PORTSMOUTH HISTORIC DOCKYARD When HMS Prince of Wales joins her sister ship at Portsmouth, she will be in some very illustrious company. Ian Goold looks at some of the historic ships already at Portsmouth.
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s HMS Prince of Wales enters Her Majesty’s Naval Base Portsmouth following sea trials, she will berth for the first time at the home port from which she will deploy over the next five decades. That affords the prospect of a half-century’s service set in the context of a very much longer maritime story preserved in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. The base has been an integral part of Portsmouth city for more than 820 years, more than 500 of which are represented by four grand old ladies waiting to greet HMS Prince of Wales: Mary Rose, HMS Victory, HMS Warrior, and HMS M.33.
Built in 1510, and the only 16th-century warship on display, King Henry VIII’s flagship Mary Rose is preserved in a museum that captures the moment she sank in the Solent in 1545. Her story covers 30 years of British battles against the French, her re-discovery in 1971, her subsequent resurrection from the seabed in 1982, and her conservation by the Mary Rose Trust. Mary Rose is displayed in a £27-million museum in No. 3 Dock, where floor-to-ceiling glazing on the lower and main decks enables visitors to view the Tudor vessel. Almost 20,000 artefacts, including many weapons (from longbows to two-tonne guns) and personal effects (leather footwear, musical instruments, nit combs, and wooden bowls), provide a unique insight into the ship and the lives of her crew. In the 1512-14 First French War, Mary Rose had taken part in the Battle of Saint-Mathieu. Between
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HMS Prince of Wales
PHOTOS BY MEGAN MICHELL
Mary Rose
Above: Henry VIII’s flagship, Mary Rose, saw action against the French before sinking in the Battle of the Solent in 1545.
