|
Description:
|
This is a contemporary model of the ‘Victory’ as completed in 1765. It illustrates the largest type of warship in the Navy, a first-rate with 100 guns mounted on three decks. Although it is shown here on a slipway, most first-rates were built in a dry-dock and floated out rather than launched down a slipway. ‘Victory’ was only first commissioned for sea in 1778 but then had an active career and was a very popular flagship, being an exceptionally good sailer for her size: she was present at the capture of Toulon in 1793, took part in the battle of St Vincent in 1797, and was Nelson’s Mediterranean flagship in the period leading up to her participation at the Battle of Trafalgar, for which she is best known. She underwent several ‘large repairs’ in 1797–98, and 1800–03, when the open stern galleries were enclosed and the large figurehead was replaced by a smaller, simplified version. She was withdrawn from active service in 1819 but continued in harbour service at Portsmouth for nearly a century. In December 1921 she was put in dry-dock for restoration to, and preservation in, her Trafalgar condition but remains the official flagship of the Naval Home Command.
|
