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In June 2004 a memorial to those who served at HMS Cricket was unveiled by Countess Mountbatten in Manor Farm Country Park, near the kiosk at Barnfield.
In 1944 Countess Mountbatten had been a Wren based at HMS Tormentor at Warsash at the mouth of the river - she spoke of how the Solent was so tightly packed with craft "you could have walked dry shod across to the Isle of Wight".
HMS Cricket was the name given to a Royal Navy shore establishment on this part of the river Hamble from 1943 to 1946. Initially it was a Royal Marine landing craft crew training area but was later used as a secret training base for the flotilla of landing craft taking men, tanks and supplies across the channel from Warsash and Hamble.
In the build up to D-day there were some 4000 men attached to HMS Cricket, which had its own roads, services, cinema, medical facilities, and ammunition compounds.
After decommissioning, the many buildings of HMS Cricket were used for temporary post-war accommodation for the civilian population of Southampton.
The memorial is by the cafe in the park .
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