Chatham was established as a Royal Dockyard by Queen Elizabeth I in 1568, it became a shipbuilding yard; from then until the late 19th century. In its time, many thousands of men were employed at the dockyard, and many hundreds of vessels were launched there, including HMS Victory, which was built there in the 1760s. After World War I, many submarines were also built in Chatham Dockyard. The town was developed around Chatham Dockyard and several Army barracks, together with 19th-century forts which provided a defensive shield for the dockyard. The Corps of Royal Engineers is still based in Chatham at Brompton Barracks. The Dockyard closed in 1984, but the remaining major naval buildings are an attraction for a flourishing tourist industry. The dockyard buildings were preserved as the historic site Chatham Historic Dockyard