The British Ministry of Defense (MoD) is giving Admiral Lord Nelson’s flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar, HMS Victory to the National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN) in Portsmouth. The ship would stay a commissioned warship and thus will be able to retain bragging rights as the “oldest commissioned naval vessel in the world.” The motivation appears to be primarily financial. As a gift to the museum, the ship and its new owner could benefit from charitable donations and lottery funding instead of being maintained using MoD funds.
HMS Victory ‘gifted to navy museum’
An MoD source is quoted as saying, “NMRN will run the ship but it’s an organisation that is sympathetic. It’s professional and there’s a lot of expertise there. Handing over to such an organisation will mean nothing untoward will happen.
“Also, under the agreement we have with the NMRN, we will still retain a degree of control and there will still be a navy deck crew serving onboard. To visitors, it will appear like nothing has changed.”
Several newspapers have voiced concerns over the transfer. The Sun ran the headline: Skint Navy surrenders Nelson’s HMS Victory with the subtitle: THE Royal Navy is to hand over Nelson’s HMS Victory to a museum — amid fears it will be used to host corporate events. They quote former Former First Sea Lord, Lord West, as saying, “It is inevitable she will be used for corporate events — but if we have to go this route to prevent her turning into a wreck, so be it.”
The Mail expresses similar concerns, with a bit more drama : England expects every man to get trashed! Lord Nelson’s HMS Victory set to become a party boat because MoD cannot afford £16m repair bill
Now, Lord Nelson’s flagship HMS Victory could be turned into a party venue as Ministry of Defence bosses plan to donate it to charity – because they cannot afford a £16million repair bill for the historic vessel…. It is feared the 104-gun vessel, which retired in 1812 and is kept at Portsmouth Dockyard, Hampshire, will be hired out for private hospitality functions and parties.
A Royal Navy source said: ‘This is unacceptable. This historic ship should be kept by the Navy and honoured for what it did to this country.
‘It is an outrage and this should not happen. If Lord Nelson knew what his prized ship was being turned into, he would turn in his grave.’
Thanks to Alaric Bond for passing along the news.
The British Government has poured money into numerous restorations of HMS Victory over the years and none of those were minor or inexpensive. I have several books that document the incredibly complex reconstructions of Victory’s after hull, which was so badly rotted that everything above the lower gundeck was in danger of collapsing into the drydock. (Interestingly, during that work in the 1930s they found a 2″ diameter by 6 foot long copper bolt that was holding some of the deadwood together, and it took them months to extract that one bolt.)
In addition, almost the entire top deck was completely rebuilt, which required de-rigging, de-masting, and then re-masting and re-rigging the entire vessel.
I have no doubt the museum will take good care of HMS Victory, and I really don’t see a problem with an appropriate event being held onboard her. Considering the long and very high reputation of the NMRM, I think these warnings of impending doom are mis-directed. I’m pretty sure that hosting selected events aboard the ship could indeed be a money maker and go a long way towards paying for the continued repairs and upkeep.
And here is a short video of a simulated rolling broadside that was fired aboard HMS Victory in September 2009….imagine being on the receiving end of the real thing…..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2WdU3Zkeig
My only concern with this decision is that the Victory ends up like USS Olympia; a rotten derelict with slim hope of ever being saved and restored to her former glory. Any time governments “giveaway” responsibility for an historic ship to a private group there’d better be careful examination of how said organisation plans to maintain the vessel. There needs to be an absolute guarantee that the ship will receive regular maintenance and that the needs of the ship come before salaries for management and other hangers on. . I remember watching USS Constellation fall into disrepair and neglect while the private foundation charged with maintaining the ship wasted time and money trying to perpetuate a lie. It would be a disgrace to see Victory suffer a similar fate. Thankfully, Constellation was saved and is now in good hands.