We paid a visit Portsmouth's historic naval dockyard, which is home to two famous vessels, the HMS Victory and the HMS Warrior. The Warrior was one of the first steel-hulled steam ships in the British Navy and was the largest, fastest, and most powerful naval vessel of its time. The southern Confederates sought to borrow the Warrior from the British during the American Civil War. Fortunately, the British never agreed to lend the Warrior to the South.
(L) The Spinnaker Tower stands in the background.
(Above) On the lower decks.
(Above) A small steam-powered boat on display at the dockyard.
We took a 45-minute harbor tour and got to see a bunch of modern British naval vessels.
(Above) This is a 'jump aircraft carrier' previously used for harrier jets. Notice the upward curve on the runway at the end of the carrier. The Brits now only use these as helicopter carriers. My Navy friends tell me that this is much smaller than the full-sized U.S. carriers, which are too large to even dock in Portsmouth.
(Above) Modern British destroyers. The harbor guide told us that these ships cost 1 billion pounds each!
The HMS Victory is the ship that carried Admiral Lord Nelson when the British fleet defeated the combined naval fleets of Spain and France in 1805 during the Battle of Trafalgar. Nelson died on the HMS Victory. A few decades earlier, the British considered sending the HMS Victory to the colonies to fight the rebels during the Revolutionary War, but deemed the ship too large to navigate the shallow waters around New York City and Long Island.
(Above) The HMS Victory between a couple of modern destroyers. The top portion of the masts have been taken down for repair and maintenance, otherwise, the Victory would look a lot taller.
Portsmouth is also home to a museum about the D-Day invasion during WWII. Portsmouth was one of the launching points for the invasion, but was also a major target of German bombing in the months and years prior to D-Day. One in five homes in Portsmouth were destroyed by German bombs during WWII. Here are the boys playing on an anti-aircraft gun outside of the museum.
