Preserved Warships
HMS Alliance S67 (P417)
A tour on board HMS Alliance S67 (P417), an 'A' Class or Acheron or Amphion Class Submarine that is preserved at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum at Gosport. Ordered at the end of the Second World War, HMS Alliance was launched on 28th July 1945 and commissioned on 14th May 1947. At 281 feet in length and with a displacement of 1620 tons, she is powered by an 8 cylinder Vickers diesel-electric engine and had a maximum operating date of 500 feet and served with the Royal Navy until 1979, when she passed into preservation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftzoMO9Wj2g
HMS Cavalier D73
HMS Cavalier D73 is a former Royal Navy Destroyer that is today preserved as a national monument at Chatham Historic Dockyard. A CA Class Destroyer, she was launched on 7th April 1944 and commissioned on 22nd November 1944, and in an eventful career served in World War 2, escorting the arctic convoys and later served in the Far East, before being decommissioned in 1972. HMS Cavalier has a displacement of 2520 tons and has a top speed of 37 knots, which she proved in 1970 when she won a race against frigate HMS Rapid, attaining a speed of 31.8 knots. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7X-GzvOCZ4
HMS Gannet
A visit on board HMS Gannet at Chatham Historic Dockyard on 6th July 2018. HMS Gannet is a former Doterel Class Sloop of the Royal Navy and is today preserved as part of the National Historic Fleet. Built at Sheerness Royal Dockyard, HMS Gannet was launched on 31st August 1878. A screw composite sloop with a displacement of 1130 tons, she was commissioned into the fleet on 17th April 1879, and served in the fleet until 1895. In 1903 she was renamed as HMS President and acted as Headquarters Ship for the London Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve in South West India Docks. From 1913, she was moored in the River Hamble, and became the dormitory ship for TS Mercury, a role she continued to serve in until 1968, later passing into preservation in 1987 and has today been restored to her 1888 condition. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz9ZX43yR1s
Mary Rose (1512)
The Mary Rose was a Carrack type warship of the Tudor Royal Navy and was the flagship of King Henry VIII. Laid down in 1510 and launched in July 1511, the Mary Rose was armed with up to 91 cannons and had a complement of 200 sailors, 30 gunners and 185 soldiers. She was heavily rebuilt in 1536, which increased her weight to almost 800 tons, and as a result, it is widely believed by naval historians that this made her 'top heavy,' resulting in her sinking whilst engaged against a French Invasion Fleet in the solent on 19th July 1545. Discovered as a wreck in 1971, she was later raised to worldwide acclaim in 1982 and after 30 years of restoration is now permanently preserved in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard beside HMS Victory. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bGYUmKKDTs
HMS Ocelot S17
Preserved at Chatham Dockyard, we take a tour around former Royal Navy 'O' or Oberon Class Submarine HMS Ocelot S17 on 28th October 2017. Built at Chatham, she was laid down in November 1960 and launched on 5th May 1962. Commissioned into the fleet on 31st January 1964, she was involved in any number of Cold War covert operations which are still classified as top secret almost 30 years later. Fully submerged, she has a displacement of 2410 tons and is powered by twin Admiralty Standard Range 16 VMS diesel generators which generate 2 × 3,000 shaft horsepower (2,200 kW) electric motors. With a top speed of 17 knots submerged (around 20 mph), HMS Ocelot's naval career concluded in August 1991 when she was preserved at Chatham. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fH9r0iJ_Beo
HMS Plymouth F126
30 years ago and what a wasted opportunity! Former Royal Navy Type 12 Rothesay Class Frigate HMS Plymouth F126 is seen berthed at Millbay Docks, Plymouth in her very early days of preservation on 1st September 1989. The last Type 12 Frigate in service with the RN, she was decommissioned on 28th April 1988. In an incredibly missed opportunity, Plymouth didn't offer her a permenant home and she moved firstly to Glasgow in 1990 and then Liverpool, before being sold in 2006 for scrap. What a museum she could have made alongside Plymouth's preserved nuclear submarine, HMS Courageous, as a lasting tribute to the Falklands War and Royal Navy in Plymouth, something to challenge Portsmouth and Chatham. A missed opportunity! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj2Q7HC_1mA
HMS Trincomalee
A tour on board HMS Trincomalee at the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Hartlepool. HMS Tincomalee is a Leda Class Sailing Frigate of the Royal Navy and is the oldest surviving Royal Navy warship to remain afloat (HMS Victory built in 1765 is older but is in dry dock in Portsmouth). Built in 1817 in Bombay, India she served with the RN until 1897 when, together with HMS Implacable, she was used as an accomadation and training ship as FS Foudroyant, until 1987 when she entered preservation, becoming the centre-piece of the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Hartlepool. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI3LxGK88es
HMS Victory
A visit on board HMS Victory at Portsmouth Dockyard, the Royal Navy's oldest commissioned warship. Built at Chatham Dockyard and launched on 7th May 1765, this 104 gun first rate top of the line battleship was commissioned into the fleet in 1778 and is most noted for being the flagship of Lord Horatio Nelson during the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. During her career, HMS Victory participated in the First Battle of Ushant (1778), the Second Battle of Ushant (1781), the Siege of Gibraltar (1782) and the battles of Cape Spartel (1782), Cape St Vincent (1797) and finally Trafalgar (1805). With a displacement of 3,500 tons, HMS Victory was moved to her present dry dock, the oldest dry dock in the world, in 1922, and is today the flagship of the First Sea Lord, the oldest warship in the world still in commission.
HMS Warrior
A tour on board HMS Warrior (1860), the lead ship in the 'Warrior' Class of Ironclads for the Royal Navy as preserved at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. HMS Warrior was laid down in August 1859 and launched on 29th December 1860, a 40 gun Ironclad steam powered warship. HMS Warrior and her sister 'Black Prince' were the first armour-plated, iron-hulled warships, and were built in response to France's launching of the first ocean-going ironclad warship, the wooden-hulled Gloire in 1859. Warrior conducted a publicity tour of Great Britain in 1863 and spent her active career with the Channel Squadron. Obsolescent following the 1871 launching of the mastless and more capable HMS Devastation, she was placed in reserve in 1875 and decommissioned in 1883. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxAlBHS7ODk