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HMS Victory

Coordinates: 50°48′07″N 1°06′35″W / 50.80194°N 1.10972°W / 50.80194; -1.10972
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For other ships with the same name, see List of ships named HMS Victory.

Clockwise from top: HMS Victory at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, view of the ship's stern, the sick bay, figurehead detail, on harbour service circa 1900, 32-pounders on the lower gundeck, view of the bow.
History
United Kingdom
NameHMS Victory
Ordered14 July 1758
BuilderChatham Dockyard
Laid down23 July 1759
Launched7 May 1765; 259 years ago (1765-05-07)
Commissioned1778
In service246 years
Homeport
Honours and
awards
Status
General characteristics [1]
Class and type104-gun first-rate ship of the line
Displacement3,500 Long ton (3,556 tonnes)[2]
Tons burthen2,142 bm
Length
  • 186 ft (57 m) (gundeck),
  • 227 ft 6 in (69.34 m) (overall)
Beam51 ft 10 in (15.80 m)
Draught28 ft 9 in (8.76 m)
Depth of hold21 ft 6 in (6.55 m)
PropulsionSails—6,510 sq yd (5,440 m2)
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Speedup to 11 knots (20 km/h)
ComplementApproximately 850
Armament
  • Trafalgar:
  • Gundeck: 30 × 2.75-ton long pattern Blomefield 32-pounders (15 kg)
  • Middle gundeck: 28 × 2.5-ton long 24-pounders (11 kg)
  • Upper gundeck: 30 × 1.7-ton short 12-pounders (5 kg)
  • Quarterdeck: 12 × 1.7-ton short 12-pounder (5 kg)
  • Forecastle: 2 × medium 12-pounder (5 kg), 2 × 68-pounder (31 kg) carronade
NotesHeight from waterline to top of mainmast: 205 ft (62.5 m)

HMS Victory is a 104-gun first-rate wooden sailing ship of the line. With 246 years of service as of 2024, she is the world's oldest naval vessel still in commission. She was ordered for the Royal Navy in 1758, during the Seven Years' War and laid down in 1759. That year saw British victories at Quebec, Minden, Lagos and Quiberon Bay and these may have influenced the choice of name when it was selected in October the following year. In particular, the action in Quiberon Bay had a profound affect on the course of the war; severely weakening the French Navy and shifting its focus away from the sea. There was therefore no urgency to complete the ship and the signing of the Treaty of Paris in February 1763, meant that when Victory was finally floated out in 1765, she was placed in ordinary. Her construction had taken 6,000 trees, 90% of them oak.

Victory was first commissioned in March 1778 during the American Revolutionary War, seeing action at the First Battle of Ushant in 1778, shortly after France had openly declared her support for Britain's rebel colonies in North America, and the Second Battle of Ushant in 1781. After taking part in the relief of Gibraltar in 1782, Victory, and the fleet she was sailing with, encountered a combined Spanish and French force at the Battle of Cape Spartel. Much of the shot from the allied ships fell short and the British, with orders to return to the English Channel, did not bother to reply. This was her last action of the war; hostilities ended in 1783 and Victory was placed in ordinary once more.

In 1787, Victory was ordered to be fitted for sea following a revolt in the Netherlands but the threat had subsided before the work had been completed. She was ready for the Nootka Crisis and Russian Armament in 1790 but both events were settled before she was called into action. During the French Revolutionary War, Victory served in the Mediterranean Fleet, co-operating in the occupation of Toulon in August and the Invasion of Corsica between February and August 1794. She was at the Battle of the Hyeres Islands in 1795 and the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1797. When Admiral Horatio Nelson was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet in 1803, he hoisted his flag aboard Victory and in 1805 took her into action at the Battle of Trafalgar. She served as a harbour ship from 1824 until 1922, when she was placed in dry dock at Portsmouth, England. Here she was repaired and is now maintained as a museum ship. From October 2012 Victory has been the flagship of the First Sea Lord.

Construction

[edit]

In December 1758, the British Prime Minister, William Pitt the Elder, requested the building of 12 ships, including a first-rate ship that would become Victory. Within a matter of days, orders were received at Chatham Dockyard to start work as soon as a dry dock was available.[3][4] Sir Thomas Slade, naval architect and Surveyor of the Navy was selected to design the ship the lines of which were copied from HMS Royal George, built at Woolwich Dockyard three years earlier.[5] The master shipwright in charge of construction at Chatham was initially John Lock who died in 1762 and was replaced by Edward Allin, son of Sir Joseph Allin, former Surveyor of the Navy.[6] The keel was laid on 23 July 1759 in the Old Single Dock (since renamed No. 2 Dock and now Victory Dock), and the name Victory was chosen in October 1760.[7]

In 1759, the Seven Years' War was going well for Britain; victories had been won on land at Quebec and Minden and at sea at Lagos and Quiberon Bay. It was the Annus Mirabilis, or Wonderful Year, and the ship's name may have been chosen to commemorate the victories[8][9] or it may have been chosen simply because out of the seven names shortlisted, Victory was the only one not in use.[10][11] There were reservations as to whether the choice was appropriate as the previous ship of that name had been lost with all hands in 1744.[11]

Around 6,000 trees provided the timber for the ship and 150 men were required to assemble her. Of the wood used in her construction, 90% was oak and the remainder elm, pine and fir, together with a small quantity of lignum vitae.[12][13]

