After the mix up that landed me on the IOW, I ended up in the well named town of Fareham, a few miles north of Portsmouth at the equally nice Red Lion Hotel.
Portsmouth has long been a major British naval port and a large part of the waterfront has been turned into a tourist hot spot with museums and displays of historic warships.
The Mary Rose keel was laid down in 1510. At 500 tons it was King Henry VIII’s largest ship. It sank with all but 35 hands in 1545 when, it is reported after a broadside and gust of wind, the ship rolled and the opposite side lower gunports that were inexplicably left open, filled with water.
The boat was discovered in 1972 in the Solent off of IOW. I took some photos of the remains in their preservation but the light was too poor to post, so I’ll have to hold my memories. The display is well done.
HMS M33 is one of two WWI British ships left and the only one from the failed Gallipoli campaign.
HMS Warrior, built in 1851, at 420 feet and over 9000 tons, it was the first armor-plated battleship. It was powered by both steam & sail.
And this gun about the HMS Lance fired the first shots in WWI sinkig the German mine laying ship, Konigin Louise on 5 August 1914.
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