HMS Tamar was the name for the British Royal Navy's base in Hong Kong from 1897 to 1997. It took its name from HMS Tamar, a ship that was used as the base until replaced by buildings ashore.
LAUNCHED IN LONDON in June 1863, HMS Tamar first arrived in Hong Kong in 1878, bringing relief crews to British ships based in what was called the China Station. In 1897, she formally replaced HMS Victor Emmanuel as the city's receiving ship and was converted from a seagoing vessel to a hulk: a floating accommodation and office block that would be the administrative headquarters for the British naval presence in Hong Kong.
Her white hull, three masts and distinctive awning roof can be seen in many panoramic photographs and paintings of the harbour from 1897 onwards; the ship remained a permanent feature until the dramatic events of December 1941.
First-hand accounts published by local historian Tony Banham and his website, Hong Kong War Diary help recreate the events of December 11 and 12, 1941, when, amid thick smoke, relentless gunfire, civilian panic, air raids and an intensive naval evacuation of Kowloon, Commodore A.C. Collinson ordered the scuttling of HMS Tamar, to avoid the ship falling into enemy hands.
"At 2100 hours ordered to sink Tamar, which had been moved to buoy in the harbour. It was a very dark night with no lights anywhere, so a hazardous operation to fire torpedoes. Apart from trying to avoid junks without lights and harbour buoys I was fired on from Hong Kong side. I fired one torpedo without success …" (11 December 1941. Lieutenant Laurence D Kilbee HKRNVR [Hong Kong Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve], commanding officer of Motor Torpedo Boat 08 (MTB 08).
The torpedo idea was abandoned and instead explosive charges were laid the next day.
Unfortunately, the superstructure that had been added to Tamar created an airlock and the old ship remained defiantly semi-submerged as the battle raged. The Royal Artillery had to finish her off, and she finally sank to the bottom, leaving her three masts exposed.
"Later, I was talking to one of the dockyard policemen who had done the job and he told me that it was fantastic to see the number of rats leaving the sinking ship." (Mrs. S Briggs, the wife of a naval officer serving in HMS Scout).
In addition to HMS Tamar, the British military also established barracks onshore, one of which was, Wellington Barracks, located on the waterfront of Hong Kong Island, to the east of Garden Road. The barracks housed a gold-coloured bell to help keep time at the military base. It was this very bell that gave Admiralty its name in Chinese (金鐘; literally "Golden Bell")
On 7 September 1945, following the end of the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong at the end of World War II, the Royal Navy re-established their naval base, the HMS Tamar at Wellington Barracks, vacated by the British Army.
As Hong Kong began to expand over the years, the presence of the barracks proved to be problematic. This was because it divided Central and Wan Chai, since development on the site of the barracks was not permitted. This forced developers to construct commercial and residential complexes solely to the east of the barracks in Queen's Road East.[ As a result, the Government of Hong Kong repeatedly attempted to obtain the site from the military to unite the two districts, but to no avail.
In 1959, the Hong Kong Government paid HK$24 million to the War Department for the release of the land of the Wellington Battery area.
Eventually, the military relented and handed back the land to the government in the late 1970s. Both the Wellington and Victoria Barracks were demolished in the mid-1980s. The new Pacific Place was built on a fraction of the land previously occupied by Victoria Barracks, opening in 1990. The site of Wellington Barracks was replaced by Harcourt Garden
The Royal Navy decided to demolish the Wellington Barracks and rebuild a modern naval facility. The Prince of Wales Building was completed in 1978 and became the new HMS Tamar. It housed the head office of the British Army stationed in Hong Kong until the territory's handover to the People's Republic of China on 1 July 1997 when it was made the head office of the PLA Hong Kong Garrison. In May 2000, the Legislative Council of Hong Kong passed the Military Installations Closed Areas (Amendment) Order 2000, which renamed the former Prince of Wales Barracks to Central Barracks, and the Prince of Wales Building to the Chinese People's Liberation Army Forces Hong Kong Building.
It is possible that remains of HMS Tamar have been found, as recent construction activity in the Wanchai area has discovered large iron fragments on the sea bed, and may be parts of the old ship.
As a military property, the PLA Forces Hong Kong Building is heavily guarded by very alert soldiers with machine guns. Try not to act too suspicious and attract too much attention!
[Sources include Wiki and Hong Kong War Diary]
GZ is across the road from Central Barracks. Ares is hidden at low level, may be a busy muggle area in daytime so do use stealth