The frame was held together with six-foot copper bolts, supported by treenails for the smaller fittings.[12] Once built, it was normal to cover the frame and leave it for several months to allow the wood to dry out or "season". French naval power had been severely weakened by the events in Quiberon Bay however and there was no immediate need for Victory which was left for nearly three years. This additional seasoning had a beneficial effect on her subsequent longevity.[14][15][16] Work restarted in autumn 1763 and she was floated on 7 May 1765,[17] having cost £63,176 and 3 shillings,[18] the equivalent of £10.9 million today.[Note 1] During the 18th century, Victory was one of ten first-rate ships to be constructed.[19]

When the time came to move Victory out of dock, shipwright Hartly Larkin, designated "foreman afloat" for the event, noticed the ship appeared too wide to pass through the gates. Measurements confirmed the gap to be at least 9½ inches too narrow. Larkin's superior, master shipwright John Allin, considered abandoning the launch but Larkin enlisted the help of all the available shipwrights who, with their adzes were able to remove sufficient wood from the dock gates to allow the ship through.[20] Once afloat a number of issues became apparent: A distinct list to starboard was corrected with the addition and redistribution of ballast to bring her upright but this exacerbated an existing and altogethr more serious problem; the tendency for her to sit heavily in the water such that her lower deck gunports were only 4 ft 6 in (1.4 m) above the waterline. The latter could not be rectified so Victory's sailing instructions noted that during rough weather the gunports should remain closed. This had potential to limit Victory's firepower, though in practice none of her subsequent actions would be fought in rough seas.[21]

An aerial shot of Portsmouth Historic Dockyard with HMS Victory in the centre during Trafalgar 200 celebrations.

Because the war with France had come to an end, there was no need for a strong naval presence at sea and Victory was taken down the River Medway where she was placed in ordinary.[22] Over the following four years, she was fitted out and took part in sea trials which concluded in 1769, after which she was returned to her mooring. When France joined the American War of Independence in 1778, Victory was armed with a full complement of smoothbore, cast iron cannon and mobilised against this new threat. Her weaponry was intended to be thirty 42-pounders (19 kg) on her lower deck, twenty-eight 24-pounder long guns (11 kg) on her middle deck, and thirty 12-pounders (5 kg) on her upper deck, together with twelve 6-pounders on her quarterdeck and forecastle. In May 1778, the 42-pounders were replaced by 32-pounders (15 kg), but the 42-pounders were reinstated in April 1779; however, there were insufficient 42-pounders available and these were replaced with 32-pounder cannon once again. [23][21]

Early service

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First battle of Ushant

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Main article: Battle of Ushant (1778)
The first battle of Ushant (1778) by Theodore Gudin. Admiral Keppel was later court martialed for allowing the French fleet to escape but was acquitted.

Victory was commissioned (put on active duty) in March 1778 under Captain Sir John Lindsay. He held that position until May 1778, when Admiral Augustus Keppel made her his flagship, and appointed Rear Admiral John Campbell and Captain Jonathan Faulknor as his first and second captains respectively.[18] Keppel put to sea from Spithead on 9 July 1778 with around twenty-nine ships of the line and, on 23 July, encountered a French force of more or less equal size and strength 100 miles (160 km) west of Ushant.[24][25] The French admiral, Louis Guillouet, comte d'Orvilliers, who had been instructed to avoid conflict, was prevented from putting into Brest, but retained the weather gage. Manoeuvring was hampered by constantly shiftiing winds and driving rain, but eventually a battle became inevitable, with the British arranged roughly in a column. The French were less organised but managed to pass along the British line with their leading ships. At about 11:45, Victory opened fire on the 110 gun Bretagne of 110 guns, which was being followed by Ville de Paris of 90 guns.[26] The British van avoided significant damage, but Sir Hugh Palliser's rear division was badly mauled. Keppel ordered a pursuit, but Palliser did not conform, and the action was not resumed.[26] Keppel was cleared of any wrongdoing at a court martial and Palliser received some criticism from an inquiry before the affair turned into a political argument.[26]

Second Battle of Ushant

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Main article: Second Battle of Ushant
Victory flying the Blue Ensign (with the pre-1801 Union Jack), from The Fleet Offshore, 1780–90, an anonymous piece of folk art now at Compton Verney Art Gallery in Warwickshire.

In March 1780, Victory was brought in to Portsmouth for a refit during which she was coppered. The process involved the fixing of 3,923 sheets of copper to her hull below the waterline to protect her against shipworm and to improve performance by inhibiting the build up of algae and marine animals.[13][27] The ship was back at sea by 2 December 1781, Victory was at sea again, under the commanded of Captain Henry Cromwell and bearing the flag of Rear Admiral Richard Kempenfelt. On learning that a French convoy had left Brest on 10 December, Kempenfelt ordered his fleet, comprising Victory, eleven other ships of the line, a 50-gun fourth-rate, and five frigates to intercept.[28] The British sighted the convoy on 12 December and attacked, unaware it was protected by twenty-one ships of the line under the command of Luc Urbain de Bouexic, comte de Guichen.[28] When Kempenfelt realised he was outgunned he retired but not before capturing fifteen sail of the convoy. The remaining French ships were scattered by strong winds and forced to return home.[28]

Siege of Gibraltar

[edit]
Main article: Great Siege of Gibraltar

Victory's armament was slightly upgraded in 1782 with the replacement of all of her 6-pounders with 12-pounder cannon. Later, she also carried two carronade guns, firing 68-lb (31 kg) round shot.[29]

