HMS Victory

1805

Her Majesty’s Ship Victory is the only surviving naval warship that represents the skill of naval dockyard shipwrights, ship designers and the industrial ability of Britain during the mid 18th century.HMS Victory is a first rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, started in 1759 and launched in 1765, most famous as Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar. She is the oldest naval ship still in commission, and now sits in dry dock in Portsmouth, England as a museum ship.

More than this the Victory is equally a classic example of warship construction techniques used by all maritime powers of that period including Denmark, France, Holland and Spain, also the lesser naval powers of Russia, Naples, Sweden and Turkey.

Besides her historic role serving as Admiral Lord Nelson’s flagship at the battle of Trafalgar, the Victory stands in the line of technical advances made between the 16th century Tudor warship Mary Rose, the Victorian built iron warship Warrior of the mid 19th century and the steel built monitor M33 of the early 20 century.

Simply just a manoeuvrable floating weapons platform, the Victory is likewise historically comparable with the modern naval warships of the 21st century.