Portsmouth Historic Dockyard Visit - January 2025

I stepped out of Portsmouth Harbour train station one freezing cold Saturday afternoon in January this year. I was slowly making my way to my hotel and stopped to admire how beautiful HMS Warrior looked against the winter sunset over the harbour, so I sat down on a bench to bring myself out of anxiety about getting lost, shutting down or dissociating and losing awareness of my surroundings and into the present. After a moment, I noticed an obelisk with HMS Royal Oak inscribed on it; I quickly learnt it was a memorial commemorating the 85th anniversary of the sinking of HMS Royal Oak. I knew I had to take some photos for some volunteering. (This memorial will be discussed in a future post - watch this space!) 😀

The reason I was visiting Portsmouth was because I am a board member at the National Museum of the Royal Navy and our board was encouraged to visit for branding reasons. After spending a couple of hours chilling in my hotel room by video-calling family to let them know I was safe and having a nice cup of tea, me and a fellow board member met up for dinner at Gun Wharf Quays and discussed our visit. 

Side Note: Feel free to use this blog post as a social story if you’re neurodivergent and planning on visiting or if you’re visiting with a neurodivergent person - I also acknowledge other people’s experiences and opinions may be different to others and this is my personal experience. 🙂

The next morning, we rocked up at the dockyard 10am sharp just so we can get in without having to queue for too long to collect our tickets.

HMS Warrior

We thought we might as well step aboard HMS Warrior first as it is pretty much the first thing you see as you step out of the Visitor Centre after purchasing tickets. 

HMS Warrior is a steam frigate launched in 1860 at Thames Ironworks in Blackwall, East London, (she's a cockney girl)! We thought we'd start on the lower decks and work our way up. The boilers for Warrior's engine was so reminiscent of the boiler scenes from Titanic (1997); just visualise a boiling hot steamy room, so smokey the stokers are covered in soot. The furnaces looked like they could work well as a pizza oven! 🍕😆 

I couldn't help but notice how authentic and theatrical it was with the way rooms and objects were arranged with genuine furniture and textiles, including the Victorian-style advertising boards mounted along the pier railings.

I was quite confused to which object or room was which due to the lack of interpretation signage explaining rooms and objects to visitors or any visual aid explaining how things work to give insight into Victorian naval lifestyle and explain how Warrior is powered by sails and steam engine - she's a hybrid! How advanced is that for the Victorian era? 🤩

Officer’s Wardroom - so luxurious! 🥰

It was a hilarious surprise to meet costumed interpreters (actors that add to the historical accuracy and insight to visitor experience). It was quite an 'on-the-spot' situation, we weren't sure how to react; act with the costumed interpreters or make them break character. I complimented him by saying I loved what he was wearing to make conversation, then he gave me the bombastic side eye and said - "This? It's uniform." He then showed us some interesting things like how you can make an explosion with rum and gunpowder and told us that downing a whole bottle of Champagne can help with seasickness - (honestly, it would make things worse for me since I'm prone to vertigo and visual disturbances caused by sensory issues)! I've googled it and it obviously isn't true. 🍾

On the gun deck, we met another one, but this time it was a rating or an able seaman. I asked his name and he replied - "It's Knight with a K... first name, William", then explained how sailor's names are often inspired by royalty. As much as it was an unexpected surprise, I thought it was really cute! I was unfortunately misgendered by some able seaman from 1863 (Warrior's commissioning year), rather than feeling uncomfortable I found it so charming, I wanted him to do it again and make it a little game (I was in such a childlike mood)!  😜

National Museum of the Royal Navy

Next we moved onto the official NMRN galleries, starting with the age of sail and the Nelson galleries. It’s obvious that Nelson is a big deal; not just because of his flagship HMS Victory, but also his naval heroism, battle honours and how skilful of a sailor he was! Let’s not forget his victory (no pun intended 😉) at the Battle of Trafalgar! 🇬🇧

The galleries were very well interpreted and arranged into different sections of Nelson’s life. There was a model of the column in Trafalgar Square (yes, that’s why Nelson is dead in the centre of it looking south west towards Portsmouth and was named after the Battle of Trafalgar).

