The naval base was founded in 1921 when the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy was first formed. The old cruiser HMS Philomel, with her engines and armament removed, was moored at the Admiralty reservation, Devonport Dockyard, Auckland, and re-commissioned as a naval training base. HMS Philomel has been described as the "Cradle of the Navy." In October 1941, on the creation of the Royal New Zealand Navy, HMS Philomel was recommissioned as the training base HMNZS Philomel. Because of wartime demands for increased training many of her training functions were transferred, along with the ship's main mast, to a new base HMNZS Tamaki situated at Motuihe Island. Over the years Philomel sprouted many creative additions on her decks in an effort to provide more space for her operations. These physical extensions then spilled over to the use of onshore buildings. In January 1947 the boat Philomel was finally decommissioned and HMNZS Philomel became a land establishment. In 2000, HMNZS Tamaki was decommissioned with its functions absorbed again by HMNZS Philomel.
Current
Today Philomel is a sprawling land establishment located at Devonport, New Zealand. It is the home of the Naval Support Services, responsible for the logistics and organisation of Naval personnel, and for visits to the base by foreign ships. Its Naval Community Office provides support for families of naval personnel, and its Te Taua Moana Marae is the cultural home for all naval personnel, regardless of iwi or upbringing. It incorporates the naval college Tamaki, formerly HMNZS Tamaki, which coordinates training within the naval base from new entry or officer training to damage control and command schools that everyone must attend at stages of their career. There are also schools for naval specialisations such as marine engineering, Officer of the Watch, hydrography and communications. The base includes a navy band and a fleet gymnasium.
Navy museum
The first Royal New Zealand Navy museum was established in 1974 and was housed in a single room within HMNZS Philomel, then in 1982 moved to a separate building. In 2010 it moved to new, larger facilities at Torpedo Bay.
