British Royal Gunship HMS Victory COBI 20095 - Limited Edition 1:144

» Pre-orders will be shipped from September 29, 2025 «

Did you know:

• In 1758, Sir Thomas Slade, Surveyor of the Royal Navy, was entrusted with the ship’s design. The task set by the British government was actually quite simple: to build a warship capable of carrying about 100 guns while retaining the sailing qualities of the HMS Royal George, built two years earlier.
• For the construction of such a large vessel, an entirely new dry dock had to be built at the Chatham shipyard.
• The keel was laid on July 23, 1759, in dock No. 2, today known as the Victory dock.
• 150 workers were constantly employed on the ship’s construction, consuming 6,000 mature oak trees.
• The main structural elements of the hull were joined with two-meter-long copper bolts and wooden pegs made of lignum vitae.
• That the ship has survived to the present day is thanks to the end of the Seven Years’ War. Construction was suspended for three years, which allowed the wood to dry perfectly and the joints to settle.
• The ship was completed in the spring of 1765.
• Construction cost the Royal Treasury £63,176 and 3 shillings. Converted into today’s value, that is about 10 400 000 €.
• HMS Victory was to be ceremonially launched on May 7, 1765, but it almost didn’t happen. Foreman Hartly Larkin noticed that the massive ship would not pass through the dock gates and immediately ordered measurements. The fears were confirmed – the ship was 20 cm wider than the dock gate. The head of the shipyard wanted to postpone the ceremony, but Larkin summoned all workers, carpenters from the town, and anyone who could wield an axe to come and help cut down the narrow gate. In the end, it almost worked out well.
• Why only almost? The ship was indeed launched as planned, but it leaned heavily to starboard and had a much deeper draft than expected. The list was balanced with ballast, but the gunports of the lower deck were only 150 cm above the waterline. The deep draft could not be fully solved. However, designer T. Slade found a practical fix: in the ship’s manual he simply added that the lower deck gunports must be kept closed in heavy seas – and that was that.
• HMS Victory fought victorious battles under the command of many captains, but perhaps the most famous was the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, where the British fleet clashed with the combined navies of France and Spain.
• The smaller British fleet under Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson adopted a daring tactic. In defiance of all recognized rules of naval strategy, they broke through the enemy formation, isolating their ships. British vessels then destroyed them one by one with accurate gunfire.
• Captain of the French ship Bucentaure, Jean Magendie, later recorded the following words: ,,The broadside from HMS Victory was devastating. The deadly iron shot tore a hole in the side of our ship large enough for a carriage with four horses to pass through. We were lost."
• The result was a British victory. The combined fleet lost 22 ships, the British none. Admiral Nelson, however, was struck by a musket shot during the battle and died later that afternoon.
• The Battle of Trafalgar definitively thwarted France’s and Spain’s plans to invade Britain and turned Admiral Nelson into a national hero.

Technical specifications:

• dimensions: length 69.3 m, beam 15.8 m, draft 7.24 – 7.44 m
• number of cabins: main cabin for the admiral with a toilet, 10 cabins for senior officers, 8 cabins for junior officers
• crew accommodation in communal quarters among the guns
• propulsion: sails with a total area of 5,440 m²
• height of mainmast: 67 m above waterline
• maximum speed 9 knots (16.7 km/h); if the hull became fouled with seaweed and shellfish, maximum speed dropped by up to one third
• displacement: 3,500 tons
• armament: 44 twelve-pounder guns + 28 twenty-four-pounder guns + 30 thirty-two-pounder guns and 2 heavy carronades
• ammunition supply: 30,000 iron balls of various calibres and 40 tons of black powder
• magazine located below the waterline
• special equipment: marine chronometer
• crew: 850 men

From the memoirs of HMS Victory’s surgeon Dr. William Beatty:

,,The deck was covered in thick smoke, splinters everywhere, blood and the wounded. Our ship had taken dozens of hits, yet she was still able to sail. At half past twelve, Admiral Nelson was brought below deck."