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103-502: SS Hope was a hospital ship operated by Project HOPE . This vessel was originally a US Navy hospital ship, USS  Consolation  (AH-15) . Consolation was donated to Project Hope in 1958, and under its new name served from 1960 until 1974, when she was retired. Hope was not replaced, and the emphasis of Project HOPE switched entirely to land-based operations. The project was founded by William B. Walsh . While in charitable service from 1960 to 1974, this ship voyaged around

206-639: A dry dock for the construction. The master shipwright in charge of construction was initially John Lock who died in 1762 and was replaced by Edward Allin , son of Sir Joseph Allin , former Surveyor of the Navy. The keel was laid on 23 July 1759 in the Old Single Dock (since renamed No. 2 Dock and now Victory Dock), and the name Victory was chosen in October 1760. In 1759, the Seven Years' War

309-411: A troopship between December 1810 and April 1811. In 1812, she was relocated to the mouth of Portsmouth Harbour off Gosport , for service as a floating depot and, from 1813 to 1817, as a prison ship . Major repairs were undertaken in 1814, including the fitting of 3 ft 10 in (1.2 m) metal braces along the inside of her hull, to strengthen the timbers. This was the first use of iron in

412-725: A 500 lb. bomb dropped by the Luftwaffe broke her keel, as can be seen in Plate 1 in The Anatomy of Nelson's Ships by C. Nepean Longridge (1955), destroyed one of the steel cradles and part of the foremast. On one occasion, German radio propaganda claimed that the ship had been destroyed by a bomb, and the Admiralt had to issue a denial. After the Second World War, the frames of HMS Victory had rotted in situ, and in

515-425: A bed or rug to rest upon, and given a clean pair of sheets. These early hospital ships were for the care of the sick rather than the wounded, with patients quartered according to their symptoms and infectious cases quarantined from the general population behind a sheet of canvas. The quality of food was very poor. In the 1690s, the surgeon aboard Siam complained that the meat was in an advanced state of putrefaction ,

618-812: A diplomatic solution was found. When the French Revolutionary War broke out in 1793, Victory joined the Mediterranean Fleet as the flagship of Vice-admiral Samuel Hood and took part in the occupation of Toulon in August, an action agreed with the Bourbon loyalists who held the town. When the British were forced to withdraw in December, they destroyed as much of the dockyard and as many enemy ships as they could and sailed to

721-714: A floating plinth atop which she could be preserved as a monument, either in Portsmouth or adjacent to the Royal Naval College, Greenwich . Others proposed a berth beside Cleopatra's Needle on the Thames, or a land-based structure in Trafalgar Square . Despite popular support, these options were not seriously entertained by the Admiralty. The naval architects who had surveyed the ship reported that she

824-426: A force of around twenty-nine ships of the line and, on 23 July, sighted a French fleet of roughly equal force 100 miles (160 km) west of Ushant . The French admiral, Louis Guillouet, comte d'Orvilliers , who had orders to avoid battle, was cut off from Brest , but retained the weather gage . Manoeuvring was made difficult by changing winds and driving rain, but eventually a battle became inevitable, with

927-414: A further five male nurses , and requisitions from the era suggest the number of sheets per patient was increased from one to two pairs. On 8 December 1798, unfit for service as a warship, HMS  Victory was ordered to be converted to a hospital ship to hold wounded French and Spanish prisoners of war. According to Edward Hasted in 1798, two large hospital ships (also called lazarettos ), (which were

1030-466: A leak and sank. All on board were rescued and the ship was subsequently raised. In 1887, she sprang a catastrophic leak, and it was only with some difficulty that she was prevented from sinking at her mooring. The Admiralty thereafter provided a small annual subsidy for maintenance, and in 1889 Victory became the home of a signal school in addition to being a tender. The impact of so much human traffic also left her increasingly decrepit, particularly in

1133-422: A major restoration in 2017, it was discovered that the hull had been moving at a rate of half a centimetre each year, for a total of around 20 cm since the 1970s. To combat this, a new prop system was installed over a period of three years from 2018 to 2021, which allows for precise readings of the stresses on the hull and a more even distribution of the stress, which will help preserve the ship. From this work

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1236-598: A navy. Mercy Ships is an international non-governmental charity (or NGO). Hospital ships were covered under the Hague Convention X of 1907 . Articles of the Hague Convention X specified the provisions for a hospital ship: According to the San Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea , a hospital ship violating legal restrictions must be duly warned and given

1339-429: A new walkway was installed under the hull of HMS Victory to enable visitors to explore under the hull of the ship and stern itself. The lower mainmast of Victory was removed in 2021 for conservation which was the beginning of a major set of works to construct a large scaffold over the ship to allow for hull replanking over the next decade. The scaffold allows shipwrights access to the ship's hull to remove and replace

