HMS Mercury

HMS Mercury was a shore establishment of the Royal Navy, and the site of the Royal Navy Signals School and Combined Signals School. There was also a subsidiary branch, HMS Mercury II.

The school was established at Leydene House, East Meon, near Petersfield, Hampshire, England and was commissioned as HMS Mercury on 16 August 1941 under the command of Captain Gerald Warner. A signalling school had been established at HM Barracks, Portsmouth in 1904 and was transferred to Petersfield during the Second World War. Extensions were also established at a number of other sites, including Bristol, Cambridge and Liss. In November 1943 a wireless telegraphy school was established at St. Bede's Prep School, Eastbourne, and a WRNS training establishment at Soberton Towers. The base went on to house both the Communications and Navigations faculties of the Royal Navy's School of Maritime Operations . The school trained generations of Royal Navy Communicators and Navigators until 31 August 1993 when the establishment was decommissioned. At the time of its closure, HMS Mercury was home to the Communications and Navigations Faculties of the Royal Navy's School of Maritime Operations and the Special Communications Unit , Leydene. SCU, Leydene became an independent establishment on 1 September 1995.

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