HMS „Revenge“ – the British galleon

The "Revenge" was built by Matthew Baker, a Royal Navy shipbuilder, under the supervision of John Hawkins, Warden of the Treasury and Assets of the Avalanche. Compared to earlier Tudor-era warships such as the "Mary Rose" or "Henry Grace a Dieu", the ship was distinguished by a lowered forward superstructure and a changed hull proportion of 4:1 (length:breadth), when earlier galleons of crack's descent had the length and a width ratio of close to 2:1. Before "Revenge", the English Royal Shipbuilders Peter Pitt and Matthew Baker built several smaller galleons, such as the "Foresight" in 1570 (displacement 295 tons), the "Dreadnought" in 1573 (360 t) and "Swiftsure" (350 t), which aimed to verify the construction decisions made. The changes proved to be successful, the ships had excellent seaworthiness, compared to the ships of the older design, were faster and maneuvered well in any wind. With a relatively small displacement (440 t), the "Revenge" was an excellent, well-armed ship, that cost £4,000 to build at the time. All other royal galleons, built during Queen Elizabeth's reign ("Ark Royal", "Vanguard" and "Rainbow") were built on the same design principles. In 1587 "Revenge" took part in the successful attack on Cadiz, led by F. Drake, which caused a lot of damage to the Spanish fleet and delayed the departure of the "Invincible Armada" until the following year. In 1588 the "Revenge" became the flagship of the Plymouth Escadre, in which Vice-Admiral Francis Drake, who was appointed as Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the English Fleet to the Great Lord Admiral Charles Howard, carried his flag. The battles with the "Invincible Armada" confirmed the good qualities of the ship and the superiority of English tactics. In the battle of Gravelin on June 8 the ship was damaged - the mast had to be replaced. In 1589 the galleon again became Drake's flagship in the English counter-attack after repulsing the "Armada" attack, when La Coruña and Lisbon were attacked. This expedition ended in failure and Drake fell into disfavor with the royal family a few years later and had to spend several years on land. In 1590 the "Revenge", under the command of a new commander, Martin Frobisher, also famous for his battles with the "Armada", took part in an unsuccessful hunt for the Spanish "fleet of gold galleons", returning from the New World. A year later there was another opportunity to attack the "golden galleons" in the Azores area. "Revenge', commanded by Richard Grenville, was part of an escadre of 6 Royal Galleons commanded by Admiral Howard. The attack by the Spanish fleet, which sailed with an escort and consisted of 55 ships, ended in the defeat of the British. On June 31 the "Revenge" was blocked from the wind by the huge Spanish galleon "San Felipe" (1,500 tons displacement and almost three times the size of the English ship) and the British had to engage in an unequal battle. It lasted all night, during which the crew of the "Revenge", surrounded by Spanish ships, repelled repeated enemy attacks. Early in the morning, badly damaged, losing almost all of its rigging, the English ship capitulated. The crew suffered badly and Captain Richard Grenville died of his wounds. This was the only time the Spanish captured an English galleon. But this booty did not bring much benefit to the Spanish: soon, during a huge storm, "Revenge" sank along with 16 other ships of the Spanish escadre.

The model is well-designed and detailed, very colorful, complex, so we recommend only intermediate and experienced modelers to glue it, but under the supervision of a more experienced colleague, it can be glued by both advanced beginners and low-experience modelers, but it will not be an easy job. Flags are printed on so-called "canvas" paper. The publication is equipped with laser-cut cardboard frame parts of the required thickness.