1442-462: A reasonable time limit to comply. If a hospital ship persists in violating restrictions, a belligerent is legally entitled to capture it or take other means to enforce compliance. A non-complying hospital ship may only be fired on under the following conditions: In all other circumstances, attacking a hospital ship is a war crime . Modern hospital ships display large Red Crosses or Red Crescents to signify their Geneva Convention protection under

1545-430: A school, Victory continued to deteriorate at her mooring. In 1903 she was accidentally rammed by HMS  Neptune , a successor to the vessel that had towed her to Gibraltar. Emergency repairs prevented her from sinking, but the Admiralty again proposed that she be scrapped, and it was only the personal intervention of Edward VII that prevented this from occurring. Interest in the ship revived in 1905 when, as part of

1648-535: A team of riggers and cranes; this allowed weight to reduce the pressure on the ship's hull to reduce the stress the upper masts placed upon the hull. This had not been the first time the masts had been worked on with each mast de-rigged throughout the 20th Century, but this was the first time they had been fully dismantled since the Second World War. In December 2011, Defence Equipment and Support awarded an initial five-year project management contract to BAE Systems , with an option to extend to ten years. The restoration

1751-624: Is a 104-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy . She was ordered in 1758, laid down in 1759, and launched in 1765. With 246 years of service as of 2024, she is the world's oldest naval vessel still in commission . Victory is best known for her role as Horatio Nelson 's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805. She had previously served as Keppel 's flagship at Ushant , Howe 's flagship at Cape Spartel and Jervis 's flagship at Cape St Vincent . After 1824, she

1854-431: Is common for naval ships, especially large ships such as aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships to have on-board hospitals. However, they are only one small part of the vessel's overall capability, and are used primarily for the ship's crew and its amphibious forces (and occasionally for relief missions). A warship with hospital facilities does not have the protected status of a hospital ship. A primary example of

1957-543: Is worth £16 million over the life of the contract and will include work to the masts and rigging, replacement side planking, and the addition of fire control measures. It is expected to be the most extensive refit since the ship returned from Trafalgar. Listed as part of the National Historic Fleet , Victory has been the flagship of the First Sea Lord since October 2012. Prior to this, she

2060-533: The Hyeres Islands from where Hood plotted a blockade of Corsica . Resentment at French rule there had sparked a revolt led by Pasquale Paoli whose guerrillas had driven the invaders into three fortified towns in the north of the island; Calvi , San Fiorenzo and Bastia . Hood despatched a proportion of his fleet to prevent the French from shipping in supplies. On 24 January, Hood received word that

2163-609: The Metropolitan Asylum Board (MAB) chartered and later purchased from the Admiralty two ships, HMS  Atlas and HMS  Endymion , and a paddle-steamer, PS  Castalia , which were moored in the Thames at Long Reach , near Dartford , and remained in service until 1903. Hospital ships were used by both sides in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905.The sighting by the Japanese of

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2266-572: The Royal Naval Museum . In November 2007, Victory ' s then-commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander John Scivier, paid a visit to USS  Constitution of the US Navy , which is the world's oldest commissioned naval vessel still afloat. He met Constitution ' s commanding officer, Commander William A. Bullard III. In August 2011 the upper masts and rigging of HMS Victory were dismantled entirely across all three masts by

2369-586: The Russo-Turkish War (1877–78) , the British Red Cross supplied a steel-hulled ship, equipped with modern surgery equipment including chloroform and other anaesthetics , and carbolic acid for antisepsis . Similar vessels accompanied the 1882 British invasion of Egypt and aided American personnel during the 1898 Spanish–American War . During a smallpox outbreak in London in 1883,

2472-465: The laws of war . Even so, marked vessels have not been completely free from attack. Notable examples of hospital ships deliberately attacked during wartime are HMHS  Llandovery Castle in 1915, the Soviet hospital ship  Armenia in 1941, and AHS  Centaur in 1943. While any ship can be designated and marked as a hospital ship, many ships are permanently dedicated to that function. It

2575-625: The steamships HMS Melbourne and HMS Mauritius , staffed by the Medical Staff Corps and providing services to the British expedition to China in 1860 . The ships provided relatively spacious accommodation for the patients, and were equipped with an operating theatre. Another early hospital ship was USS  Red Rover in the 1860s, which aided the wounded soldiers of both sides during the American Civil War . During

2678-463: The 18th century, Victory was one of ten first-rate ships to be constructed. The outline plans were based on HMS  Royal George , which had been launched at Woolwich Dockyard in 1756, and the naval architect chosen to design the ship was Sir Thomas Slade , the Surveyor of the Navy . She was designed to carry at least 100 guns. The commissioner of Chatham Dockyard was instructed to prepare

2781-518: The 1950s, a number of preventive measures were instigated, including the removal of bulkheads to increase airflow and the fumigating of the ship against the deathwatch beetle which when emerging cause hundreds of bore holes weakening the oak frames and timbers. The following decade saw the replacement of much of the decayed oak with oily hardwoods such as teak and iroko , which were believed to be more resistant to fungus and pests. The decision to restore Victory to her Battle of Trafalgar configuration

