HMS Victory and Queen Elizabeth

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dawn souf at moment, just visited HMS victory, absolutely suberb not a place I would want to be in peacetime never mind during battle of Trafalgar, grog in officers mess by invitation, family member is serving officer in RN, a never to be forgotten experience!

Tomorrow going to watch Queen Elizabeth docking in Portsmouth at 09:00

Can life get better than this?
 
Was at Victory a couple of weeks ago, Fascinating and they have improved the area enormously since I was last there in my teens.
Part of the reason for the visit was for a bit of research in the museum there into the sinking of L24. This was a submarine which my Great Grandad went down in off Portland Bill. Sinking caused by collision with a destroyer on exercises.
 
Have you visited the submarine museum in gosport? Recommended make sure you do the sub trip and be guided by ex submariner it is worth it
 
Piff said:
Was at Victory a couple of weeks ago, Fascinating and they have improved the area enormously since I was last there in my teens.
Part of the reason for the visit was for a bit of research in the museum there into the sinking of L24. This was a submarine which my Great Grandad went down in off Portland Bill. Sinking caused by collision with a destroyer on exercises.
Click to expand...

I work in the Dockyard and can see the masts of the Victory from my office window, and about 3-400 yds from the QE berth.
There is a church/chapel in the Dockyard not far from my office (not in the public area) and if you are not aware there is memorial stone inside to the L24, sure I had a photo of it as I googled the incident when I got back to the office.
There is also a reference to the memorial in the Chapel on the Wiki page.
HMS L24 - Wikipedia
St Ann's Church, HMNB Portsmouth - Wikipedia
 
Daughter is an officer in the RN and we got free entry to the Victory.
That was a great experience.
 
My granddad was a blacksmith in the navy, and lived in Southsea. I remember being taken to HMS Victory as small boy and being told off for going on the wrong side of the rope!

Fifty odd years later I went to a couple of police social curry nights on the Victory (organised by a policeman mate of mine), complete with an off limits tour, and a few Pussers rums from the bar (both compulsory and voluntary). Legend has it that if you are stood on the wooden perimeter around the bar and someone rings the bell on the corner of it, you are obliged to drink Pussers, which the ringer is obliged to pay for (although this may be a police thing)!
 
We've been down a few times recently - it's a good day out. Not just Victory but also HMS Warrior, M33 (there are very few WW1 warships still in existence), the boathouses etc. The boat ride over to Gosport is nice too, and you can get a trip round the harbour.
 
I was reading only recently in Napoleon the Great, how Napoleon was powerless when it came to the sea. Defeated in almost every naval encounter with the British, mainly due to the British having superior commanders (not just Nelson) and thanks to continued drilling, being able to fire 2 rounds for every round fired by the enemy. And it seems that the ability of the Navy to dominate the seas was responsible for uninterrupted trade with the 'Empire'. And profits from Empire trade funded British allies (Austria etc) in their fight against Napoleon. This funding of our allies from London became so successful that Napoleon introduced the Continental System, whereby all countries under his control and cooperative allies, notably Russia, refused to allow British traders to dock in ports under their control - in an attempt to cut off the flow of funds to British allies. A bit like Hitler's Atlantic Campaign, it might have succeeded had it continued. But it didn't, in part due to Napoleon and Alexander having a lovers tiff - they were best mates prior to this.

It seems then that the Royal Navy was Napoleon's nemesis not only in sea and land battles but in his love life too. Prior to becoming Emperor, Napoleon was sent to Egypt to overpower the Turkish allies there, with a view to adding Egypt and other countries in the region to the French Empire. Whilst there, Napoleon asked Josephine to join him, but she had eyes on another man and remained in France. In an attempt to get equal he decided to take a lover and found himself attracted to the wife of a French Officer under his command. So, subtle as ever, he sent the officer back to Paris with an 'important' communique, knowing he'd be away for a couple of month or more, or worse, would be captured by the Royal Navy in the Med. Meanwhile Napoleon had the poor unsuspecting officer's wife move in with him. But, although as expected the officer was indeed captured by the Navy, he was released in an act of officer camaraderie and was set ashore at Alexandra and from there quickly returned to Cairo to find his Commander in Chief in bed with his Wife.

As an aside, I was born and bred in Portsmouth. 4 uncles and 2 aunts in the Navy (from a family of 9 children). Grandma was a dockyard crane driver in the war and my dad was a Marine and SAS and injured in action in Malaya. And a whole family of cousins as submariners too. Hopeful also of getting my son into the Marines now he's finished his degree. But blood cancer in 2012 is making that a bit of a challenge. Although I suspect they'd snap him up in more volatile times. We shall see.

Also, for naval historians, I've mentioned this site before, but for those of you unaware of it, check out Naval History - run by a friend Gordon Smith, who sadly died in 2016 - but not before leaving behind a wonderful resource which continues to grow.
 
Romeo4 said:
Have you visited the submarine museum in gosport? Recommended make sure you do the sub trip and be guided by ex submariner it is worth it
Click to expand...
We were on a short weekend break, arrived on saturday lunchtime for a Red Letter Days speedboat experience. Hotel overnight at Southsea before heading on Sunday to the Naval Dockyard. Didn't realise until we got there they the Submarine Museum & memorials were at Gosport.
Another trip planned!
 
andy27168 said:
I work in the Dockyard and can see the masts of the Victory from my office window, and about 3-400 yds from the QE berth.
There is a church/chapel in the Dockyard not far from my office (not in the public area) and if you are not aware there is memorial stone inside to the L24, sure I had a photo of it as I googled the incident when I got back to the office.
There is also a reference to the memorial in the Chapel on the Wiki page.
HMS L24 - Wikipedia
St Ann's Church, HMNB Portsmouth - Wikipedia
Click to expand...
Thanks for that. Will visit on our next trip south.
 
MD5 said:
My granddad was a blacksmith in the navy, and lived in Southsea. I remember being taken to HMS Victory as small boy and being told off for going on the wrong side of the rope!

Fifty odd years later I went to a couple of police social curry nights on the Victory (organised by a policeman mate of mine), complete with an off limits tour, and a few Pussers rums from the bar (both compulsory and voluntary). Legend has it that if you are stood on the wooden perimeter around the bar and someone rings the bell on the corner of it, you are obliged to drink Pussers, which the ringer is obliged to pay for (although this may be a police thing)!
Click to expand...

Toasted Grandad at his funeral with a few tots of Pussers.
Like his father he was in the navy on submarines, specialising in sonar (asdic IIRC), followed by merchant navy. He had a colourful life and started to write his life story before he died. Unfortunately it is incomplete.
 
As a young pre-teen I was taken on a tour of the Victory when in a family holiday from our home on the West coast of Scotland. Now 61 I still remember that day and the excitement that it built in me. I have visited several times since and taken my own children who were as thrilled as I was then. A truly fabulous monument to a magnificent warship that brings history to life.

I still vividly recall being told why they painted the lower (medical) decks in red paint.


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Nothing to add to this thread apart from I loved going to Southsea :)
 
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