Editing Brixham (section)

=== Military ===
[[File:Brixham.hind.750pix.jpg|thumb|right|The replica of ''[[Golden Hind#Replicas|Golden Hind]]'' in Brixham harbour]]
From at least the reign of [[Elizabeth I]] to [[World War II|World War Two]] Torbay was a militarily important site due to its sheltered anchorage, being of particular important in the late eighteenth century when Brixham functioned as the [[Royal Navy]]'s victualling station for the [[Western Approaches]]. This role was of particular importance during the [[American Revolutionary War|American War of Independence]] of 1775 to 1783.

It is known that a battery of cannons was established as a defensive measure against the threat of attack by Spain in the area now known as [[Brixham Battery|Battery Gardens]] as long ago as 1586 and was continuously maintained until 1664.

The battery was reactivated in November 1688 when [[William III of England|William, Prince of Orange]]'s army landed in Brixham and camped on Furzeham Common, guns being positioned to protect the fleet, the town and the road to the town of [[Paignton]], {{Convert | 5 | mi | 0 | spell = in}} away.

When France allied itself with America in 1778 and with Spain in 1779, the Board of Ordnance (the equivalent in its day of today's Ministry of Defence) decided that, in conjunction with other naval stations along the English south coast, Brixham was to be protected by gun emplacements, the battery on the [[Brixham Battery|Battery Gardens]] site being the most westerly protecting the town.

Between 1794 and 1804 two substantial fortified garrisons were constructed on the site of a Saxon hill fort at [[Berry Head]], an elevated site to the east of Brixham. A third fort had been planned, but was never built. The forts were maintained as important defensive positions during the [[Napoleonic Wars]] though never fired their cannons in anger, and slowly fell into military disuse during the course of the rest of the nineteenth century, now forming part of the Berry Head National Nature Reserve.

In July 1815, the British Royal Navy warship, [[HMS Bellerophon (1786)|HMS Bellerophon]], spent a week anchored off of Brixham, the former French emperor, [[Napoleon|Napoleon Bonaparte]], being held on board as a prisoner following his capture after the [[Battle of Waterloo]]. His presence on board, quickly becoming known to the local populace, the ship briefly became a major tourist attraction. He spent a total of three weeks off the Devon coast while the UK authorities decided what to do with Bonaparte. He was then transferred to another ship, [[HMS Northumberland (1798)|HMS Northumberland]], and taken to [[Saint Helena|St. Helena]], his final place of exile.

Brixham was not directly targeted by enemy action during World War 1; though, out at sea, approximately 10% of the town's fishing fleet, numbering about 300 vessels at the time was lost either to submarine attack or collision with mines, four boats alone being sunk in a U-boat attack in a single day in 1917. During the war there was no loss of life among fishing crews, but those who enlisted in the military were not so fortunate and the town's war memorial lists the names of 216 local residents who died in the conflict.

During World War 2 Brixham was sporadically subjected to small scale hit and run air raids seventeen times between July 1940 and May 1943 with two raids, in May 1941 and May 1942 each resulting in a single fatality respectively. London City, a coaling hulk moored in the outer harbour, and ironically originally a German ship seized after the end of World War 1, was sunk and raised twice in July 1940 and February 1941 respectively, only to be sunk again in March 1942 and this time not raised until being salvaged for scrap years after the war. The names of 125 local residents are listed on Brixham's war memorial as having died on military service during World War 2.

The town also saw an American military presence during the war, with slipways being built in May 1943 for training exercises for US forces. 2,500 men of the US [[4th Infantry Division (United States)|4th Infantry Division]] and 32 amphibious DD tanks embarked on 4 June 1944 for [[Utah Beach]] as part of the [[D-Day]] landings against German-occupied France.