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2 HMS Victorious (1808-1861) 3 HMS Victorious (1895-1923) 4 HMS Victorious (1939-1969) 5 HMS Victorious (1995-present day) 6 Battle Honours |
The first Victorious was launched at Blackwall, London in 1785. She was a third-rate frigate, with an armament of 74 guns, the quintesential amount of guns, at least favoured, for a frigate of that time. The Victorious participated in the capture of the Dutch colony of Cape Town, in which an invasion had been caused due to fears of France's expansion across the world. Britain seized the strategic Cape Town and thus secured the nation it's routes to the East. The rest of her career was spent in the warm climates of the East Indies, patrolling the vast waters in that region. In 1803, while in Gibraltar, Victorious was condemned and then broken up at Lisbon.
The second Victorious was a 74-gun frigate, launched at Portsmouth, just five years after the first of the lineage. Her first action came the year after her launch, as part of the Baltic Squadron, in which she assisted in the bombardment of the port of Flushing in what is now the Netherlands. the naval bombardment was just a part of a much large operation. The land force consisted of some 30,000 men. The objectives were rather simply, to assist the Austrians by invading the Low Countries and to destroy the French Fleet at their believed location of Flushing.
The town of Flushing was actually seized, but the whole invasion soon became irrelevant and pointless, for the French Fleet had actually escaped to the port of Antwerp and the Austrians had been defeated and were negotiating peace with the French. Over 4,000 British soldiers were killed during the expedition, 106 due to combat, the rest because of an illness known as Walcheren Fever.
Her deployment to the Mediterranean, saw Victorious have her first skirmish against a French warship came in 1812, against the French 74-gun frigate Rivoli. The ship was eventually defeated with much of her crew being killed and wounded. The Rivoli was captured once the skirmish came to an end and she later served in action as a Royal Navy warship against the French. The Victorious won the lineage it's first battle honour during this engagement.
After service in the West Indies, Victorious returned to the United Kingdom in 1814, for harbour service that would last until she was the rest of her career, until she was scrapped in 1861.
The third HMS Victorious had the most quiet of careers. She was a Majestic-class pre-dreadnought, that had an armament of 4 x 12-inch guns and 12 x 6-inch guns. She had a displacement of 14,900 tons with a length of 621 ft and a crew complement of 670. The Majestic's were a template for many succesor pre-dreadnought classes. Victorious had her obligatory service in the Mediterannean Fleet. She spent a number of years there, before being placed in the Channel Fleet. She never saw service in WWI, becoming a dockyard repair ship until her eventual scrapping in 1923.
HMS Victorious (R38) was an Illustrious-class fleet aicrcraft carrier, launched in 1939. She saw much action in WWII. She was scrapped in 1969.
The current HMS Victorious (S29) is a truly powerful and imposing boat. She is a nuclear ballistic submarine of the Vanguard-class. She was laid down in 1987 by the then Secretary of State for Defence George Younger. Victorious was launched in 1993, and was the second of the Vanguard-class. She was commissioned in 1995.
Vanguard-class Statistics
HMS Victorious (1785-1803)
HMS Victorious (1808-1861)
HMS Victorious (1895-1923)
HMS Victorious (1939-1969)
HMS Victorious (1995-present day)
Battle Honours