HMS Trincomalee, the oldest warship still afloat in Europe dominates the authentically recreated historic quayside that is the home of the Royal Navy Museum in Hartlepool.

Now  200 years old, HMS Trincomalee is one of the last survivors of the sailing Navy and a fine example of the classic British frigate.

She was built in 1817 at the end of a long period of conflict and after Admiral Nelson’s victory over the French and Spanish at the Battle of Trafalgar. Trincomalee never saw combat and the period of peace in which she worked saw great advances in the Royal Navy, both technical and organisational.  She travelled over 100,000 miles over the world, in extremes of climate, and undertook duties that included policing, protection and exploration.

Now restored to her 1817 appearance, HMS Trincomalee still retains the evidence of adaptations made during her years of service, first as a naval ship and in later years as a training and holiday ship for yound people. As such, she is a unique and beautiful survivor.*

*from the The National Museum Royal Navy Hartlepool guidebook

This is HMS Vernon’s version of ‘Monopoly’. It includes missile-shaped pieces and locations like the main gate and Isle of Wight Ferry.

The 2nd picture is a partial detail from The Destroyer Memorial Monument.  It was unveiled on 14th November 2007 by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. The memorial is sited alongside the preserved WW11 destroyer HMS Cavalier, which is a memorial to the 11,000 men from 142 Royal Navy destroyers  that were lost in that conflict.  On the reverse of the memorial the names of those ships are listed.

I had the honour to represent shipmates at the 1st Armed Forces Day Parades in Chatham, as a Standard Bearer.

The first picture here shows the full Memorial monument from the front and the next two pictures show different views of HMS Cavalier.

HMS Cavalier was one of nenety-six war emergency destroyers built for th Royal Navy during the Second World War.  awarded the Battle Hohour ‘Arctic 1945′ for operations off horthern Norway and in support of the homeward-bound Russioan convoy RA64, Cavalier later operated in the Western Approaches undertaking duties which included the high-speed escort of the liners-turned-troopships RMS Queen Mary and RMS Queen Elizabeth.

Following the end of the war in Europe, Cavalier was allocated to the British Pacific Fleet.  After a major refit, Cavalier returned to service in 1957 to undertake extensive Cold-War and peacekeeping duties.  Cavalier paid off at Chatham in 1972 as the Royal Navy’s last operational Second World War destroyer.  She is now preserved by the HMS Cavalier (Chatham) Trust, as a memorial to the 142 Royal Navy destroyers sunk during the Second World War with a loss of over 11,000 men.