HMS “Victory” – the British line ship

Five ships have been named HMS "Victory" in the history of the Royal Navy. The first one started service in 1559. and was the flagship of Sir John Hawkins' fleet, which in 1588 defeated the "Spanish Grand Armada", ending Spain's dominance in world waters. The hero of our proposed publication was the fifth ship named "Victory". It was a ship, designed by Thomas Slade and launched in 1765 May 7. The pride of New England's armament consisted of 104 guns: 32-pounders on the lower deck, 24-pounders on the middle, 12-pounders on the upper deck, and a huge 64-pounder howitzer aft. The crew consisted of 850 sailors and officers. The combat path of HMS "Victory" was extremely colorful. In 1793 the ship took part in the capture of Toulon, and a year later, in operations in Corsica. It was then, during the siege of Kalvis, that Captain Horace Nelson lost an eye. In 1797, under the command of Admiral John Jervis, HMS "Victory" took part in the famous Battle of Cape St. Vincent, although HMS "Captain" played a leading role there, commanded by none other than ... Horace Nelson, already promoted to the rank of Commodore. HMS "'Victory" had its heyday in 1805 October 21, during one of the biggest battles in naval history - the Battle of Trafalgar. The combined Spanish and French fleet was completely crushed by the ingenious tactics of Horace Nelson: 18 of the 33 ships were captured, 4 escaped, but were found and destroyed within two weeks, the rest, badly damaged, managed to take shelter in Cadiz. Napoleon's dreams of conquering the sea were dashed by a crushing English victory. But the victory came at a heavy price: Admiral Nelson was wounded by a musket shot during the engagement and died in his cabin at the stern of HMS "Victory" shortly before the end of the battle. The ship itself was completely renovated after the battle and operated until 1812. In 1824 HMS "Victory' became the venerable flagship of the Portsmouth fleet and remains so to this day. In 1922 it was decided to thoroughly refurbish the ship in Portsmouth docks, re-creating its appearance from the Battle of Trafalgar, and then open it to the public. Today, every year thousands of tourists admire one of the most famous ships ever to sail the world's oceans.

A rather large, well-designed "hand" projected model for those times, richly detailed and perfectly reproducing the exterior of this famous ship, only for experienced sea wolves. The instruction (graphic) is rather small and not quite sufficient, the textual one is excellent. This is probably the best (better even than the projects from "computer era") model of this ship, published by the "Maly Modelarz" publishing house. Antiquarian publication.