HMS Victory

HMS 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 as Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

She was also Keppel's flagship at Ushant, Howe's flagship at Cape Spartel and Jervis's flagship at Cape St Vincent. After 1824, she served as a 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.

Construction

In December 1758, the commissioner of Chatham Dockyard was instructed to prepare a dry dock for the construction of a new first-rate ship. This was an unusual occurrence at the time, as the Royal Navy preferred smaller and more manoeuvrable ships, and it was unusual for more than two to be in commission simultaneously; during the whole of the 18th century, only ten were constructed. Then Prime Minister Pitt the Elder placed the order for Victory on 13 December 1758, along with 11 other ships.

HMS Victory (1737)

HMS Victory was a 100-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built to the dimensions of the 1733 proposals of the 1719 Establishment at Portsmouth Dockyard, and launched on 23 February 1737.

Construction

A small number of the timbers used in the construction of Victory were taken from the remains of the previous HMS Victory, which had caught fire and been burnt to the waterline in February 1721 whilst having weed burned from her bottom (in a process called "breaming"). Officially a rebuild of the previous vessel, the new Victory was built by master shipwright Joseph Allin and cost £38,239 to assemble, plus £12,652 fitting as a flagship. Launched in 1737 she became the flagship of the Channel Fleet under Sir John Norris following completion in 1740. She was the last British First Rate to be armed entirely with bronze cannon.

The Victory was "a high-sided ship for her draught and this was believed to have made her leewardly and to have led to her loss". The term "leewardly" means she had a tendency to be pushed to leeward (down wind) more than normal when sailing with the wind on a quarter or on the beam, making her hard to keep on course. A plan of the ship reproduced in Howard and an extant contemporary model also show her with four rows of lights (stern galleries) and three quarter galleries, one more of each than was usual for an English three-decker in any period.

HMS Victory (1620)

Victory was a 42-gun great ship of the English Royal Navy, built by Andrew Burrell at Deptford and launched in 1620. She was first commissioned in 1627 under Captain Thomas Kettleby for the abortive attack on La Rochelle. During the First Anglo-Dutch War, under the command of Lionel Lane, she took part in the Battles of Dover (19 May 1652), Dungeness (29 November 1652), Portland (18 February), the Gabbard (2 June 1653 3 June 1653) and Texel (31 July 1653). By 1660 she was armed with 56 guns.

By 1665, Victory had been reduced to ordinary status at Chatham Dockyard, and in 1666 she was rebuilt there by Phineas Pett II as an 82-gun second-rate ship of the line. Recommissioned under Sir Christopher Myngs, she took part in the Four Days Battle of 1666 (where Myngs was killed), and on 25 July 1666 in the St James's Day fight under Sir Edward Spragge. During the Third Dutch War she participated in the Battle of Solebay (on 28 May 1672 under Lord Ossory), the two Battles of Schooneveld (on 28 May and 4 June 1673 under Sir William Jennens), and the Battle of Texel (on 11 August 1673, still under Jennens). By 1685 her armament had been reduced to 80 guns.

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