In October 1782, Victory was the flagship of Admiral Richard Howe who had been charged with providing a powerful escort for a convoy of transports carrying supplies to Gibraltar. Despite a blockade by the French and Spanish navies, no resistance was encountered on entering the straits and the stores were successfully landed. There was a minor engagement at the time of departure, in which Victory did not fire a shot. The British ships were under orders to return home and did so without major incident.[30][31] This was Victory's last action of the war; hostilities ended in September 1783 and she was placed in ordinary.[32]

In 1787, Victory was ordered to be readied for service following a revolt in the Netherlands but before she could put to sea, a Prussian invasion, leading to the signing of the Triple Alliance treaty removed the threat.[33][34] Victory was seaworthy for the Nootka Crisis in 1790 however, when she was stationed in the Channel.[33] The crisis was resolved peacefully and after taking part in several patrols, Victory returned to Spithead on 1 September 1790. Despite paying off, she remained anchored there into the new year when she was refitted in preparation for the Russian Armament. Pilots with a specific knowledge of the Baltic Sea were taken on board in case the fleet was sent there to thwart Russian ambition but in July, a diplomatic solution was found.[35]

French revolutionary Wars

[edit]

When the French Revolutionary War broke out in 1793, Victory joined the Mediterranean Fleet as the flagship of Vice-admiral Samuel Hood and took part in the occupation of Toulon in August, an action agreed with the Bourbon loyalists who held the town.[36] When the British were forced to withdraw in December, they destroyed as much of the dockyard and as many enemy ships as they could and sailed to the Hyeres Islands from where Hood plotted a blockade of Corsica.[37] Resentment at French rule there had sparked a revolt led by Pasquale Paoli whose guerrillas had driven the invaders into three fortified towns in the north of the island; Calvi, San Fiorenzo and Bastia. Hood despatched a proportion of his fleet to prevent the French from shipping in supplies.[38]

On 24 January, Hood received word that the Corsicans wished for the governance and protection of Britain and set off with his remaining ships. They were caught in a storm however and had to spend several nights sheltering off the island of Elba before heading into Portoferraio on the 29 January for repairs.[39] The fleet eventually arrived on 7 February at San Fiorenzo, where an attack was carried out on the Torra di Mortella at the west end of the bay. Victory did not play much of an active role in the attack and on 11 February was blown off station by a strong wind. After sheltering off Cap Corse, she returned on 17 February in time to see the tower captured and, soon after, the town capitulate.[40] Hood next sailed his ships to Bastia joining with a squadron under Horatio Nelson which had been blockading the town since 7 February. Despite this additional show of force, the garrison would not surrender. Troops were landed and the town was invested, leading to a protracted siege which only ended when a reinforcement of troops from Gibraltar forced the French to seek honourable terms.[41]

By June, the French had repaired much of the damage caused by the retreating British, and sailed from Toulon with seven ships-of-the-line. On hearing this, Hood left Corsica with thirteen ships of his own with the hope of bringing them to action. When the French sighted Hood's fleet on 10 June, they took refuge in Golfe Juan near Antibes and anchored in a tight crescent formation. Hood was disinclined to attack, considering the position too well defended, and returned to Corsica.[42] Hood took his ships back to Toulon where he strengthened the blockade of the port. In November, after two years at sea, Hood returned home in Victory. Arriving off Portsmouth on 5 December, Hood struck his flag and the ship was taken in for much needed repairs.[43]

Battle of the Hyères Islands

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Main article: Battle of the Hyères Islands

By July the following year, Victory had rejoined the Mediterranean Fleet, now commanded by Admiral William Hotham in the 100-gun Britannia. Shortly after her arrival, Victory received Rear-Admiral Robert Mann, who moved his flag from Cumberland, and on the 8 July the fleet set off in pursuit of a French force near the Hyeres Islands.[44] On the night of 12 July the British were caught in a storm and several ships, including Victory were damaged. The French were seen at dawn, as Victory was having new sails fitted but was ready by 08:00 when Hotham ordered a general chase.[44] Victory made good progress and along with Culloden and Cumberland was catching up on the French rear. A sudden shift in the wind allowed the trailing three French ships to turn and open up on the British van which fired back, forcing the French ship Alcide to surrender. Culloden and Cumberland did not stop to take possession of the stricken French ship but Victory had been much damaged in the action: all the running rigging along with much of her standing rigging, the main topgallant mast, the topsail yardarms on the foremast and the spritsail yardarms had all been shot away, and considerable damage had been done to the masts that remained.[44][45] When two French frigates arrived to tow away the crippled Alcide, Victory saw them off, sinking one of their boats in the process.[46] Hotham ordered a withdrawal of his fleet when the French took refuge in Frejus Bay; by then it was dark and a lee shore wind meant the British would be trapped if they continued their pursuit.[47]

Battle of Cape St. Vincent

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Main article: Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1797)
The Battle of Cape Saint Vincent, Richard Brydges Beechey, 1881