The famous Battle of Trafalgar took place on 21st October 1805 against the combined fleet of the French and Spanish during the Napoleonic Wars off the coast of Cape Trafalgar in Spain. Nelson’s intention was to break through the enemy lines as well as sink them down to Davy Jones’s locker. Although Britain won a great victory, Nelson was unfortunately shot by an enemy sniper through this left shoulder and punctured his lung; you can see Nelson’s uniform with the bullet hole where he was shot in his left shoulder at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. He sadly passed away hours later where his rumoured famous last words were “kiss me Hardy” (referring to a last goodbye to his bestie Captain Hardy), but it was actually “thank God I have done my duty”. Say it with me - “England expects that every man will do his duty!” 🇬🇧

Lady Hamilton’s section had her belongings beautifully arranged in a case with some sheet music I really want to know about. Apparently Lady Hamilton had a lovely singing voice! It would be so helpful to have some audio on how the song goes on this sheet music.

Another thing (and advanced trigger warning) I will share is that there is a life-size mannequin of Nelson; it’s amazing to see what he would’ve looked like in real life, but it’s really creepy! 😳

I have two particular objects from the modern day galleries of the NMRN - First object: The Terrance Higgins Quilt

This is a large textile piece promoting the inclusion of LGBTQ+ people in the Royal Navy. The Royal Navy didn’t allow LGBTQ+ people to join until 2000; this year marks 25 years since the lift of the ban as well as promoting HIV/AIDS awareness.

I found it very affirming, assuring, comforting and empowering to learn about this object and I learn that Terrance Higgins himself was in the navy and the charity was named after him.

Second object - HMS Hood’s bell:

HMS Hood was the flagship of the Royal Navy named after Admiral Horace Hood.

During the Battle of Denmark Strait, she was sunk by the German battleship KMS Bismarck with a single shell causing her to explode and sank within minutes, taking the lives of all but 3 of her crew down with her.

On request by relatives of Hood’s crew, the bell was salvaged from the wreckage (also a registered war grave), and put on display at the NMRN. This video is 30 minutes long but it’s a very moving ceremony:

Victory Galleries

Lord Nelson’s flagship HMS Victory is currently undergoing a major restoration project. It confused me as to whether she was still open after learning about the conversation project. To make up for it, we paid a visit to the Victory Galleries which is about HMS Victory’s construction. It also has a panoramic painting of the Battle of Trafalgar showing what it would’ve been like to the human eye which brings it to life as if it’s happening in real time, a collection of figureheads (a figure placed in the bow of a ship for good luck) and the barge that took Nelson’s coffin from Greenwich to St Paul’s Cathedral.

I was so fascinated by the original mast placed on HMS Victory when she was built at Chatham Dockyard. She has had refits where certain parts of her were replaced or removed; this mast was the original.

The best thing about this gallery? I did a bit of inner child healing and knew I had to try on some hats!

HMS M33

She may be little, but she’s fierce! This monitor ship of the Monitor-class (what M stands for) took part in the Gallipoli campaign in 1915, as well as being built within 7 weeks and commissioned into the navy so soon that the admiralty did not have a chance to name her. She is one of three surviving warships from the First World War.

Launched in 1915 at Harland and Wolff in Belfast (same shipbuilding company as RMS Titanic and HMS Belfast), M33 was designed for sailing in shallow water closer to the coastline and firing powerful bombardments.

Despite the Gallipoli Campaign’s failure, M33 was unharmed and was dubbed ‘a lucky ship’. The luck then continued into 2 more conflicts; the Russian Civil War and the Second World War. She still suffered some direct hits and near-misses, but she pulled through!

She served as a training vessel during the Second World War and was renamed HMS Minerva, then her name changed back to M33 when she was retired.

Starting with the lower deck, there is a short film about M33 Gallipoli projected in the engine room (the said engine is no longer there). I will give an advanced trigger warning: the film is quite loud and it contains upsetting themes.

As you explore the ship, you’ll see where the crew had eaten, worked and slept as well as learn about the crew’s hierarchy including the ships pets; during the First World War, the crew had 2 dogs called Squab and Nell. Miss Muggins, the ship’s cat joined the ship in 1919 during the Russian Civil War.

