Her Majesty's Naval Base Gibraltar is a Royal Navy dockyard in Gibraltar.
HM Dockyard, Gibraltar was first developed in the 18th century. After the Capture of Gibraltar, victualling facilities were provided from a small quay around what is now the North Mole, but a lack of berths prevented further development. In the 1720s, however, the building of the South Mole was accompanied by the establishment of a small dockyard facility consisting of a careening wharf, mast house and various workshops. The yard remained relatively small in scale for a century and a half, although coaling facilities were added in the 1840s.
In 1871 Captain Augustus Phillimore made the proposal that a new naval dockyard should be constructed in Gibraltar. Phillimore's scheme lied dormant in the Admiralty for 22 years before it was put to Parliament in 1895. The idea was to take five years and just under £1.5m pounds. In 1896 the scheme was further extended with the creation of new moles and three dry docks and a new budget of £4.5m pounds. The transformation was large and the government were still passing enabling legislation in 1905.
The three large graving docks initially known as docks Number 1, 2 and 3, were excavated on what had been the site of the old naval yard. Number 3 dock, the smallest at just over 50,000 tons of water capacity, was the first to be named in 1903 and was named King Edward VII, Queen Alexandra named the 60,000 ton Number 2 dock after herself in 1906, and the largest, Number 1 dock, which could hold over 100,000 tons of water, was called the Prince and Princess of Wales dock, having been named by their Royal Highnesses in 1907, subsequently King George V and Queen Mary.
In 1937 the warning of the Chiefs of Staff gave way to rearmament. The danger of a war being settled in the Mediterranean meant that No. 1 and No. 2 dock were extended so that Gibraltar could handle aircraft carriers and the new larger battleships.