In 1796, Captain Robert Calder (First Captain) and Captain George Grey (Second Captain), commanded Victory under Admiral Sir John Jervis's flag.[18][48] By the end of that year, the balance of power in the Mediterranean had shifted in favour of the French whose success on land had reduced the number of harbours amenable to British ships. Spain had switched allegiance, making her ports unavailable and substantially increasing the number of enemy ships facing the Royal Navy. Sending Nelson in HMS Minerve to supervise Elba's evacuation, on 16 December, Jervis withdrew his fleet to the Tagus on the Portuguese coast.[49] On 18 January, Victory left Lisbon with nine other ships-of-the-line and a convoy bound for Brazil. After taking the convoy safely out to sea, Jervis positioned his ships of Cape St Vincent to await a reinforcement of five ships-of-the-line from the Channel Fleet, which arrived on 6 February under Rear-Admiral William Parker.[50][51][52] Nelson, having completed his mission, was on his way to rejoin Jervis when, on the night of 11 February, he sailed undetected through the Spanish fleet in the thick fog.[53] Nelson located Jervis on 13 February who, on hearing the Spanish were at sea, immediately instructed his ships to intercept.[54] The following morning, with his 15 ships sailing in two columns, Jervis addressed his officers on Victory's quarterdeck how, "A victory to England is very essential at the moment" he impressed upon them. Jervis was ignorant of how many ships the Spanish had available, but was informed at 06:30 hours, that five had been spotted in the south-east.[48] By 09:00 hours, the first enemy ships were visible from Victory's masthead, and at 11:00 hours, Jervis gave the order to form line of battle.[55] Calder counted the ships as they appeared out of the fog but when he reached 27, Jervis cut in, "Enough, Sir. No more of that. The die is cast and if there are 50 sail, I will go through them".[56] The Spanish were sailing in two divisions, allowing Jervis to exploit the space between.[48] The ship's log records how Victory halted the Spanish division, raking ships both ahead and astern, while Jervis' private memoirs recall how Victory's broadside so terrified Principe de Asturias that she "squared her yards, ran clear out of the battle and did not return".[57] Noticing that the major part of the Spanish fleet could pass astern and reunite with the others, Jervis signalled a course change. However Sir Charles Thompson, leading the rear division, chose to continue his course, leaving the following ships in confusion as to whether to proceed as their divisional commander or comply with the Admiral's order. Nelson, in HMS Captain, had understood Jervis’ intentions and wore out of line to intercept the main fleet with other ships soon following.[58][59] This manoeuvre was instrumental in bringing about a conclusive outcome to the battle. The Spanish lost four ships in the action and were frustrated in their attempt to join their French and Dutch allies in the channel.[59] The dead and wounded from the four captured vessels ships alone amounted to 261 and 342, respectively; more than the total number of British casualties of 73 dead and 327 wounded.[60] There was one fatality aboard Victory; a cannonball narrowly missed Jervis and decapitated a nearby sailor.[59]


Reconstruction

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"I have also observed that the ship is very weak abaft; the transoms between the lower and middle decks work [bend] exceedingly."

— Naval architect Sir Robert Seppings, describing defects aboard Victory, September 1796[61]

When the ship returned home, she underwent an inspection which revealed extensive weaknesses in the stern timbers. As a result she was removed from active service and moored at Chatham Dockyard. In December 1798 she was refitted as a hospital ship for wounded French and Spanish prisoners of war.[18][62]

The decision to recondition Victory came after HMS Impregnable was wrecked on 8 October 1799. While returning from escort duty to Lisbon, Impregnable ran aground near Portsmouth and after attempts to refloat had failed, was stripped and dismantled, leaving the Admiralty short of a three-decked ship of the line.[62] When the renovation started in 1800, it was thought the cost would not exceed £23,500 but this rose to £70,933 as the repairs became an extensive reconstruction.[62][10] Extra gun ports were added, taking her from 100 guns to 104, and her magazine lined with copper. The open galleries along her stern were removed;[61] her figurehead was replaced along with her masts and the paint scheme changed from red to the black and yellow seen today. Her gun ports were originally yellow to match the hull, but later repainted black, giving a pattern later called the "Nelson chequer", which was adopted by most Royal Navy ships in the decade following the Battle of Trafalgar.[63][64] The work was completed in April 1803, and the ship left for Portsmouth the following month under her new captain, Samuel Sutton.[18][65]

Nelson and Trafalgar

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Main article: Trafalgar Campaign
Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson flew his flag twice on Victory

Vice-Admiral Nelson hoisted his flag in Victory on 18 May 1803, with Samuel Sutton as his flag captain.[18] However, the ship, moored at Spithead, was not ready to sail until the afternoon of 20 May, when Nelson re-embarked and Victory put to sea in the company of the 32-gun frigate HMS Amphion.[66] Nelson's orders were to meet with Cornwallis off Brest, but after 24 hours of searching failed to find him. Nelson, anxious to reach the Mediterranean without delay, decided to transfer to Amphion off Ushant.[67]

On 28 May, Victory captured the 32-gun French frigate Ambuscade, bound for Rochefort.[68] Reuniting with Nelson off Toulon, on 31 July, Sutton swapped ships with the captain of Amphion, Thomas Masterman Hardy and Nelson raised his flag in Victory once more.[69]

While passing the island of Toro, near Majorca, on 4 April 1805, word was received from HMS Phoebe that the French fleet under Pierre-Charles Villeneuve had escaped from Toulon. Assuming the French were heading for Egypt, Nelson set sail for Sicily but Villeneuve was aiming to link up with the Spanish fleet at Cadiz.[70] On 9 May, HMS Orpheus brought the news that Villeneuve had left Cadiz a month earlier. The British fleet of ten ships-of-the-line and three frigates revictualled at Lagos Bay, Portugal before sailing west on 11 May in search of the combined Franco-Spanish fleet of 17 ships.[71] On arrival in the West Indies it was discovered that the enemy had returned to Europe, where Napoleon Bonaparte was waiting for them with his invasion forces at Boulogne.[72]

