After World War I, the Royal Navy wanted to find a way to commemorate sailors who had died at sea and had no known grave.
An Admiralty committee recommended building memorials at the three main naval ports in Great Britain; Plymouth, Chatham, and Portsmouth. The memorials at all three sites were designed by Sir Robert Lorimer with sculpture by Henry Poole.
Following World War II, the naval memorials were expanded to commemorate the dead from that war. Sir Edward Maufe performed the architectural design for the expansion at Plymouth, and the sculpture was by Charles Wheeler and William McMillan.
The Plymouth Naval Memorial is situated centrally on The Hoe, which looks directly towards Plymouth Sound.
The Plymouth Naval Memorial also bears the names of sailors from Australia, South Africa, and India. The Plymouth Naval Memorial commemorates 7,251 sailors of the World War I and 15,933 of the World War II.
The memorial features a central obelisk, with names of the dead arranged according to the year of death. Those for the First World War are on panels affixed to the obelisk's base; those for the Second World War are on panels set into the surrounding wall. Within each year, the names are grouped by service, then by rank and surname
Maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
At the front of the Plymouth Naval Memorial are TWO other memorials:
"The Armada Memorial":
The Armada Memorial is a monument on Plymouth Hoe, Plymouth, Devon, England. Built in 1888, the monument celebrates the tercentenary of the defeat of the Spanish Armada, which was sighted by English captains stationed in the city. It is a granite structure, decorated with bronze crests and a statue of Britannia.
"Plymouth Royal Air Force Memorial"
Sourced and submitted by Julianne T Ryan, courtesy of Wikipedia and various websites. 12/7/2016. Lest we forget.
