Portsmouth Historic Dockyard in August 2017, Victory Gate, HM Naval Base, Portsmouth. England (13)

Описание: Having visited this dockyard in August and September 2017, it brought back many memories for me having sailed out from there in 1963 on H.M.S. Venus to the Azores. I was then a Cook in the Royal Navy serving at H.M.S Ganges in Suffolk. It was a cold winter day then and I was over the side of the ship scrubbing it clean before we sailed. Arriving at the entrance it was a bit disconcerting to see the queues of people waiting to get in. The queue took 40 minutes to allow where I was to arrive at the ticket gate. A bag search told me I was to leave my Monopod with them for safe keeping at the ticket office. This also applies to Tripods for camera equipment so remember this.
The first ship you see is the H.M.S Warrior on the left hand side dock. This ship was the fastest, largest and most powerful warship in the world when she was launched. Such was her reputation that enemy fleets were intimidated by her obvious supremacy and deterred from attacking Britain at sea although she never fired a shot in anger. HMS Warrior was a 40 gun steam powered armoured frigate built for the Royal Navy. She was the name ship of the Warrior-class ironclads. Warrior and her sister ship HMS Black Prince were the first armour-plated, iron-hulled warships, and were built in response to France's launching in 1859 of the first ocean-going ironclad warship, the wooden-hulled Gloire. Warrior conducted a publicity tour of Great Britain in 1863 and spent her active career with the Channel Squadron. On board HMS Warrior which was launched in 1860, Britain’s first iron-hulled, armoured battleship. The ship is powered by steam and sail and was the largest, fastest and most powerful warship of her day and had a lasting influence on naval architecture and design. Work and life on board reflected both the changes the Royal Navy experienced as it evolved into a professional service and shifts in Victorian society.Built to encounter the latest of the French ships, Warrior was, in her time, the ultimate sea warrior. Yet by creating a new era in naval technology, she very soon became outdated. After 22 years’ service, Warrior’s hull was to be used as a depot, floating school and an oil jetty. Painstakingly restored in Hartlepool and then back home to Portsmouth since 1987, Warrior is a unique survivor of the once formidable Victorian Navy and now serves as a museum ship, visitor attraction, popular private hire venue and more. HMS Warrior was rescued in the 1980’s, restored and brought back home to Portsmouth and is owned by Warrior Preservation Trust, an independent charity. Sadly, time has it taken its toll and today she is in a sorry state - her bulwarks, which keep her watertight, have failed and are deteriorating to a point which places her at significant risk.
Next ship I saw was H.M.S. Victory is a 104-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, ordered in 1758, laid down in 1759 and launched in 1765. She is best known for her role as Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. She additionally served as Keppel's flagship at Ushant, Howe's flagship at Cape Spartel and Jervis's flagship at Cape St Vincent. After 1824, she was relegated to the role of harbour ship. In 1922, she was moved to a dry dock at Portsmouth, England, and preserved as a museum ship. She has been the flagship of the First Sea Lord since October 2012 and is the world's oldest naval ship still in commission. This the world’s most famous warship HMS Victory is crumbling under her own weight. An 18-month programme to bring this historic ship back to its original condition. H.M.S. Victory has been sitting in dry dock in Portsmouth since 1922 supported by 22 steel cradles positioned at six metre intervals. It has been well recorded that the 252 year old ship is collapsing ( so to speak ) under her own weight and following a detailed laser scan of 89.25 billion measurements and computer modelling, a new support system has been designed to record how the ship would sit in water.