The Franco-Spanish fleet had encountered Admiral Sir Robert Calder's squadron on 22 July and fought an indecisive action in the fog at the Battle of Cape Finisterre before taking refuge in Vigo and Ferrol. Calder on 14 August and Nelson the day after joined Admiral Cornwallis's Channel Fleet off Ushant.[73] Nelson continued on to England in Victory, leaving his Mediterranean fleet with Cornwallis[74] who detached Calder with twenty of his thirty-three ships-of-the-line to hunt for the combined fleet, last seen at Ferrol. On 19 August came the worrying news that the enemy was at sea, followed by relief when they arrived in Cádiz two days later. On the evening of Saturday, 28 September, Lord Nelson joined Lord Collingwood's fleet off Cádiz, quietly, so that his presence would not be known.[75]

Battle of Trafalgar

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Main article: Battle of Trafalgar
The opening engagement at the Battle of Trafalgar, by J.W. Carmichael (oil on canvas, 1856)

Villeneuve, on learning he was to be replaced in command, was galvanised into action, putting to sea on the morning of 19 October and sailing for the Mediterranean.[76] At about 19:00 hours British frigates were spotted and the order was given to form line of battle.[77] The British fleet, aware of Villeneuve's presence was in the meantime sailing a parallel course some 10 miles away over the horizon and on the morning of 21 October, turned to intercept.[78] Nelson had already decide to break the enemy line in two places and destroy the middle and rear sections before the van could turn about and come to their aid.[79] At 06:00 hours, Nelson ordered his fleet into two columns.

First Lieutenant John Quilliam had devised an emergency steering system for Victory which he was able to bring to good effect at Trafalgar

Fitful winds meant the two columns of British ships spent more than six hours on their approach before Royal Sovereign, leading the lee column, was able to open fire on Fougueux. Around 30 minutes later, Victory broke the line between the 80-gun French flagship Bucentaure and 74 gun Redoutable and fired her guns at such close range that the flames of the guns were singeing the windows of the French flagship before the shockwave and cannonballs arrived. Victory's port guns unleashed a devastating broadside, raking Bucentaure and blowing a huge hole in her side. The maelstrom of cannonballs and grapeshot dismounted Bucentaure's guns and killing or wounding somewhere between 300 and 450 men of the ship's 750 to 800 complement almost immediately, putting her out of action.[80][81][82] At a 13:15, Nelson was shot, the fatal musket ball entering his left shoulder and lodging in his spine.[83] He died at 16:30.[84] Such killing had taken place on Victory's quarterdeck that Redoutable attempted to board her, but they were thwarted by the arrival of Eliab Harvey in the 98-gun HMS Temeraire, whose broadside devastated the French ship.[85] Nelson's last order was for the fleet to anchor, but this was countermanded by Vice Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood.[86] Victory had been badly damged in the battle and suffered 57 killed and 102 wounded.[87] Unable to move under her own sail, HMS Neptune towed her to Gibraltar for repairs after which she carried Nelson's body to England, where, after lying in state at Greenwich, he was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral on 9 January 1806.[88]

After Trafalgar

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Final years afloat

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Bird's-eye view of Victory in 2004.

The Admiralty Board considered Victory too old, and in too great a disrepair, to be restored as a first-rate ship of the line. To decrease the strain on her hull and in response to an Admiralty order issued in November 1807, two of the 32-pounder cannon were removed and the 24-pounders replaced with 18-pounders, relegating her to second-rate in the process and cutting the number of crew required to operate her. Her refit at Chatham also required her masts to be stepped on the lower deck rather than the keel; an initiative introduced in January to save timber.[89][90]

In 1808, Victory was brought back into service as the flagship of Admiral James Saumarez and sent to the Baltic to protect Sweden against Russian incursions. In September, Victory, HMS Mars, Goliath, Africa and several Swedish ships were keeping watch on a Russian squadron under Admiral Pyotr Khanykov in the port of Ragervik. Bomb vessels were utilised in an attempt to either destroy the Russian ships or compel them to come out and fight but this failed in both respects and the Anglo-Swedish force had to be content with maintaining its blockade.[91] Following the death of the crown prince of Sweden in May 1810, Napoleon's cousin, Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte succeeded to the throne, automatically allying Sweden to France and war was declared on Britain in November. The Royal Navy was thus obliged to maintain a presence in the Baltic and Saumarez's ships were henceforth employed in a blockade of the Swedish navy at Karlskrona.[92] When reinforcements were required by Wellington's army in the Peninsula, Victory was withdrawn, converted to a troopship and ferried soldiers to Lisbon.[92] In 1812, she was relocated to the mouth of Portsmouth Harbour off Gosport, for service as a floating depot and, from 1813 to 1817, as a prison ship.[93][94]

During a large repair in 1814, metal braces were fitted to strengthen the ship's frame. This was the earliest recorded use of iron for this purpose; nuts, bolts and nails had for some time been used to hold a ship's structure together but not to reinforce it.[95] Victory was recalled to active service in February 1817 when she was relisted and re-armed as a first-rate of 104 guns. However, her hull remained in poor condition and in January 1822, she was placed in dry dock at Portsmouth so further repairs could be carried out. When she was refloated in January 1824, she was considered suitable only for use as the Port admiral's flagship. She remained in that role at Portsmouth Harbour until April 1830.[94]

