Recently there has been great interest in the remains of the wreck which has been found by Odyessy Marine Exploration and which is believed to be a ship called Victory. The Victory which has been discovered is thought to be the 5th ship to bear this name in the Royal Navy and is classified as a 1st rate 100 gun 3 decked ship of the line.
HMS Victory currently in dry dock in Portsmouth is the sixth ship with this name and was built some 15 years after the previous one sank.
The fifth ship, which was sunk in 1744, was built at Portsmouth commencing in 1726. In fact this particular ship was in some respects a rebuild using timbers taken out of a previous warship called the Victory [fourth] which had been accidentally badly damaged by fire. Although carrying 100 guns the fifth Victory is marginally smaller than her successor - the Victory you can visit today.
Due to the tragic circumstances of the loss of the Victory with all hands there was some concern about giving the new ship the same name. The choice was eventually influenced by Britain's successes against her enemies in 1759. This year became known as the annus mirabilis or 'marvellous year' so it was decided that this was the correct name to choose.
HMS Victory has now been in commission for over 200 years and is the oldest commissioned warship in the world. It will be interesting to see what new information will come from the recent discovery about the tragic fifth Victory.
