HMS Victory

HMS Victory (credit: Naval Historia, FB)

HMS Victory, pictured here sometime between 1890 and 1905. Already ancient even then, quietly sittina in Portsmouth while the world moved on around her.

Victory was ordered in 1758 during the Sever Years' War, laid down in 1759, launched in 1765 and finally commissioned in 1778. That moment is why she still holds her unique status today. She remains the world's oldest commissioned warship and by 2026 she will have been in service for 248 years, a timespan almost impossible to grasp for a wooden ship.

She is a 104-gun first-rate ship of the line designed for the fleet battles of the mid-18th century. By the time of Trafalgar in 1805 she was already an ageing design, yet still trusted as Nelson's flagship at the most famous naval battle in history!

After her seagoing career ended, Victory was kept on rather than broken up. From 1824 she served as a harbour ship, becoming part of the dockyarc andscape rather than the fighting fleet. That is why later photographs show her fixed in place familiar and almost taken for qranted

Even the Second World War reached her. During a Luftwaffe raid on Portsmouth in March 1941. a bomb exploded in the dry dock beside her, damaging her supports and part of her keel. She was repaired and stayed exactly where she was.... scarred, patched, and still standing. (Credit: Naval Historia, FB) Editor: I assume the picture has been redacted and retoched with colours.

HMS Victory, 1928 watercolor by William Lionel Wyllie (credit Tall Ships FB)

In November 2016 I traveled from Southampton to Portsmouth to visit this exhibit at the Naval Dockyard. The HMS Victory display is the famous ship where Nelson won the battle over Trafalgar but unfortunately was also mortally wounded there and after his death raised to one of the heroes of Britain. He was a true superstar of his time. The Victory is still in commission but I doubt she'll sail anywhere should the need arise, the upper rig is missing altogether. Even some of her cannons are today made out of plastic. The pictures below are all mine, unfortunately some of them are over exposed due to the settings on my fish eye lens on my Nikon D750.

HMS Victory

HMS Victory

HMS Victory is the world’s oldest naval ship still in commission and served as the site of Britain's most famous naval triumph. 

Open deck

Open deck

A Slow Start (1759–1778): Launched in 1765 after six years of construction, she spent her first 13 years in reserve. Sailors initially considered the name "Victory" unlucky because a previous ship with that name had vanished in 1744.

Gun deck

Gun deck

The Nelson Era (1803–1805): After decades of service, she became the flagship of Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson. Her defining moment came at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805, where she led the British fleet to a decisive win over Napoleon's forces. Nelson was famously shot on her quarterdeck and died in her cockpit shortly after victory was secured.

Gun deck

Gun deck

Retirement to Portsmouth (1812–1922): Retired from frontline duty in 1812, she was moored in Portsmouth Harbour, serving as a depot ship and a floating attraction. By the early 1900s, she was in such poor condition that she was in danger of sinking.

Gun deck

Bilge pump

A Permanent Home (1922–Present): Following a national "Save the Victory" campaign, she was moved into Dry Dock No. 2 (the oldest in the world) on 12 January 1922. Despite being hit by a German bomb in 1941, she survived the war and remains the flagship of the First Sea Lord.

Hammocks and cannon

Rope store

Hammocks and ropes

 

Recently, she is undergoing a £35 million "Big Repair" restoration to replace rotting timbers and ensure she survives for another century.

 

Galley

Luxury bed

Bread oven (?)

Ships surgeon office

Officers Salon

Aft inside

Aft inside

Captains bath?

Aft inside

Small workshop

Dry stores

Powder kegs

HMS Victory

An amazing photograph capturing a meeting between HMS Dreadnought and HMS Victory a Portsmouth in 1906. Dreadnoughts being namesake of the dreadnought battleships while Victory was famously the flagship of the Royal Navy fleet at Trafalgar.

The photo caption notes the 100 year gap between the warships. Curiously, the photo uses the year 1805 for Victory, when she was flagship at Trafalgar and not the year 1778 when she was commissioned Dreadnought herself was commissioned in 1906, the year this photo was taken. This might be a result in the general state of disinterest in HMS Victory at the time when she was largely a curiosity due to her role at Trafalgar t would be some years later before the public began taking note of the ship, setting the stage for her preservation. On the other hand, maybe the photographer just really wanted to highlight the century gap! (Credit: Ocean Scary, FB)