National Museum of the Royal Navy launched with 64 gun Broadside.
HMS VICTORY fired an impressive broadside on 18 Sep 2009 to formally launch the National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN). The creation of the NMRN has been a long-term objective of the Navy Board and will ensure that naval heritage as a whole is properly focused and deployed to its full potential in promoting the Naval Service.
The rolling broadside was launched by the ship’s Commanding Officer and consisted of 50 pseudo random shots running from Fwd to Aft. A short delay (approximately 2 seconds) to allow the Middle Gun Deck crews to reload(!) was followed by a further 14 shots using each of these guns in a more measured fashion as a impressive finale.
The Commanding Officer, Lt Cdr DJ ‘Oscar’ Whild said, “Although HMS VICTORY was fitted with 104 guns with 52 on each side, during the Battle of Trafalgar, modern technology allows us to increase the number of shots fired to make a really impressive display. What is particularly astounding, after watching the broadside today, is that the amount of gunpowder we have just used was less than the gunners onboard at Trafalgar would have used for a single shot!”
