Royal Naval Hospital Gibraltar
| Royal Naval Hospital Gibraltar | |
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British Military Hospital Gibraltar as depicted in a postcard c. 1910.
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 Location of Royal Naval Hospital Gibraltar on Europa Road in Gibraltar's South District.
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| Geography | |
| Location | Europa Road, Gibraltar |
| Coordinates | 36°07′10″N 5°20′52″W / 36.11946°N 5.347762°WCoordinates: 36°07′10″N 5°20′52″W / 36.11946°N 5.347762°W |
| Organisation | |
| Care system | British Armed Forces |
| Funding | Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom) |
| Hospital type | Military |
| Services | |
| Helipad | No |
| History | |
| Founded | c. 1903 |
| Closed | February 2008 |
The Royal Naval Hospital Gibraltar (RNH Gibraltar), formerly the British Military Hospital Gibraltar (BMH Gibraltar), was a military hospital founded c. 1903 to provide healthcare for British military personnel and local sailors. The facility, located on Europa Road in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar's South District, comprised three buildings. The hospital was transferred to the Royal Navy in 1963. It closed in 2008, and underwent residential conversion that began prior to the hospital's closure.
The British Military Hospital Gibraltar opened c. 1903 to provide medical care for local sailors and British military personnel in Gibraltar. It was located on Europa Road in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar at the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula. It included three three-story buildings, with a capacity of about three hundred beds. The light blue colour of its exterior gave the hospital its nickname, the Wedgwood Castle. Visitors to the hospital included Queen Alexandra in 1905 and King George V in 1912.
During 1915 there was a continuous stream of Australian, British and New Zealander wounded who arrived in Gibraltar, via hospital ship, from Gallipoli. Many of the wounded were carried on stretchers onto the Rock by the Gibraltar Volunteer corps but there were far too many to fit in the hospital. Satellite hospitals were created as the only other choice was a long sea voyage.
The British Military Hospital cared for casualties of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Among the casualties were 55 men from the German cruiser Deutschland which had been bombed while at anchor off the Spanish island of Ibiza. The hospital had already been at capacity due to casualties from HMS Hunter (H35), a Royal Navy ship that had hit a mine while on patrol near Almería in May 1937. At the same time, staff were tending to casualties from HM Maine, a hospital ship. Many of the casualties had sustained burn injuries. The influx of casualties was such that four nurses from Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service arrived at Gibraltar by flying boat to assist in the care of the German casualties. The following year, one of those nurses was awarded the German Red Cross Decoration, as well as a certificate from Adolf Hitler.
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