2884-751: The 42-pounders were reinstated in April 1779; however, there were insufficient 42-pounders available and these were replaced with 32-pounder cannon once again. Victory was commissioned (put on active duty) in March 1778 under Captain Sir John Lindsay . He held that position until May 1778, when Admiral Augustus Keppel made her his flagship , and appointed Rear Admiral John Campbell (1st Captain) and Captain Jonathan Faulknor (2nd Captain). Keppel put to sea from Spithead on 9 July 1778 with

2987-492: The 98-gun HMS  Temeraire , whose broadside devastated the French ship. Nelson's last order was for the fleet to anchor, but this was countermanded by Vice Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood. Victory suffered 57 killed and 102 wounded. Victory had been badly damaged in the battle and was not able to move under her own sail, so HMS  Neptune towed her to Gibraltar for repairs. Victory then carried Nelson's body to England, where, after lying in state at Greenwich , he

3090-490: The Admiralty issued orders for Victory to be broken up and her timbers reused in other vessels. A public outcry against the destruction of so famous a ship led to the order being held in abeyance and Victory was left, largely forgotten, at a Portsmouth mooring. The Admiralty officially designated the ageing vessel as a tender for the port admiral ' s flagship, HMS  Wellington , and permitted civilian visitors to come aboard for tours. The ship briefly returned to

3193-694: The Amphion and hoisted his flag and made sail – Log." On 28 May, Captain Sutton captured the French Ambuscade of 32 guns, bound for Rochefort . Victory rejoined Lord Nelson off Toulon, where on 31 July, Captain Sutton exchanged commands with the captain of Amphion , Thomas Masterman Hardy and Nelson raised his flag in Victory once more. Victory was passing the island of Toro, near Majorca , on 4 April 1805, when HMS  Phoebe brought

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3296-522: The Army model. The last British royal yacht , the post World War II HMY  Britannia , was constructed in a way as to be convertible to a hospital ship in wartime. After her decommissioning, Peter Hennessy discovered that her actual role would have been as Queen Elizabeth II 's refuge from nuclear weapons , hiding amidst the lochs of western Scotland. A development of the Lun-class ekranoplan

3399-445: The British van which fired back, forcing the French ship Alcide to surrender. Culloden and Cumberland did not stop to take possession of the stricken French ship but Victory had been much damaged in the action: all the running rigging along with much of her standing rigging, the main topgallant mast, the topsail yardarms on the foremast and the spritsail yardarms had all been shot away, and considerable damage had been done to

3502-417: The British more or less in column and the French in some confusion. However, the French managed to pass along the British line with their most advanced ships. At about a quarter to twelve, Victory opened fire on Bretagne of 110 guns, which was being followed by Ville de Paris of 90 guns. The British van escaped with little loss, but Sir Hugh Palliser 's rear division suffered considerably. Keppel made

3605-520: The Corsicans wished for the governance and protection of Britain and set off with his remaining ships. They were caught in a storm however and had to spend several nights sheltering off the island of Elba before heading into Portoferraio on the 29 January for repairs. The fleet eventually arrived on 7 February at San Fiorenzo, where an attack was carried out on the Torra di Mortella at the west end of

3708-458: The French threat. This included arming her with a full complement of smoothbore , cast iron cannon . Her weaponry was intended to be thirty 42-pounders (19 kg) on her lower deck, twenty-eight 24-pounder long guns (11 kg) on her middle deck, and thirty 12-pounders (5 kg) on her upper deck, together with twelve 6-pounders on her quarterdeck and forecastle . In May 1778, the 42-pounders were replaced by 32-pounders (15 kg), but

3811-544: The Russian hospital ship Orel , illuminated in accordance with regulations for hospital ships, led to the decisive naval Battle of Tsushima . Orel was retained as a prize of war by the Japanese after the battle. During World War I and World War II, hospital ships were first used on a massive scale. Many passenger liners were converted for use as hospital ships. RMS  Aquitania and HMHS  Britannic were two famous examples of ships serving in this capacity. By

3914-633: The Spanish ships became visible to him, Calder reported the numbers to Jervis, but when he reached 27, Jervis replied, "Enough, Sir. No more of that. The die is cast and if there are 50 sail, I will go through them". The Spanish were caught by surprise, sailing in two divisions, with a gap that Jervis aimed to exploit. The ship's log records how Victory halted the Spanish division, raking ships both ahead and astern, while Jervis' private memoirs recall how Victory ' s broadside so terrified Principe de Asturias that she "squared her yards, ran clear out of

4017-525: The absence of Admiralty funding for repairs. Sir Edward Seymour visited the vessel in 1886 as flag captain to the Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth and recalled in 1911 "a more rotten ship than she had become probably never flew the pennant. I could literally run my walking stick through her sides in many places." The school remained in Victory until 1904, when training was transferred temporarily to HMS  Hercules . Despite her reuse as