Victorian era

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HMS Victory moored in Portsmouth Harbour in 1884

In 1831 the Admiralty issued orders for aging ship to be broken up and her timbers reused in other vessels but a public outcry prevented her destruction. She was instead left moored at Portsmouth where she was later designated tender to the port admiral's flagship, HMS Wellington. From that point, the Admiralty began inviting civilian visitors to aboard for tours.[96] On 18 July 1833, the queen in waiting, Princess Victoria, and her mother, the Duchess of Kent, made a visit to her quarterdeck to meet veterans of the Trafalgar campaign.[93] This generated a surge of interest in the vessel, and an annual growth in civilian visitor numbers to between 10,000 and 12,000. After Victoria returned for a second time on 21 October 1844, visiting numbers swelled again to more than 22,000 a year.[96] In late April 1854, Victory sprang a leak and sank. All on board were rescued[97] and the ship was subsequently raised.[98] The escalation in human traffic caused Victory to become increasingly decrepit. Sir Edward Seymour visited the vessel in 1886 as flag captain to the Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth and later in 1911, recalled "a more rotten ship than she had become probably never flew the pennant. I could literally run my walking stick through her sides in many places".[99] In 1887, the ship began leaking again and only with some difficulty was she prevented from sinking at her mooring.[96] This prompted the Admiralty to thereafter provide a small annual subsidy for maintenance, and in 1889 Victory became the home of a signal school in addition to being a tender.[99] The school remained in Victory until 1904, when training was transferred temporarily to HMS Hercules.[100]

Despite her reuse as a school, Victory continued to deteriorate. In 1903 she was accidentally rammed by HMS Neptune, a successor to the vessel that had towed her to Gibraltar. Emergency repairs prevented her from sinking, but the Admiralty again proposed that she be scrapped, and it was only the personal intervention of Edward VII that prevented this from occurring.[101] The centenary celebration of the Battle of Trafalgar caused resurgence in interest for the ship, which for part of the 1905 festivities was illuminated with electricity generated by an adjacent submarine.[101] The Society for Nautical Research was formed in 1910 to campaign for the ship’s preservation but was unable to secure the backing of the Admiralty, which was at that time being stripped of its assets by an escalating arms race. In 1911, Frank H. Mason’s The Book of British Ships remarked how the dilapidated condition of the Victory was "nothing short of an insult".[102][103] A few glimpses of the ship in 1918 are to be seen towards the end of Maurice Elvey's biopic of Nelson created in that year.[104]

In dry dock and restoration (1921–1939)

[edit]
Restoring HMS Victory (William Lionel Wyllie, 1925)

By 1921 the ship was in a very poor state, and a public Save the Victory campaign was started, with shipping magnate Sir James Caird as a major contributor.[105] On 12 January 1922, her condition was so poor that she would no longer stay afloat, and had to be moved into No. 2 dock at Portsmouth, the oldest dry dock in the world still in use.[106][105] A naval survey revealed that between a third and a half of her internal fittings required replacement. Her steering equipment had also been removed or destroyed, along with most of her furnishings.[96]

The relocation to No. 2 dock sparked public discussion about Victory's future location. Suggestions in contemporary newspapers included the creation of a floating plinth atop which she could be preserved as a monument, either in Portsmouth or adjacent to the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. Others proposed a berth beside Cleopatra's Needle on the Thames, or a land-based structure in Trafalgar Square. Despite popular support, these options were not seriously entertained by the Admiralty. The naval architects who had surveyed the ship reported that she was too damaged to be moved; the Admiralty formally adopted their advice, and No. 2 dock thereafter became Victory's permanent home.[96]

On 21 October 1922 the Admiral of the Fleet Sir Doveton Sturdee issued a further public plea for "many thousands of pounds" of public donations in The Times. He wrote: "The value of the Victory is no transitory thing. She must be preserved in order that our children's children may draw from her the same inspiration that we have drawn ourselves, and our fathers before us."[107]

The initial restoration, carried out between 1922 and 1929, was concerned with both the repair of rotten timbers and the return of the ship to her Trafalgar appearance.[108] The most obvious difference was the rounded bow, instated in 1814,[109] which was removed and replaced with a square beakhead and bulkhead.[108] On 8 April 1925, Victory was temporarily refloated within Portsmouth's No. 2 dock, to adjust the supporting cradle and so that Victory's waterline would be at the same level with the top of the dry dock.[110] This last refloating of Victory was recorded by Pathé news cameras.[111][112] In 1928, King George V was able to unveil a tablet celebrating the completion of the work, although restoration and maintenance still continued under the supervision of the Society for Nautical Research.[105] Restoration was suspended during the Second World War, and in 1941, Victory sustained further damage when a 500 lb. bomb[113] dropped by the Luftwaffe broke her keel, as can be seen in Plate 1 in The Anatomy of Nelson's Ships by C. Nepean Longridge (1955), destroyed one of the steel cradles and part of the foremast. On one occasion, German radio propaganda claimed that the ship had been destroyed by a bomb, and the Admiralty had to issue a denial.[114]

Post-war restoration (1945–2005)

[edit]

After the Second World War, the frames of HMS Victory had rotted in situ, and in the 1950s, a number of preventive measures were instigated, including the removal of bulkheads to increase airflow and the fumigating of the ship against the deathwatch beetle which when emerging cause hundreds of bore holes weakening the oak frames and timbers. The following decade saw the replacement of much of the decayed oak with oily hardwoods such as teak and iroko, which were believed to be more resistant to fungus and pests.[115]

