The Heritage Buddy

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 ...

This last week in history has been bittersweet; 22nd May 1915, HMS M.33 was launched and 24th May 1941, HMS Hood was sunk by the KMS Bismarck with a single shot. HMS Hood’s bell was salvaged from the wreckage on request from descendants of her crew. It is now on display at the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth at the Historic Dockyard. There will be some upcoming posts on my visit to Portsmouth Historic Dockyard and HMS Hood, so please watch this space! 😉 Despite this was 2 days ago, let’s celebrate the launch of a little but fierce vessel. Please join me in celebration of HMS M.33’s 110th birthday! (Or should I say launch day)? 🇬🇧⚓️🍾 M.33 (M for monitor) was launched on 22nd May 1915 at Harland and Wolff Shipyard in Belfast to be part of a fleet of fighting monitor ships. She was ordered on 1st April 1915 and was built in only 7 weeks; the admiralty didn’t have a chance to properly name her! She is one of only three surviving ships left from the First World War and t...