Major restoration work for HMS Victory

Major restoration work is to be undertaken to ensure that Nelson’s flagship HMS Victory is fully preserved for future generations, the Royal Navy said yesterday.

Recent survey work on the 18th century warship revealed that it was leaking, suffering from rot and being pulled apart by its own weight.

The RN is now set to put out to tender the contract to restore and maintain the ship, which is the world’s oldest commissioned warship and famous for its role at the Battle of Trafalgar, for the next 10 years.

The current maintenance contract is worth £1.5 million a year but the RN is not revealing the potential value of the new tender for “commercial reasons”.

A Royal Navy spokesman said: “HMS Victory is the oldest commissioned warship in the world and there is an ongoing programme of repair and investment to ensure that this iconic vessel is preserved for future generations.

“There are no plans to change her unique status as a commissioned warship and flagship of the second sea lord, nor for her to be sold.

“We are planning how best to ensure HMS Victory is maintained for the future and the Ministry of Defence is looking to invite bids in an open competition for her future maintenance.

“In the meantime, the preventative maintenance is ongoing and urgent or safety-related work will continue to be completed.”

The spokesman said that all urgent work identified in last year’s surveys of the ship had been carried out.

This included repairs to the rigging which could have put visitors to the ship, located at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, Hampshire, at risk.

The spokesman added: “HMS Victory was designed for a life of approximately 80 seagoing years and she is now 245 years old and has been docked for 90 of those years.

“Various conservation and restoration activities have been conducted over her lifetime and these have resulted in the ship being available to the public and the Royal Navy. During 2010, the MoD commissioned a range of surveys and the subsequent scoping work has allowed us to gain a clearer understanding of the restoration work required, to prioritise these issues and to plan a schedule of work to address them.”

The contract is to be put out for tender in the next two months with it being awarded to the winning bidder by the end of the summer.