#OTD 1949 #NavalHistory HMS Implacable was scuttled at St Catherine's Deep, off the Isle of Wight.
Formerly the French third-rate Duguay-Trouin (74), she fought at Trafalgar in 1805 and was captured by the Royal Navy later that year at Cape Ortegal, by a fleet under Sir Richard Strachan
Formerly the French third-rate Duguay-Trouin (74), she fought at Trafalgar in 1805 and was captured by the Royal Navy later that year at Cape Ortegal, by a fleet under Sir Richard Strachan
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*I don't make the rules on how eras are chosen, choose your fighter
A total of 23 ships of this class were captured by the British and put into service in the RN!
She survived the second world war, too, but by this point was looking worse for wear & neither us or the French wanted to spend the £ to repair her so a decision (the wrong one imho) was made to scuttle her.
We can argue about why nautical heritage in this country is undervalued in the pub...
If you've visited the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich this will be a familiar sight...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/videos/c8883mxyrrdo
We have just passed the era of coal power stations in the UK
Distinctive cooling towers that once dominated the local landscape are coming down
Reasons are clear. Large area within a big site for housing or industrial development.
And future maintenance and repair libility
Now rare and infrequently available at auction.
The main reason was they were heavy iron, brass and copper worth weighing in as scrap.
I do know of some being used in cottages for construction but these would be from earlier scrapping eras
They need support to move the ship into a graving dock for conservation https://www.hmsunicorn.org.uk/