The decision to restore Victory to her Battle of Trafalgar configuration was taken in 1920, but the need to undertake these important repairs meant this was not achieved until 2005, in time for the Trafalgar 200 celebrations of which HMS Victory was centre stage for the event.[116] Victory's fore topsail was severely damaged during the Battle of Trafalgar, perforated by upwards of 90 cannonballs and other projectiles. It was replaced after the battle, but was preserved and eventually displayed in the Royal Naval Museum.[117]

'The Big Repair' (2005–present)

[edit]

In November 2007, Victory's then-commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander John Scivier, paid a visit to USS Constitution of the US Navy, which is the world's oldest commissioned naval vessel still afloat. He met Constitution's commanding officer, Commander William A. Bullard III.[118]

In August 2011 the upper masts and rigging of HMS Victory were dismantled entirely across all three masts by a team of riggers and cranes; this allowed weight to reduce the pressure on the ship's hull to reduce the stress the upper masts placed upon the hull. This had not been the first time the masts had been worked on with each mast de-rigged throughout the 20th Century, but this was the first time they had been fully dismantled since the Second World War.

In December 2011, Defence Equipment and Support awarded an initial five-year project management contract to BAE Systems, with an option to extend to ten years. The restoration is worth £16 million over the life of the contract and will include work to the masts and rigging, replacement side planking, and the addition of fire control measures. It is expected to be the most extensive refit since the ship returned from Trafalgar.

HMS Victory dock walkway

Listed as part of the National Historic Fleet, Victory has been the flagship of the First Sea Lord since October 2012. Prior to this, she was the flagship of the Second Sea Lord.[119][120] She is the oldest commissioned warship in the world and attracts around 350,000 visitors per year in her role as a museum ship.[121] The current and 101st commanding officer is Lieutenant Commander Brian Smith, who assumed command in May 2015.[122]

Since this contract was placed, the most significant change has been on 5 March 2012, when ownership of the ship was transferred from the Ministry of Defence to a dedicated HMS Victory Preservation Trust, established as part of the National Museum of the Royal Navy.[123] According to the Royal Navy website, the move was "heralded by the announcement of a £25 million capital grant to support the new Trust by the Gosling Foundation – a donation which has been matched by a further £25 million from the MOD".[124]

HMS Victory on Trafalgar Day 2022. Conservation scaffold erected over the midships keeping the ship dry whilst hull replanking is undertaken. The signal England expects that every man will do his duty is still flown off the Fore and Mizzen masts.

Victory underwent a major restoration in 2017, it was discovered that the hull had been moving at a rate of half a centimetre each year, for a total of around 20 cm since the 1970s. To combat this, a new prop system was installed over a period of three years from 2018 to 2021, which allows for precise readings of the stresses on the hull and a more even distribution of the stress, which will help preserve the ship.[125][126] From this work a new walkway was installed under the hull of HMS Victory to enable visitors to explore under the hull of the ship and stern itself.

The lower mainmast of Victory was removed in 2021 for conservation which was the beginning of a major set of works to construct a large scaffold over the ship to allow for hull replanking over the next decade.[127] The scaffold allows shipwrights access to the ship's hull to remove and replace the existing planking installed between the 1980s and 2000s. It also includes a visitor walkway on multiple levels to allow visitors to see the work being undertaken by the National Museum of the Royal Navy's shipwrights.[128] The scaffold was erected by PHD Access who had worked on other historic landmarks such as Big Ben.[129]

Admirals who have hoisted their flag in Victory

[edit]

Over the two centuries since Victory's launch, numerous admirals have hoisted their flag in her:

List of Admirals
Admiral From Until
Admiral Augustus Keppel 16 May 1778 28 October 1778
Admiral Sir Charles Hardy 19 March 1779 14 May 1780
Admiral Francis Geary 24 May 1780 28 August 1780
Rear-Admiral Francis William Drake 26 September 1780 29 December 1780
Vice-Admiral Hyde Parker 20 March 1781 31 May 1781
Commodore John Elliott June 1781 August 1781
Rear-Admiral Richard Kempenfelt 10 September 1781 11 March 1782
Admiral Lord Howe 20 April 1782 14 November 1782
Admiral Lord Howe July 1790 August 1790
Vice-Admiral Lord Hood August 1790 January 1791
Commodore Sir Hyde Parker January 1791 September 1791
Rear-Admiral Sir Hyde Parker 6 February 1793 May 1793
Admiral Lord Hood 6 May 1793 15 December 1794
Rear-Admiral Robert Mann 8 July 1795 27 September 1795
Vice-Admiral Robert Linzee October 1795 November 1795
Admiral Sir John Jervis 3 December 1795 30 March 1797
Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson 8 May 1803 21 October 1805
Vice-Admiral Sir James Saumarez 18 March 1808 9 December 1808
Vice-Admiral Sir James Saumarez 8 April 1809 December 1809
Vice-Admiral Sir James Saumarez 11 March 1810 3 December 1810
Rear-Admiral Sir Joseph Yorke December 1810 March 1811
Vice-Admiral Sir James Saumarez 2 April 1811 25 December 1811
Vice-Admiral Sir James Saumarez 14 April 1812 15 October 1812
Admiral Sir George Martin January 1824 April 1827
Rear-Admiral Sir Frederick Maitland June 1832 July 1837
Rear-Admiral Duncombe Pleydell-Bouverie July 1837 August 1842
Rear-Admiral Hyde Parker August 1842 October 1847
Admiral Sir Charles Ogle 20 March 1848 19 December 1848
Admiral Sir Thomas Capel 20 December 1848 19 December 1851
Admiral Sir Thomas Briggs 20 December 1851 19 March 1853
Vice Admiral Sir Thomas Cochrane 20 March 1854 19 March 1856
Vice Admiral Sir George Seymour 20 March 1856 19 March 1859
Admiral Sir William Bowles 20 March 1859 19 March 1860
Vice Admiral Sir Henry Bruce 20 March 1860 19 December 1864
Vice Admiral Sir Michael Seymour 20 December 1864 19 March 1866
Vice Admiral Sir Thomas Pasley 20 March 1866 20 March 1869
Tender to HMS Duke of Wellington 20 December 1869 1 September 1891
Admiral The Earl of Clanwilliam 1 August 1891 17 September 1894
Admiral Sir Nowell Salmon VC 18 September 1894 31 August 1897
Admiral Sir Michael Culme-Seymour 1 September 1897 17 November 1900
Admiral Sir Charles Hotham 18 November 1900 30 September 1903
Admiral Sir John Fisher 1 October 1903 18 March 1904
The Port Admiral's flag moved to HMS Hercules

