H.M.S.Ganges

Wisdom is Strength

The first Royal Navy ship to bear the name of HMS Ganges was, launched on 30 March 1782 at Rotherhithe. She was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line. Present at the Battle of Copenhagen of 1801 and again at the Battle of Copenhagen 1807. Commissioned as a prison ship on 12 December 1811 for holding prisoners of war, she was broken up in 1816 at Plymouth.

From 1857–61, she was the flagship of the Pacific Station, based at Valparaiso, Chile. Thus she became the last sailing ship of the Royal Navy to serve as a flagship. In1865 she became a training ship for boys at Falmouth; moving to Harwich in 1899.The Ships company was moved ashore into the stone frigate named `The Royal Naval Training Establishment Shotley` on 4th. October 1905.

In 1906, HMS.Ganges was renamed HMS Tenedos III, in August, 1910, was renamed HMS Indus V. In October 1922, she was renamed as HMS Impregnable III, before finally being broken up at Plymouth in 1930.It was decided by 1927 that RNTE Shotley would be renamed after the original training ship and she was re-commissioned as HMS Ganges that year.

With the outbreak of the Second World War HMS Ganges was closed as a boys training ship. Boys training was moved to H.M.S. St.George on 16 May 1940. H.M.S. Ganges then opened for 'Hostilities Only Training'. By the end of the war 60,968 ratings had been trained. H.M.S.Ganges re-opened as a boys' training ship in October 1945. HMS Ganges, ceased to be a boys training ship on 6th. June 1976. The site than became a Police training center.