4120-464: The battle and did not return". Jervis, realising that the main bulk of the enemy fleet could now cross astern and reunite, ordered his ships to change course, but Sir Charles Thompson , leading the rear division, failed to comply. The following ships were now in a quandary over whether to obey the Admiral's signal or follow their divisional commander. Nelson, who had transferred to HMS  Captain ,

4223-451: The battle. When he noted the French superiority, he contented himself with capturing fifteen sail of the convoy. The French were dispersed in a gale and forced to return home. Victory ' s armament was slightly upgraded in 1782 with the replacement of all of her 6-pounders with 12-pounder cannon. Later, she also carried two carronade guns , firing 68-lb (31 kg) round shot. In October 1782, Victory under Admiral Richard Howe

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4326-673: The battlefield and also supplied to provide logistical support to front line medical teams ashore. Army hospital ships were essentially hospital transports intended and equipped to evacuate patients from forward area Army hospitals to rear area hospitals or from those to the United States and were not equipped or staffed to handle large numbers of direct battle casualties. Three of the Navy hospital ships, USS  Comfort , USS  Hope , and USS  Mercy , were less elaborately equipped than other Navy hospital ships, medically staffed by Army medical personnel and similar in purpose to

4429-438: The bay. Victory did not play much of an active role in the attack and on 11 February was blown off station by a strong wind. After sheltering off Cap Corse , she returned on 17 February in time to see the tower captured and, soon after, the town capitulate. Hood next sailed his ships to Bastia joining with a squadron under Horatio Nelson which had been blockading the town since 7 February. Despite this additional show of force,

4532-403: The biscuits were weevil-ridden and bitter, and the bread was so hard that it stripped the skin off patients’ mouths. Hospital ships were also used for the treatment of wounded soldiers fighting on land. An early example of this was during an English operation to evacuate English Tangier in 1683. An account of this evacuation was written by Samuel Pepys , an eyewitness. One of the main concerns

4635-543: The centenary celebrations of the Battle of Trafalgar, she was decorated with electric lights powered by a submarine moored alongside. In 1910, the Society for Nautical Research was created to try to preserve her for future generations, but the Admiralty was unable to help, having become embroiled in an escalating arms race; thus by the time Frank H. Mason published The Book of British Ships in 1911, Victory ' s condition

4738-778: The combined Franco-Spanish fleet of 17 ships. They arrived in the West Indies to find that the enemy was sailing back to Europe, where Napoleon Bonaparte was waiting for them with his invasion forces at Boulogne . The Franco-Spanish fleet was involved in the indecisive Battle of Cape Finisterre in fog off Ferrol with Admiral Sir Robert Calder's squadron on 22 July, before taking refuge in Vigo and Ferrol. Calder on 14 August and Nelson on 15 August joined Admiral Cornwallis 's Channel Fleet off Ushant. Nelson continued on to England in Victory , leaving his Mediterranean fleet with Cornwallis who detached twenty of his thirty-three ships of

4841-638: The end of 1796, the British position in the Mediterranean had become untenable. Jervis had stationed his fleet off Cape St Vincent to prevent the Spanish from sailing north, whilst Nelson was to oversee the evacuation of Elba. Once the evacuation had been accomplished, Nelson, in HMS Minerve , sailed for Gibraltar. On learning that the Spanish fleet had passed by some days previous, Nelson left to rendezvous with Jervis on 11 February. The Spanish fleet, which had been blown off course by easterly gales,

4944-627: The end of the First World War, the British Royal Navy had 77 such ships in service. During the Gallipoli Campaign , hospital ships were used to evacuate wounded personnel to Egypt , Malta or England. Canada operated hospital ships in both world wars. In World War I these included SS Letitia (I) and HMHS  Llandovery Castle which was deliberately sunk by a German U-boat with great loss of life, despite

5047-473: The enemy line some two or three ships ahead of their commander-in-chief in the centre and achieve victory before the van could come to their aid. At 0600 hours, Nelson ordered his fleet into two columns. Fitful winds made it a slow business, and for more than six hours, the two columns of British ships slowly approached the French line before Royal Sovereign , leading the lee column, was able to open fire on Fougueux . Around 30 minutes later, Victory broke

5150-423: The flag of Rear Admiral Richard Kempenfelt , sailed with eleven other ships of the line, a 50-gun fourth-rate , and five frigates , to intercept a French convoy that had sailed from Brest on 10 December. Not knowing that the convoy was protected by twenty-one ships of the line under the command of Luc Urbain de Bouexic, comte de Guichen , Kempenfelt ordered a chase when they were sighted on 12 December and began

5253-454: The fleet. These were either hired merchant ships or elderly sixth rates , with the internal bulkheads removed to create more room, and additional ports cut through the deck and hull to increase internal ventilation. In addition to their sailing crew, these seventeenth century hospital ships were staffed by a surgeon and four surgeon's mates. The standard issue of medical supplies was bandages, soap, needles and bedpans . Patients were offered

