Back Victory (scip) ANG إتش إم إس فيكتوري Arabic HMS Victory Azerbaijani HMS Victory Catalan HMS Victory Czech HMS Victory Welsh HMS Victory Danish Victory (Schiff, 1778) German HMS Victory Spanish HMS Victory Basque
Clockwise from top: HMS Victory at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, view of the ship's stern, the sick bay, figurehead detail, on harbour service circa 1900, 32-pounders on the lower gundeck, view of the bow.
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| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMS Victory |
| Ordered | 14 July 1758 |
| Builder | Chatham Dockyard |
| Laid down | 23 July 1759 |
| Launched | 7 May 1765 |
| Commissioned | 1778 |
| In service | 246 years |
| Homeport | |
| Honours and awards |
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| Status |
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| General characteristics [1] | |
| Class and type | 104-gun first-rate ship of the line |
| Displacement | 3,500 Long ton (3,556 tonnes)[2] |
| Tons burthen | 2,142 bm |
| Length |
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| Beam | 51 ft 10 in (15.80 m) |
| Draught | 28 ft 9 in (8.76 m) |
| Depth of hold | 21 ft 6 in (6.55 m) |
| Propulsion | Sails—6,510 sq yd (5,440 m2) |
| Sail plan | Full-rigged ship |
| Speed | up to 11 knots (20 km/h) |
| Complement | Approximately 850 |
| Armament |
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| Notes | Height from waterline to top of mainmast: 205 ft (62.5 m) |
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HMS Victory is a 104-gun first-rate wooden sailing ship of the line. With 246 years of service as of 2024, she is the world's oldest naval vessel still in commission. She was ordered for the Royal Navy in 1758, during the Seven Years' War and laid down in 1759. That year saw British victories at Quebec, Minden, Lagos and Quiberon Bay and these may have influenced the choice of name when it was selected in October the following year. In particular, the action in Quiberon Bay had a profound affect on the course of the war; severely weakening the French Navy and shifting its focus away from the sea. There was therefore no urgency to complete the ship and the signing of the Treaty of Paris in February 1763, meant that when Victory was finally floated out in 1765, she was placed in ordinary. Her construction had taken 6,000 trees, 90% of them oak.
Victory was first commissioned in March 1778 during the American Revolutionary War, seeing action at the First Battle of Ushant in 1778, shortly after France had openly declared her support for Britain's rebel colonies in North America, and the Second Battle of Ushant in 1781. After taking part in the relief of Gibraltar in 1782, Victory, and the fleet she was sailing with, encountered a combined Spanish and French force at the Battle of Cape Spartel. Much of the shot from the allied ships fell short and the British, with orders to return to the English Channel, did not bother to reply. This was her last action of the war; hostilities ended in 1783 and Victory was placed in ordinary once more.
In 1787, Victory was ordered to be fitted for sea following a revolt in the Netherlands but the threat had subsided before the work had been completed. She was ready for the Nootka Crisis and Russian Armament in 1790 but both events were settled before she was called into action. During the French Revolutionary War, Victory served in the Mediterranean Fleet, co-operating in the occupation of Toulon in August and the Invasion of Corsica between February and August 1794. She was at the Battle of the Hyeres Islands in 1795 and the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1797. When Admiral Horatio Nelson was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet in 1803, he hoisted his flag aboard Victory and in 1805 took her into action at the Battle of Trafalgar. After 1824, she was relegated to the role of harbour ship. In 1922, she was moved to a dry dock at Portsmouth, England, and preserved as a museum ship. She has been the flagship of the First Sea Lord since October 2012.
- ^ Lavery (2003) p. 175
- ^ "HMS Victory". Royal Navy. Retrieved 8 April 2023.