HMS Victory — Nelson's Flagship Model, Medium Fully Assembled | Admiral Line

Nelson's flagship at Trafalgar, and still a commissioned ship of the Royal Navy. Built plank on frame in hardwood and delivered ready to display.

A first-rate ship of the line is the hardest thing in this catalogue to build well. Three gun decks means three continuous rows of ports that have to line up along a curving hull, plus a stern gallery of carved and gilded work. Ours is laid plank by plank over a wooden frame, the way she was built at Chatham.

Construction

• Plank-on-frame hull in western red cedar, rosewood and mahogany
• Three gun decks with rows of cast cannon running both sides
• Three masts and bowsprit with complete hand-knotted standing and running rigging
• Hand-stitched linen sails on every yard
• Carved and gilded stern gallery, quarter galleries and figurehead
• Ship's boats, capstan, wheel, gratings and deck fittings
• Metal anchors and wooden rudder
• Solid wood base and engraved brass nameplate

The ship

Ordered in 1758 and launched at Chatham in 1765, Victory carried 104 guns and a crew of about 820. On 21 October 1805 she led the weather column into the combined French and Spanish fleet off Cape Trafalgar. Nelson was shot from the mizzentop of the Redoutable at close range and died below decks three hours later, after being told the battle was won. Victory has been in commission continuously since 1778 — the oldest commissioned warship in the world — and sits in dry dock at Portsmouth.