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5356-529: The following month under her new captain, Samuel Sutton . Vice-Admiral Nelson hoisted his flag in Victory on 18 May 1803, with Samuel Sutton as his flag captain . The Dispatches and Letters of Vice Admiral Lord Nelson (Volume 5, page 68) record that "Friday 20 May a.m. ... Nelson ... came on board. Saturday 21st (i.e.the afternoon of the 20th) Unmoored ship and weighed. Made sail out of Spithead ... when H.M. Ship Amphion joined, and proceeded to sea in company with us" – Victory's Log. Victory

5459-433: The garrison would not surrender. Troops were landed and the town was invested, leading to a protracted siege which only ended when a reinforcement of troops from Gibraltar forced the French to seek honourable terms. By June, the French had repaired much of the damage caused by the retreating British, and sailed from Toulon with seven ships-of-the-line. On hearing this, Hood left Corsica with thirteen ships of his own with

5562-554: The hope of bringing them to action. When the French sighted Hood's fleet on 10 June, they took refuge in Golfe Juan near Antibes and anchored in a tight crescent formation. Hood was disinclined to attack, considering the position too well defended, and returned to Corsica. Hood took his ships back to Toulon where he strengthened the blockade of the port. In November, after two years at sea, Hood returned home in Victory . Arriving off Portsmouth on 5 December, Hood struck his flag and

5665-535: The hospital ship's clearly marked status. In World War II, Canada operated the hospital ship RMS  Lady Nelson and SS Letitia (II) . The first purpose-built hospital ship in the U.S. Navy was USS  Relief which was commissioned in 1921. During World War II both the United States Navy and Army operated hospital ships though with different purposes. Naval hospital ships were fully equipped hospitals designed to receive casualties direct from

5768-424: The launch. Larkin asked for the assistance of every available shipwright, and they hewed away enough wood from the gates with their adzes for the ship to pass safely through. However, the launch itself revealed significant problems in the ship's design, including a distinct list to starboard and a tendency to sit heavily in the water such that her lower deck gunports were only 4 ft 6 in (1.4 m) above

5871-488: The line and sent them under Calder to find the combined fleet at Ferrol. On 19 August came the worrying news that the enemy had sailed from there, followed by relief when they arrived in Cádiz two days later. On the evening of Saturday, 28 September, Lord Nelson joined Lord Collingwood 's fleet off Cádiz, quietly, so that his presence would not be known. After learning he was to be removed from command, Villeneuve put to sea on

5974-586: The line between the 80-gun French flagship Bucentaure and 74 gun Redoutable and fired her guns at such close range that the flames of the guns were singeing the windows of the French flagship before the shockwave and cannonballs arrived. Victory ' s port guns unleashed a devastating broadside, raking Bucentaure and blowing a hole in the ship described as "large enough to drive a coach and four horses through." The maelstrom of cannonballs and grapeshot dismounted Bucentaure' s guns and shredded her crew, killing and wounding somewhere between 300 and 450 men of

6077-699: The masts that remained. When two French frigates arrived to tow away the crippled Alcide , Victory saw them off, sinking one of their boats in the process. Hotham ordered a withdrawal of his fleet when the French took refuge in Frejus Bay; by then it was dark and a lee shore wind meant the British would be trapped if they continued their pursuit. In 1796, Captain Robert Calder (First Captain) and Captain George Grey (Second Captain), commanded Victory under Admiral Sir John Jervis 's flag. By

6180-494: The morning of 19 October and when the last ship had left port, around noon the following day, he set sail for the Mediterranean. The British frigates, which had been sent to keep track of the enemy fleet throughout the night, were spotted at around 1900 hours and the order was given to form line of battle. On the morning of 21 October, the main British fleet, which was out of sight and sailing parallel some 10 miles away, turned to intercept. Nelson had already made his plans: to break

6283-542: The news that the French fleet under Pierre-Charles Villeneuve had escaped from Toulon. While Nelson made for Sicily to see if the French were heading for Egypt , Villeneuve was entering Cádiz to link up with the Spanish fleet. On 9 May, Nelson received news from HMS  Orpheus that Villeneuve had left Cadiz a month earlier. The British fleet completed their stores in Lagos Bay, Portugal and, on 11 May, sailed westward with ten ships and three frigates in pursuit of

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6386-440: The night of 12 July the British were caught in a storm and several ships, including Victory were damaged. The French were seen at dawn, as Victory was having new sails fitted but was ready by 08:00 when Hotham ordered a general chase. Victory made good progress and along with Culloden and Cumberland was catching up on the French rear. A sudden shift in the wind allowed the trailing three French ships to turn and open up on

6489-411: The officers on Victory ' s quarterdeck how, "A victory to England is very essential at the moment". Jervis was not aware of the size of the fleet he was facing, but at around 0630 hours, received word that five Spanish warships were to the south-east. By 0900 hours, the first enemy ships were visible from Victory ' s masthead, and at 1100 hours, Jervis gave the order to form line of battle. As

