Spithead is an area of the Solent and a roadstead off Gilkicker Point in Hampshire, England. It is protected from all winds, except those from the southeast. It receives its name from the Spit, a sandbank stretching south from the Hampshire shore for 3 miles; and it is 14 miles long by about 4 miles in average breadth.
The "Spithead Review of the Royal Navy" is famous, where the Monarch of the United Kingdom reviews a large fleet of warships.
In 1797 there was a mutiny in the Royal Navy fleet at anchor at Spithead.
Spithead has been strongly defended since 1864 by fortifications completing those of Portsmouth.
