Berthed by the side of the resplendent rigging of HMS Victory (Nelson's flagship) in the Portsmouth Naval Dockyard this little ship in
dry dock is often overlooked
despite being painted in the
dazzle anti-submarine camouflage she wore for most of 1918. The HMS Monitor M33 is one of only two World War 1 warships to survive both war and time. The Monitors were a shallow draft coastal bombardment vessels who steamed into 'enemy' waters to discharge their 6 inch guns. The HMS Monitor had a
long life under different names and guises but during that time many of the original features were removed, now located in Number 1
Dry Dock, Portsmouth these features are being replaced or reconstructed to restore the ship as near as possible to her 1915-1919 configuration.
The ship in the background is HMS Illustrious built in 1976 at Swan Hunter but due to be decommissioned in the next few years. She is an Invincible class light aircraft carrier, the first in class being built in 1973 in the shipyard of the town where I live, at some point the Invincible would also have been in a
dry dock (used for construction, maintenance and repair of ships).
I wonder if it was this large one in
Devonshire Dock , maybe not for this photo is on a postcard from the 1920s. The photographer has climbed the Vickers Crane which was very high and
dominated the town, as did its replacement, both now gone, are as all the chimneys in the background which I think must be the old steelworks.
Dash over to
ABC Wednesday where there are lots more words starting with
D
