HMS Victory

A 104 tonne first rate ship of the line commissioned in 1778, HMS Victory was already 27 years old and a veteran of three campaigns by the time she achieved fame and renown as the flagship of Vice Admiral Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. When retired from the frontline service in 1812, she was saved from disposal by the then First Naval Lord Thomas Hardy, once Flag Captain to Nelson and the ship’s most famous commanding officer. HMS Victory remained at moorings in Portsmouth Harbour for the next 110 years. It was during her time as the Royal Navy’s Telegraphy and Signal School between 1889 and 1906 that she was rammed by HMS Neptune, which was under tow heading to the breakers. By the 1920s Victory had fallen into a poor state of repair and a national appeal was launched to save her. She was moved to dry dock inside Portsmouth Dockyard in 1922 and subsequently restored to her 1805 fighting condition.