HMS Warrior

HMS Warrior

After visiting the Victory we started to explore the HMS Warrior which was built 1860. When she was accepted into the Navy she was the largest, fastest, most heavily armed and armoured warship and showed the world the superiority of the British Navy. With a crew of 705 including officers the gun deck was home to 600 who manned the guns and provided muscle power for other tasks.

Converted in 1929 to a floating platoon her iron hull helped protect her to survive for 50 years until she was taken to Hartlepool for restoration in 1979. The Royal Navy found the journal of 14 year old Henry Murray who served as midshipman in 1861 who had taken notes in great detail of the fittings and fixtures including their location which allowed them to restore her to her former glory. After 8 years to restore to her to her 1861 condition and was returned to Portsmouth in 1987 and they put her in the rightful place of honour next to The Mary Rose and HMS Victory. 

This is another amazing ship which again is part of our naval history and has many interesting things to see from the engine room to the gun deck and armoury. I would recommend everyone to spend some time visiting. A selection of photographs taken during the visit is below

HMS Victory

HMS Victory

As the week of travelling, exploration and discovery was coming to an end we journeyed to Portsmouth to visit the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard home to HMS Victory, HMS Warrior, The Mary Rose which was Henry VIII’s favourite ship and the naval museum.

HMS Victory was Lord Nelson flagship which is currently in dry dock and undergoing conservation work. She had a crew of 831 including Nelson and Captain Hardy and carried 102 guns spread over four decks and with 500 crew members living on the lower gun deck with the gun ports normally kept closed the conditions was dark, damp and smelly.  

She set sail from Portsmouth on 20th May 1803 in her black and yellow livery she chased the Spanish and French fleet until taking part in the most renowned Battle of Trafalgar which took place on 21st October 1805 just of the coast of south-west Spain. Lord Nelson led 27 British ships into battle against 33 enemy ships but although they won the battle Lord Nelson lost his life after he was shot by a sniper’s bullet which shattered his back bone. He lived long enough to know that he had won the battle and asked Hardy not to bury him at sea and he was transported back to Britain for a state funeral.

It was also astonishing to learn that the British Navy only had 458 crew killed including Nelson and 1208 injured while the French and Spanish casualties were huge with 3243 killed, 2538 injured and approximately 8000 captured. They then had the misfortune to be used as prisoners of war to dig out Portsmouth Docks to greatly increase the size of docks and the British fleet. 

The ship is incredible especially considering she is over 250 years old with plenty to see both on deck and below including Nelsons cabin and the crews living quarters. I would highly recommend a visit to see part of our naval history which is no too far to travel. Some of the photographs taken are below.

Brooklands

Brooklands

Sunday we headed towards Didcot Railway Centre and as torrential rain came down we realised the majority of the train exhibits were outside. We then started to considered alternative locations and decided upon Brooklands in Weybridge. As we neared our new destination the weather improved which allowed me to take some great photographs of all the internal and external exhibits.

Brooklands was one of the birth places of British motor sport and had the world’s first purpose built motor circuit with much of the Track and original buildings still there to visit. During the 1920’s and 30’s the track was home to the world speed record and many of the cars can be seen at the museum along with motorbikes.

Also home to aviation industry there are a number of aircraft on site to visit and explore including the main attraction, the first Concorde aircraft ever to carry 100 people at twice the speed of sound, 1,350 mph. After taking the guided tour of Concorde I wanted to take a few additional photographs and started to speak with the volunteer tour guide explaining my college project and book. To my surprise and gratitude he gave me access to the restricted cockpit to take some shots of my book and took my photograph whilst sat in the pilots’ seat. 

When you thought you had seen everything there is the London Bus Museum which is home to over thirty buses ranging from about 1875 to 1979. 

And to complete the day before travelling home, the Velocet bikers club had and an open day with their vintage motorcycles and were holding speed runs up the test hill to get the best time record. The hill had three sections, starting with a gradient of 1 in 8, then 1 in 5 and the top with 1 in 4 and was originally used for cars to test climbing and brakes but was also used for speed records.

Brooklands is an amazing place with a great variety of exhibits and well worth spending a day exploring all the sites. A selection of photographs taken during the visit is below