During the last century, the Royal Navy and its support services at Portsmouth dockyard have experienced a pace of change not seen since the fifteenth century. This book examines the impact of that change on ships, buildings and personnel of the naval base. The dockyard has evolved continually as a support service, reinventing itself in response to changing social, economic and political circumstances. The authors look at the dockyard's role in times of conflict, from the First World War to the 1991 Gulf War, and consider the effects of privatisation and cutbacks. Richly illustrated with photographs from the Royal Navy Museum and Historic Dockyard collections and exclusive, newly-commissioned photographs, Home of the Fleet will appeal to anyone who is interested in Britain's naval heritage.