Devonshire October November 16

make distinct the two important
aspects of a cadet’s life in service.
At one end is the chapel (the spiritual),
at the other the so-called
gunroom (the temporal). But if you
are looking for guns in the gun
room you will be disappointed.
A gunroom is the junior officers'
mess on a naval vessel and
was originally the quarters of
the gunner. The senior officers'
equivalent is the wardroom where
traditionally naval etiquette
demanded that the three subjects
of politics, religion and ladies
were taboo.
Quite how this works in practice
in wardrooms (or gunrooms) in
today’s Royal Navy is unclear,
where more than ten percent of
all officers nowadays are female:
so too are all ratings.
Officer training for the Women’s
Royal Naval Service - the WRNS
- moved from Greenwich to Dartmouth
in the 1970s and became
fully integrated with the men in
the early 1990s.
Britannia at war
WPO Ellen Whittal outside her
billet at Townstal Pathfields, Dartmouth,
1942. PHOTO Twojays.
But there were many Wrens in
service at Dartmouth during
WW2, one of whom, Petty Officer
Ellen Whittal lost her life in an air
raid - but not before she had been
instrumental in saving the lives
of hundreds of cadets and officers
who had routinely arrived as the
new intake in early September.
Mrs Ellen Victoria Whittal, ʻNella’
to her family, had been instructed
to send letters and telegrams to
each of these men ordering them
to delay their arrival by a week.
Why the change of plan? In the
years following the war the official
line was - and remains - that
putting off the date of starting
the term was simply a means
of adjusting the end of term to
coincide with Christmas leave.
.
But inevitably, speculation and
controversy remain. This start
date for the arrival of the new
intake was a tradition - only
adjusted marginally by leap years
and calendar adjustments.
Had Ellen Whittal not carried out
her orders to the letter, how many
lives would have been lost when
the great gathering place at the
College, called the Quarterdeck,
directly under a roof of several
Images courtesy Britannia Association
hundreds of tons of Delabole slate,
came crashing down?
Six Focke-Wulf 190s launched
their attack at about 11.30 am on
Friday, 18th September 1942, out
of the sun and at low level. They hit
shipping in the river, the shipyard
on the opposite bank and the
College itself. Although 25 people
died that day and more than 40
were injured, Ellen Whittal was
the only person to lose her life in
the College itself.
She was cremated at Plymouth
City Crematorium, and her name
appears on the memorial in Plymouth
(Efford) Cemetery. It reads:
These Members of His Majesty’s
Service Who Died in the Service
of their Country.
Staff and students were moved
to Eaton Hall in Cheshire for the
rest of the war, the damage was
repaired and BRNC taken over
by the US Navy as its HQ in the
run-up to the invasion of Europe
in 1944.
Britannia today
Today’s officer cadets can join
between the ages of 18 and 32 and
spend between 30 and 49 weeks
at the College, depending on specialisation.
A large contingent
of foreign and Commonwealth
students from no fewer than 20
navies can be part of the student
body at Britannia at any one time.
Public tours of the BRNC last about
two and a quarter hours and prebooking
as well as photographic
identity is essential (Passport,
Driving License or Senior Citizen
Bus Pass). Tours start at a pick-up
point in Dartmouth town and
visitors are taken to and fro by
bus. Book through Dartmouth
TIC 01803 834224 or for further
information the Britannia Association
Tours office is most helpful
01803 677565.
FOOTNOTE: Nelson is buried in
the crypt of Saint Paul’s Cathedral,
but Devon honoured Nelson too
in its own way and on Thursday
21st January 1801 made him a
Freeman of the City of Exeter.
First he dined at the Royal Clarence
Hotel and then walked
from Cathedral Square, to stand
proudly beneath the civic clock
just inside the entrance of the
city’s Guildhall, there to be so
proclaimed and presented with a
commemorative sword. But that’s
another story.
John Fisher
hubcast
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