6592-409: The oldest dry dock in the world still in use. A naval survey revealed that between a third and a half of her internal fittings required replacement. Her steering equipment had also been removed or destroyed, along with most of her furnishings. The relocation to No. 2 dock sparked public discussion about Victory ' s future location. Suggestions in contemporary newspapers included the creation of

6695-618: The public gaze on 18 July 1833 when the queen in waiting, Princess Victoria , and her mother, the Duchess of Kent , made a visit to her quarterdeck to meet veterans of the Trafalgar campaign. This generated a surge of interest in the vessel, and an increase in civilian visitor numbers to between 10,000 and 12,000 a year. Victoria returned for a second visit on 21 October 1844, creating a further burst of interest that lifted annual visitors to more than 22,000. In late April 1854, Victory sprang

6798-425: The same inspiration that we have drawn ourselves, and our fathers before us." During the initial restoration period from 1922 to 1929, a considerable amount of structural repair work was carried out above the waterline and mainly above the middle deck. On 8 April 1925, Victory was temporarily refloated within Portsmouth's No. 2 dock, to adjust the supporting cradle and so that Victory ' s waterline would be at

6901-555: The same level with the top of the dry dock. This last refloating of Victory was recorded by Pathé news cameras. In 1928, King George V was able to unveil a tablet celebrating the completion of the work, although restoration and maintenance still continued under the supervision of the Society for Nautical Research. Restoration was suspended during the Second World War , and in 1941, Victory sustained further damage when

7004-540: The ship was taken in for much needed repairs. By July the following year, Victory had rejoined the Mediterranean Fleet, now commanded by Admiral William Hotham in the 100-gun Britannia . Shortly after her arrival, Victory received Rear-Admiral Robert Mann , who moved his flag from Cumberland , and on the 8 July the fleet set off in pursuit of a French force near the Hyeres Islands. On

7107-414: The ship's 750- to 800-man complement in a matter of seconds, putting the French flagship out of action. At a quarter past one, Nelson was shot, the fatal musket ball entering his left shoulder and lodging in his spine. He died at half past four. Such killing had taken place on Victory ' s quarterdeck that Redoutable attempted to board her, but they were thwarted by the arrival of Eliab Harvey in

7210-511: The signal to follow the French, but Palliser did not conform, and the action was not resumed. Keppel was court martialled and cleared, and Palliser criticised by an inquiry before the affair turned into a political argument. In March 1780, Victory ' s hull was sheathed with 3,923 sheets of copper below the waterline to protect it against shipworm . On 2 December 1781, the ship, now commanded by Captain Henry Cromwell and bearing

7313-518: The smaller fittings. Once the ship's frame had been built, it was normal to cover it up and leave it for several months to allow the wood to dry out or " season ". French naval power had been severely weakened by the events in Quiberon Bay and there was no immediate need for Victory which remained in this condition for nearly three years. This additional seasoning in the frame helped her subsequent longevity. Work restarted in autumn 1763 and she

7416-873: The surviving hulks of forty-four gun ships) were moored in Halstow Creek in Kent . The creek is an inlet from the River Medway and the River Thames . The crew of these vessels watched over ships coming to England, which were forced to stay in the creek under quarantine to protect the country from infectious diseases including the plague . From 1821 to 1870, the Seamen's Hospital Society provided HMS Grampus , HMS Dreadnought and HMS Caledonia (later renamed Dreadnought ) as successive hospital ships moored at Deptford in London. In 1866, HMS Hamadryad

7519-710: The time for convalescent soldiers. The modern hospital ship began to emerge during the Crimean War in the 1850s. The only military hospital available to the British forces fighting on the Crimean Peninsula was at Scutari near the Bosphorus . During the Siege of Sevastopol almost 15,000 wounded troops were transported there from the port at Balaklava by a squadron of converted hospital ships. The first ships to be equipped with genuine medical facilities were

7622-541: The varied military-based hospital services available at sea is found aboard several types of US naval ships; More examples from various other national navies include; [REDACTED] German Navy [REDACTED]   This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships . The entry can be found here . [REDACTED] Media related to Hospital ships at Wikimedia Commons HMS Victory HMS Victory

7725-489: The vessel Goodwill , which accompanied a Royal Navy squadron in the Mediterranean in 1608 and was used to house the sick sent aboard from other ships. However this experiment in medical care was short-lived, with Goodwill assigned to other tasks within a year and her complement of convalescents simply left behind at the nearest port. It was not until the mid-seventeenth century that any Royal Navy vessels were formally designated as hospital ships, and then only two throughout

7828-545: The vessel structure, other than small bolts and nails. Active service was resumed from February 1817 when she was relisted as a first-rate carrying 104 guns. However, her condition remained poor, and in January 1822, she was towed into dry dock at Portsmouth for repairs to her hull. Refloated in January 1824, she was designated as the Port admiral 's flagship for Portsmouth Harbour, remaining in this role until April 1830. In 1831

