[John38]

A really interesting thread. Many thanks Minsterboy and CDP.

I can't  get enough of all this 'stuff' to fill the vacuum produced by 60+ years away from it all!

[DaveTheTrain]

Interesting photo, is that a planer on the left hand side of the picuture or a long bed shaper.  I rather think plate planer but the bed is a little narrow.
DTT

[CDP]

The photo above was taken from the Inspectors office (Charlie Bean) above the main entrance to the Shop towards the Rats Bay end. At the very top of the shot, on the R.H. side, you can just see the gallery where the apprentices were based, our Instructor was Frank Stuart Flaharty who lived in Manor House, Marine Parade.

[conan]

Part of the fitting shop date unknown.Love all the line shafting,there must have been a fairly hefty steam engine or electric to motor to drive it all.Top left corner shows the cab of a gantry crane with the hook hanging top central.

[CDP]

I served the first year of my apprenticeship in the Fitting Shop (Engineering Workshop ) in Sheerness Dockyard in 1944.
The building was T shaped with the long top of the T nearest the Rats Bay end  .
Entering the main door from the short end of the T ,the centre of the shop consisted mainly of the torpedo tube manufacture area , testing and repair. Also  there was the planning machine capable of machining very large pieces of metal ( approximately ,say ,30ft long and 5 ft wide ) and lots of free space to work on  very large pieces of ships engines  or propelllor shafts
 I saw a crankshaft  ,  2 feet in diameter from  a very large ship repaired there.
On the right hand side were  two rows of lathes of various sizes mainly worked by “Dilutee Turners “ these were  very skilled men not apprenticed and only allowed to be lathe turners  and were paid considerably less than “time served men “Moving  left across the 6 feet wide pathway was another row of lathes then the main centre area .Moving again to the left was a long row of drilling machines etc and another pathway 6 feet wide and  then more assorted machines .Set into the wall was an opening to the fairly smallish Tool Room ,engraving  labels and  very small intricate work was covered. And  in another opening was the Store Room for rags , drills , and any tools that were required for any job.
On entering the Fitting Shop  ( F.S.) turn sharp left  and then sharp left again ,this leads to the Testing bay , a small room  with a very large machined  flat test bed .A large Gantry crane could run the length of the F.S.
Around the entire F.S. was a 6 foot wide  balcony   on the next floor up complete with  machine vices etc ,this was the home of the 12 apprentices in my year .
Just above the  F.S. main door in this balcony was THE Inspectors main office
With the top of the T this consisted of two floors,  the lower section was used for repairing engines  and small machines ,and  all mechanical parts of engines .
The upper section was the Patternmakes domain ,fitted out with 20?? Woodworkers large  benches.One room here  was  used by  us , the apprentices,and their Instructor to cover the theory of engines steam and diesel and petrol ,turbines and reciprocating , and all machinery associated with ships
( Most of this data is correct , or very nearly correct )

We had to work in the Foundry Shop doing a six week course  it was very dusty and  dirty .We were all very pleased when this course was finished

[Minsterboy]

In my stevedoring days in the docks from1972, we used to use the old Engineering Workshops as a place to store cargo if we got short of room. The mast pond was an open storage area next door, presumably with the pond underneath. Interestingly, down the middle of the Engineering Workshop the floor comprised of wooden sections like railway sleepers and if you lifted one you could see the water underneath. I was told by an ex-dockyard man that there used to be a line of lathes along that flooring and that when the dockyard closed the lathes were all simply tipped into the sea underneath - don't know if that is true. 
Finally, when I retired in 2006 the surface of the old mast pond area was starting to cave in to expose a drop to the water below.