Miss Muggins sadly burnt her tail when M33 received a hit from a shell and once fell overboard, but the crew rescued her luckily. I feel very sorry for Miss Muggins, even though she was safe in the end, this story makes me feel so emotional. She even had her own cat flap that the visitor experience staff member who scanned our tickets pointed out before we headed to the upper decks.We could not find the cat flap which we did spend a good bit of time searching for until the staff member revealed it. I had to get my own Miss Muggins plushie, it’s just too cute! 🐈‍⬛🐾

I found M33 somewhat reminiscent of HMS Belfast (not just that one thing in common which is they’re both Harland and Wolff girls); the main differences are they are from 2 different eras and 2 very different types of ship (Belfast is a light cruiser and M33 is a monitor). Their structures are quite similar, the ratings slept in hammocks (which was a thing until the 50’s or 60’s until they introduced bunks) and a health and safety concern they both have in common; trip hazards.

Is it weird that I find M33 cute? She literally is the baby of all the ships at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard; not because she’s the smallest, but also the youngest of the historical periods and is only 110 years old.

Dockyard Apprentice Exhibition in Boathouse 5

This was a well-interpreted retelling of what life was like working at the dockyard in the early 20th century. It was very magical to learn about different roles such as crafting, trading, ironwork and boatbuilding which leads into insight on different types of naval ships throughout history from the Victorians up to the dawn of the Dreadnoughts.

Trigger warning: This display also has creepy mannequins.

The Mary Rose Museum

The Mary Rose was the flagship of King Henry VIII launched in 1511. She was built to fight the French and defend Britain under the command of Admiral Sir George Carew. On 19th July 1545, Henry VIII and the admiral’s wife watched in horror from Southsea Castle as the Mary Rose’s gunports let in a huge flood of water, causing the ship to keel over and sink. In the 1960’s, divers were positive they had found the wreckage along with objects that went down with her, so in 1982, the Mary Rose was raised from the seabed where it was broadcast on live TV in the presence of the then Prince Charles.

I remember learning about the Tudors in primary school, including King Henry VIII and his 6 wives and the Mary Rose Museum was the ultimate nostalgia. ☺️

To give a sensory trigger warning, it starts with an immersive animation film - it isn’t 4D, it might be loud and a little distressing for some. The film puts visitors into an immersive POV of the Mary Rose when it sank as if you were serving on the ship itself.

There are there same number of floors at the same level of decks of the Mary Rose that hold the different artefacts associated with the different decks, including an overhead viewing platform to look at the wreckage from above.

The Mary Rose held a treasure trove’s worth of artefacts; the ones I would like to point out are the following:

Hatch the Dog - It’s a sad story of what happened to this poor pup, whose job on the Mary Rose was to hunt down pests like mice and rats. We don’t know the actual name of the ship’s dog, but he is called Hatch because it was found in a hatch near the carpenter’s cabin.

The Tudor Rose Figurehead -Figureheads on the bow of a ship are often a figure of a person, animal or mythical creature, but sometimes can be a symbol.

The Mary Rose is named after a combination of the Virgin Mary and the Tudor rose, hence the name Mary Rose.

The Barber-Surgeon’s Cabin - A combination of a barber and a surgeon that provided grooming services and medical care for the crew. The most common types of surgery performed were tooth extractions and limb amputations; of course, they didn’t have toothbrushes and toothpaste in those days and scurvy (vitamin C deficiency from lack of fruit and veg) was very common where one symptom was tooth decay and the need to amputate an arm or leg from battle wounds.

Other amazing artefacts include weapons, ammunition and silverware. Some volunteers may be around the galleries giving demonstrations on using a crossbow which was a commonly used weapon aboard the Mary Rose when fighting against the French.

As you leave the galleries into the gift shop, there is an AV projection on raising the Mary Rose’s wreckage.