7931-524: The waterline. The first of these problems was rectified after launch by increasing the ship's ballast to settle her upright on the keel. The second problem, regarding the siting of the lower gunports, could not be rectified. Instead it was noted in Victory ' s sailing instructions that these gunports would have to remain closed and unusable in rough weather. This had potential to limit Victory ' s firepower, though in practice none of her subsequent actions would be fought in rough seas. Because there

8034-598: The world. Hospital ship The Second Geneva Convention of 1949 prohibits military attacks on hospital ships that meet specified requirements, though belligerent forces have right of inspection and may take patients, but not staff, as prisoners of war . Hospital ships possibly existed in ancient times. The Athenian Navy had a ship named Therapia , and the Roman Navy had a ship named Aesculapius , their names indicating that they may have been hospital ships. The earliest British hospital ship may have been

8137-575: The world: One special piece of equipment was a machine called the Iron Cow . Using distilled seawater, combined with milk solids and butterfat , it was capable of turning out 1,000 gallons of milk daily. This 15,000-ton ship had a pharmacy, three operating rooms, a radiology department, an isolation ward, and closed-circuit television for viewing operations. The medical crew typically consisted of 150 nurses and 100 doctors, who taught American practices in various medical specialties, to colleagues around

8240-659: Was Victory's last action of the war; hostilities ended in September 1783 and she was placed in ordinary. In 1787, Victory was ordered to be readied for service following a revolt in the Netherlands but before she could put to sea, a Prussian invasion , leading to the signing of the Triple Alliance treaty removed the threat. Victory was seaworthy for the Nootka Crisis in 1790 however, when she

8343-454: Was floated on 7 May 1765, having cost £63,176 and 3 shillings , the equivalent of £10.9 million today. On the day of the launch, shipwright Hartly Larkin, designated "foreman afloat" for the event, suddenly realised that the ship might not fit through the dock gates. Measurements at first light confirmed his fears: the gates were at least 9½ inches too narrow. He told his superior, master shipwright John Allin, who considered abandoning

8446-428: Was a suitable name, since the previous Victory had been lost with all hands in 1744. A team of 150 workmen was assigned to construct Victory ' s frame. Around 6,000 trees were used in her construction, of which 90% were oak and the remainder elm , pine and fir , together with a small quantity of lignum vitae . The wood of the hull was held in place by six-foot copper bolts, supported by treenails for

8549-453: Was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral on 9 January 1806. The Admiralty Board considered Victory too old, and in too great a disrepair, to be restored as a first-rate ship of the line. In November 1807, she was relegated to second-rate, with the removal of two 32-pounder cannon and replacement of her middle deck 24-pounders with 18-pounders obtained from other laid-up ships. She was recommissioned as

8652-410: Was declared unfit for active service and left anchored off Chatham Dockyard. In December 1798 she was ordered to be converted to a hospital ship to hold wounded French and Spanish prisoners of war . However, on 8 October 1799, HMS  Impregnable was lost off Chichester , having run aground on her way back to Portsmouth after escorting a convoy to Lisbon . She could not be refloated and so

8755-527: Was described as "nothing short of an insult". A few glimpses of the ship in 1918 are to be seen towards the end of Maurice Elvey's biopic of Nelson created in that year. By 1921 the ship was in a very poor state, and a public Save the Victory campaign was started, with shipping magnate Sir James Caird as a major contributor. On 12 January 1922, her condition was so poor that she would no longer stay afloat, and had to be moved into No. 2 dock at Portsmouth,

8858-485: Was going well for Britain; land victories had been won at Quebec and Minden and naval battles had been won at Lagos and Quiberon Bay . It was the Annus Mirabilis , or Wonderful Year, and the ship's name may have been chosen to commemorate the victories or it may have been chosen simply because out of the seven names shortlisted, Victory was the only one not in use. There were some doubts whether this

8961-553: Was moored in Cardiff as a seamen's hospital, replaced in 1905 by the Royal Hamadryad Seamen's Hospital . Other redundant warships were used as hospitals for convicts and prisoners of war. The Royal Navy institutionalised the use of hospital ships during the first half of the nineteenth century. Hospital ships were generally superior in their standard of service and sanitation to the medical provision available at

9064-472: Was no immediate use for her, she was placed in ordinary and moored in the River Medway . Internal fitting out continued over the next four years, and sea trials were completed in 1769, after which she was returned to her Medway berth. She remained there until France joined the American War of Independence in 1778. Victory was now placed in active service as part of a general mobilisation against

9167-478: Was one fatality aboard Victory ; a cannonball narrowly missed Jervis and decapitated a nearby sailor. "I have also observed that the ship is very weak abaft ; the transoms between the lower and middle decks work [bend] exceedingly." — Naval architect Sir Robert Seppings , describing defects aboard Victory , September 1796 On her return to England, Victory was examined for seaworthiness and found to have significant weaknesses in her stern timbers. She