and on 1 February 1905, to Firequeen

Admiral Sir Archibald Douglas 18 March 1905 1 March 1907
Admiral Sir Day Bosanquet 2 March 1907 17 March 1908
Admiral Sir Arthur Fanshawe 18 March 1908 30 April 1910
Admiral Sir Assheton Curzon-Howe 1 May 1910 17 March 1911
Admiral Sir Arthur Moore 18 March 1911 31 July 1912
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Hedworth Meux 1 August 1912 17 February 1916
Admiral The Hon Sir Stanley Colville 18 February 1916 17 April 1919
Admiral Sir Cecil Burney 18 April 1919 17 June 1920
Admiral Hon Sir Somerset Gough-Calthorpe 18 June 1920 31 May 1923
Admiral Sir Sydney Fremantle 1 June 1923 1 April 1926
Admiral Sir Osmond Brock 18 May 1926 30 April 1929
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Roger Keyes 1 May 1929 17 June 1931
Admiral Sir Arthur Waistell 18 June 1931 17 February 1934
Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Kelly 18 February 1931 31 August 1936
Admiral of the Fleet The Earl of Cork and Orrery 18 August 1937 30 June 1939
Admiral Sir William James 1 July 1939 30 September 1942
Admiral Sir Charles Little 1 October 1942 28 September 1945
Admiral Sir Geoffrey Layton 29 September 1945 29 June 1947
Admiral The Lord Fraser of North Cape 30 June 1947 18 April 1949
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Algernon Willis 19 April 1949 17 October 1950
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Arthur Power 18 October 1950 17 October 1952
Admiral Sir John Edelsten 18 October 1952 17 October 1954
Admiral of the Fleet Sir George Creasy 18 October 1954 17 July 1957
Admiral Sir Guy Grantham 18 July 1957 17 July 1959
Admiral Sir Manley Power 18 July 1959 17 January 1962
Admiral Sir Alexander Bingley 18 January 1962 17 January 1963
Admiral Sir Wilfrid Woods 18 January 1963 9 September 1965
Admiral Sir Varyl Begg 10 September 1965 9 June 1966
Admiral Sir Frank Hopkins 10 June 1966 30 October 1967
Admiral Sir John Frewen 31 October 1967 27 February 1970
Admiral Sir Horace Law 28 February 1970 28 February 1972
Admiral Sir Andrew Lewis 29 February 1972 29 June 1974
Admiral Sir Derek Empson 30 June 1974 30 October 1975
Admiral Sir Terence Lewin 31 October 1975 30 October 1976
Admiral Sir David Williams 31 October 1976 30 October 1978
Admiral Sir Richard Clayton 31 October 1978 30 June 1981
Admiral Sir James Eberle 1 July 1981 31 December 1983
Admiral Sir Desmond Cassidi 1 January 1983 30 October 1984
Admiral Sir Peter Stanford 31 October 1984 30 October 1987
Admiral Sir John "Sandy" Woodward 31 October 1987 30 October 1989
Admiral Sir Jeremy Black 31 October 1989 30 March 1991
Admiral Sir John Kerr 31 March 1991 30 March 1993
Admiral Sir Michael Layard 31 March 1993 30 March 1994
Admiral Sir Michael Boyce 31 March 1994 30 March 1997
Admiral Sir John Brigstocke 31 March 1997 18 January 2000
Vice Admiral Sir Peter Spencer 19 January 2000 28 January 2003
Vice-Admiral Sir James Burnell-Nugent 29 January 2003 25 October 2005
Vice-Admiral Sir Adrian Johns 25 October 2005 15 July 2008
Vice-Admiral Sir Alan Massey 15 July 2008 19 July 2010
Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Montgomery 19 July 2010 9 October 2012
Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope 9 October 2012 9 April 2013
Admiral Sir George Zambellas 9 April 2013 8 April 2016
Admiral Sir Philip Jones 8 April 2016 19 June 2019
Admiral Sir Tony Radakin 19 June 2019 8 November 2021
Admiral Sir Ben Key 8 November 2021 Present
[edit]

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 7 May 2024.

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