Task Force{{Main|Falklands War}} In 1982 Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands. In response a task force of British military and merchant ships was dispatched from Portsmouth Naval Base to the island's in the South Atlantic to reclaim the islands for the United Kingdom. The task force comprised of the following: Following some losses, the majority of these ships returned to Portsmouth later that year. Trafalgar 200 In the summer of 2005 Portsmouth Naval Base and the Solent played host to two special events organised with the intention of celebrating the 200th Anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar. These were the International Fleet Review and the International Festival of the Sea (Portsmouth). Further reading | ||||||||
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