I would definitely visit the Mary Rose again; it brings nostalgia of primary school history lessons as well as fun interpretations. The lighting in the galleries give a sense of imagery as if the wreckage is still underwater. 🌊

Royal Navy Submarine Museum Gosport - HMS Alliance

When visiting Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, your ticket includes entrance to RN Submarine Museum and the Explosion Museum of Naval Firepower in Gosport. You can take the ferry that can take you on a harbour tour around the waters of HM Naval Base Portsmouth and show you the ships that are in port or it can take you to the Gosport sites.

It was getting pretty late in the afternoon, so there was only time to explore HMS Alliance, an A-class nuclear submarine built for the Second World War, but her construction was delayed and was launched in 1947, so she served during the Cold War.

When I checked in with my ticket after disembarking the ferry at the main desk, the visitor experience staff member kindly offered if I would like to join a tour, which I said yes to as I thought it would be a great opportunity to gain some insight rather than rush through.

The tour guide was an ex-submariner and was very knowledgeable. When we got into the periscope room, he shared a story about the admiral’s cat; the admiral brought his cat on board back to the Britain from Singapore and was so well loved by the crew. When they got back to Britain the cat went missing for three days until they found it in the engine room. I was relieved it was ok as I was getting quite emotional.

The red lighting in the periscope room created the suspense level of tension with the red lighting, just like in the movies. When I looked through the periscope, I could just about see the Spinnaker Tower (but not very clearly)! 😂

I had to get back onto the ferry back to Portsmouth as it was getting late and needed to think about getting home. On a future visit to Portsmouth, I will see if I can get a ferry to Gosport and see if I can explore the rest of the museum, as well as Holland I and X24. There were some breathtaking views across the harbour.

All good things must come to an end; I was feeling quite attached to Portsmouth and was enjoying myself a little too much! At least I had plenty to write and reflect about on my 2-3 hour journey home. When I next visit Portsmouth for a board meeting with NMRN, I will aim to visit the D-Day Museum in Southsea, HMS Victory and maybe the Gosport sites.

To wrap up, I will summarise what fellow neurodivergent people might need a ‘heads up’ for:

1. I would suggest arriving before 10am when they open their doors, just so you can get through the queuing system as quickly as possible. (I understand the pain of queuing for ages)! The sales team are very helpful, kind people.
2. For those who like to see things visually beforehand, have a look at PHD’s website, social media pages and their digital map which you can download from their website.
3. HMS Warrior has costumed interpreters in certain areas of the ship which may be a little intimidating for some. They might do demonstrations such as gun drills (showing you how the guns work); they will not be using real explosives or pyrotechnics but they might get you to join in with them which may involve loud noises. Remember they are just actors that give historical context and answer any questions you may have - they are NOT being weird.
4. The Waterbus (ferry service) for the harbour tours and Gosport sites can have long waiting times but they do have a set timetable.
5. The NMRN and Victory Gallery may have different sound effects and visual instillations so feel free to bring any sensory aids like noise-cancelling headphones, ear defenders, ear plugs or sunglasses. There may also be some multi-sensory activities which are completely optional. The Victory Gallery has an AV film which is optional to watch, and also has an outside balcony on the upper floor overlooking M33 if you need a break.
6. M33 has an AV film on her mission at Gallipoli - there are loud noises involved and contains upsetting themes.
7. Warrior, Victory and M33 have low ceilings, small spaces and trips hazards dotted around - it may be difficult for those who struggle with spacial awareness and proprioception.
8. The Mary Rose Museum has an immersive POV instillation that contains loud noises and can be visually distressing; the accessibility page on the website explains this part can be avoided if preferred.
9. HMS Alliance has very small spaces.
10. If on a tour of Alliance, they may sound the klaxon to signal surface or dive. There is some other sound simulation as well.

For more information on accessibility or other potential trigger warnings, check out the accessibility pages on PHD, NMRN and Mary Rose Museum’s websites:

https://portsmouth.historicdockyard.co.uk/plan-your-visit/accessibility/

https://www.nmrn.org.uk/visit-us/portsmouth-historic-dockyard - scroll to the accessibility section

https://maryrose.org/visit/accessibility/

The SEND page on the learning section may be helpful - https://maryrose.org/learning/send/