VICTORY FACTS

HMS Victory was a 104 gun first rate ship of the line and was laid down in 1765. She was not the first ship of that name. After the Victory from 1737 sank in a storm , the name was open again and now the new ship was set to be named victory. HMS Victory was one of the biggest and most heavily armed ships of her time. Few ships like the Spanish 4 deck ship of the line Santissima Trinidad with 140 guns were able to compete or outgun Victory. The Victory had good sailing abilities and became the flagship of the British navy. Equipped with 104 guns on 3 decks she was heavily armed. Included in these guns were 2 68 pounder carronades on the front upper deck which could deliver devastating attacks onto enemy ships. Carronades were much bigger in diameter than normal long cannons and they had a short barrel, meaning that carronades were short ranges weapons. Instead of piercing through an enemies ships armoure, Carronade shells slammed onto the enemy ships and burst the hull, thus creating a rain of shrapnel that could tear down enemy in seconds.
Victory had 3 masts from which the center mast was the biggest. Her colourful decoration was not uncommon in her time. Victory is also the oldest ship sill in service. . At the time she was completed she was not needed and therefore put into reserve fleet duties. It wasn't until later that she played a much more bigger role in the battle of Trafalgar Victory was the flagship of famous admiral Nelson and his British fleet that attacked a combined force of Spanish and French ships under General Villeneuves command. Among these ships was also the 140 gun first rate ship of the line Sanissima Trinidad which quickly engaged the Victory, damaging her bad. For the first 45 minutes victory was almost unable to shoot back because she came under heavy fire not only from Santissima Trinidad. She then took on the french flagship Bucentaure, led by general Villeneuve. Victory was able to get into a good position and emptied a full broadside in the Buccentaures back, killing 400 men instantly. Buccentaure was badly damged but as other ships came to help her she got away but was followed and finally brought up by another british ship. Next, the french ship Redoutable joined the fight and Victory was now under fire from several ships, as the french Neptune also joined the fight. The British Temeraire helped the Victory and enganged the Neptune in a fierce battle. Victories higher deck gave it a big advantage in the fight with redoutable as the crew entered and took Redoutable in no time . However Lord Nelson was killed on his flagship by a french bullet fired from Redoutable. As the battle ended , Nelson was sill alive and he was able to take the news of the Victory over the french Spanish fleet into his grave. On that day the British were able to take many Spanish/French ships as prize, even the Santissima Trinidad, the largest and most heavily ship of her time was among these prizes. However some French prisoners were able to rise up and recapture their ships, among these was the Buccentaure. But a heavy storm that occurred shortly after the Trafalgar battle destroyed the efforts of these crews. Santissima Trinidad and Bucceetaure were only 2 of some ships that sank in the storm. Nelson flagship had emerged victorious from the battle and sailed over Gibraltar back to Britain for repairs. Before that however she guided the badly damaged British ship of the line Royal Sovereign that was towed by a frigate, into safe waters. As time went on, her condition was deteriorating and it was eventually decided to scrap her. As the British society heard news about this, they were appalled and protested against the scrapping of this important ship. So it came that ´Victory was completely restored.
Today, the ship lies in Portsmouth as a historic landmark.

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