9270-399: Was planned for use as a mobile field hospital for rapid deployment to any ocean or coastal location at a speed of 297 knots (550 km/h, 341.8 mph). Work was 90% complete on this model, Spasatel , but Soviet military funding ceased and it was never completed. Some hospital ships, such as SS  Hope and Esperanza del Mar , belong to civilian agencies, and do not belong to

9373-459: 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. In December 1758, William Pitt the Elder , as head of the British government, placed an order for the building of 12 ships, including a first-rate ship that would become Victory . During

9476-411: Was replaced along with her masts and the paint scheme changed from red to the black and yellow seen today. Her gun ports were originally yellow to match the hull, but later repainted black, giving a pattern later called the "Nelson chequer" , which was adopted by most Royal Navy ships in the decade following the Battle of Trafalgar. The work was completed in April 1803, and the ship left for Portsmouth

9579-668: Was stationed in the Channel. The crisis was resolved peacefully and after taking part in several patrols, Victory returned to Spithead on 1 September 1790. Despite paying off, she remained anchored there into the new year when she was refitted in preparation for the Russian Armament . Pilots with a specific knowledge of the Baltic Sea were taken on board in case the fleet was sent there to thwart Russian ambition but in July,

9682-564: Was stripped and dismantled. Now short of a three-decked ship of the line, the Admiralty decided to recondition Victory . Work started in 1800, but as it proceeded, an increasing number of defects were found and the repairs developed into a very extensive reconstruction. The original estimate was £23,500, but the final cost was £70,933. Extra gun ports were added, taking her from 100 guns to 104, and her magazine lined with copper. The open galleries along her stern were removed; her figurehead

9785-492: Was taken in 1920, but the need to undertake these important repairs meant this was not achieved until 2005, in time for the Trafalgar 200 celebrations of which HMS Victory was centre stage for the event. Victory ' s fore topsail was severely damaged during the Battle of Trafalgar, perforated by upwards of 90 cannonballs and other projectiles. It was replaced after the battle, but was preserved and eventually displayed in

9888-470: Was that night working its way to Cadiz. The darkness and a dense fog meant Nelson was able to pass through the enemy fleet without being spotted and join Jervis on 13 February. Jervis, whose fleet had been reinforced on 5 February by five ships from Britain under Rear-Admiral William Parker , now had 15 ships of the line. The following morning, having drawn up his fleet into two columns, Jervis impressed upon

9991-533: Was the evacuation of sick soldiers "and the many families and their effects to be brought off". The hospital ships Unity and Welcome sailed for England on 18 October 1683, with 114 invalid soldiers and 104 women and children, arriving at The Downs on 14 December 1683. The number of medical personnel aboard Royal Navy hospital ships was slowly increased, with regulations issued in 1703 requiring that each vessel also carry six landsmen to act as surgical assistants, and four washerwomen. A 1705 amendment provided for

10094-468: Was the first to break off and attack the main fleet as Jervis had wanted, and other ships soon followed his example. The British fleet not only achieved its main objective, that of preventing the Spanish from joining their French and Dutch allies in the channel, but also captured four ships. The dead and wounded from these four ships alone amounted to 261 and 342, respectively; more than the total number of British casualties of 73 dead and 327 wounded. There

10197-515: Was the flagship of the Second Sea Lord . She is the oldest commissioned warship in the world and attracts around 350,000 visitors per year in her role as a museum ship. The current and 101st commanding officer is Lieutenant Commander Brian Smith, who assumed command in May 2015. Since this contract was placed, the most significant change has been on 5 March 2012, when ownership of the ship

10300-456: Was the fleet flagship of a powerful escort flotilla for a convoy of transports which resupplied Gibraltar in the event of a blockade by the French and Spanish navies. No resistance was encountered on entering the straits and the supplies were successfully unloaded. There was a minor engagement at the time of departure, in which Victory did not fire a shot. The British ships were under orders to return home and did so without major incident. This

10403-579: Was too damaged to be moved; the Admiralty formally adopted their advice, and No. 2 dock thereafter became Victory ' s permanent home. On 21 October 1922 the Admiral of the Fleet Sir Doveton Sturdee issued a further public plea for "many thousands of pounds" of public donations in The Times . He wrote: "The value of the Victory is no transitory thing. She must be preserved in order that our children's children may draw from her

10506-717: Was transferred from the Ministry of Defence to a dedicated HMS Victory Preservation Trust, established as part of the National Museum of the Royal Navy . According to the Royal Navy website, the move was "heralded by the announcement of a £25 million capital grant to support the new Trust by the Gosling Foundation – a donation which has been matched by a further £25 million from the MOD". Victory underwent

10609-410: Was under orders to meet up with Cornwallis off Brest, but after 24 hours of searching failed to find him. Nelson, anxious to reach the Mediterranean without delay, decided to transfer to Amphion off Ushant. The Dispatches and Letters (see above) record on page 71 "Tuesday 24 May (i.e. 23 May p.m.) Hove to at 7.40, Out Boats. The Admiral shifted his flag to the Amphion. At 7.50 Lord Nelson came on board

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