Skip to main content

Memory Geography

D1Public sourceUpdated 25 May 2026

Portsmouth Naval Memorial — Southsea Common

CWGC memorial on Southsea Common to almost 15,000 Royal Navy sailors of the Second World War who have no grave but the sea — one of the three manning-port naval memorials.

What do the D1–D5 confidence tiers mean?
  • D1A single attributed public source (museum, council, Historic England, CWGC, mapping data).
  • D2Two or more independent public sources corroborate the same facts.
  • D3A named coordinator or local reviewer has confirmed the public-source account.
  • D4A named observer has personally visited and documented the site — photographs, inscriptions, condition.
  • D5An archive or institution has provided written documentation supporting the entry.

A higher tier means more corroborating evidence, not automatic historical certainty. The Discovery layer does not replace archival verification.

Portsmouth Naval Memorial — Southsea Common
Photo: Peter FaceyCC BY-SA 2.0Geograph

The Portsmouth Naval Memorial stands on Southsea Common, overlooking the sea. One of three identical obelisks raised at the Royal Navy manning ports of Portsmouth, Plymouth and Chatham, it commemorates Commonwealth sailors who have no grave but the sea. The Second World War extension, unveiled in 1953, records the names of almost 15,000 men and women of the Royal Navy, many lost in the Battle of the Atlantic.

This page is maintained within the coordinator network. Confirming and upholding the accuracy of its content is the coordinator’s responsibility.

What this page does not claim

  • This is the Royal Navy manning-port memorial at Portsmouth for both World Wars (all naval theatres), not a Soviet or convoy-specific memorial.
  • Names of individuals commemorated belong on archival surfaces, not this discovery record.
  • Endorsement by any named institution; the source is cited for documentary research only.

Sources

Help build on this

Know more about this place — a name, a source, a photograph? Add a veteran or share it in the community; curated entries are built from sourced contributions.