During the First World War the Central Air Office RNAS and HMS 'Hermes' (HQ Naval Wing) were at Sheerness.
The Second World War saw Sheerness one of the ports controlling the initial despatch of volunteer vessels to Dunkirk for the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force in 1940.
After Dunkirk, when invasion seemed imminent, the port was one of four bases at which were stationed a striking force to deal with an approaching enemy fleet.
There was also a Royal Air Force station at Sheerness.
Sheerness (Isle of Sheppey) Cemetery contains 128 scattered First World War graves. Of the 38 Second World War burials, 18, all of them Merchant Seamen, are unidentified.
