Pompey News: "HMS Victory's Future To Be Secured"

HMS Victory's future to be secured - Portsmouth Today

 

"Some basic maintenance had not been carried out to a high enough standard and some restoration work left the ship in a worse structural state, with fewer bolts replaced than were taken out of some beams.

One report detailed how the ship's cradle in the dockyard was not providing adequate support to combat the stress of her weight on the concrete.

This has caused the ship to bow out at the sides. Her so-called 'knee joints' - huge brackets which hold the sides of the ship to horizontal beams - are loose and in some places, the ends of the beams are as much as five inches from the sides of the ship and some joints are no longer attached to the hull at all. If this is not addressed, the ship could fall apart"

This is a disgrace! BAE Systems hold the maintenance contract - how have these things been missed? Is it yet another example of the MoD contracting things out for private industry to run into the ground?

 

Victory reminds me of my grandad's pick-axe. He had the same one for fifty years, and after all that time, and all the hard work it had seen, it was a good as new, and in all those years, it had only had ten new handles and six new heads.

 

AD,

I think you've answered your own question there - If it wasn't in the contract then BAE cannot be blamed for the sins of omission.

Admittedly its been a while back but my blue-suited sojourn within the Procurement Executive brought me into contact with a wide range of suppliers of Defence Equipment/Services who, to a man, all had top level expertise within their Contracts and Finance departments whereas their loyal but lowly CS counterparts were, sadly, but 4th Division relegation-zoners.

It should surprise none that many, if not all, of the PE's projects overran time and budget purely because the small print had been very carefully written but less carefully read and signed. And so it appears to have continued.....Plus ça change plus c'est la même chose.

I recall that the VICTORY's last big battle was with the dreaded, xylophagous, death watch beetle in the '50s.
It was costly and no medals were awarded yet we won that one and I'm sure we'll eventually win this one, too.

"Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~:duckie:~~~~~~~~~~~~~

re: What is left of the original?

<<"...So the only original part I understand now is the keel.">>

Sea Your History - HMS Victory

 

Maybe my sense of time is out of whack but I thought a totally major re-rigging had only just been completed.

I understand some of the problem comes from years of the hull not being completely supported by salt water.

Oddly, nothing of this emerged during this year's Heritage Day visit to the bottom of her dry dock.

 

Pompey News: Ancestor's joy at plan to fix HMS Victory

If Nelson's ancestors are so happy, one wonders how his descendents must feel.

 

Battle to keep Victory in ship-shape condition - A Weekend With - The News