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WEST COUNTRY BERTH FOR
HMS VENGEANCE 2003/2004
Map
courtesy of ABC Southwest
Three of the latest leading proposals in
2003-2004 are for the former HMS Vengeance /
NAeL Minas Gerais to be berthed in Scotland with a Leith
millionaire, in London with the London Investment group, and with the
National Maritime Museum in Cornwall under EU Objective 1 funding, although
serious bids have come from Amsterdam as an exhibition hall, Skegness
as a Theme Park, and offshore Kent as a refugee asylum centre. More about these options as information
becomes available.
Two of the leading realistic proposals from
2002-03 were for the former HMS Vengeance / NAeL Minas Gerais to be permanently berthed in the West Country, and
active negotiations are underway for her to go to Torbay
or Plymouth Sound. Ideally the ship should be centred
in a area of high population and with easy access
to tourism. Ideally suited is the county of Devon with a population of 1.1 million people,
and over 02.5 million in Plymouth alone. Active negotiations are being led by Finance
Cornwall and Devon & Cornwall Business Council, with support of the
Friends of HMS Vengeance and the HMS Vengeance Veterans Association, to
raise funds and find a home for HMS Vengeance in the West Country.
Options actively being looked at winter 2002 include the Fal Estuary, Brixham and Millbay Plymouth. Plymouth is the front-runner.
VENGEANCE IN CORNWALL
2003/2004
Regardless of longer term plans, the initial
intention is to bring HMS Vengeance to a temporary mooring in the Fal Estuary. She will remain there at least until a
permanent resting place can be made ready for her. The Port
of Truro Harbour Master has offered a layup
mooring berth on the River Fal between Truro and Falmouth. the ship could be in the Fal as early as late 2003 or early 2004.
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FOR FURTHER DETAILS
VENGEANCE IN PLYMOUTH
The natural home for HMS Vengeance is Plymouth, with its long tradition of naval and aviation
heritage.
The Devon
and Cornwall Business Council is exploring a number of favoured
Plymouth options, ideally by building and maintaining an traditional link with the Royal Navy. Early in Octber 2002 Cllr Kevin Wigens, Leader of Plymouth City Council, showed
interest in the project and has indicated "We need to capitalise on our position as a maritime city with a
naval tradition."
On 16 October 2002 Devonport Royal Navy chiefs led by Naval base
commander Commodore Andrew Mathews met to consider whether they had spare
room for the 19,000 tonne ship, which in her
heyday had a crew of 1,300. At the meeting, regional business leaders
outlined our ambitious plans to turn the ship into the world's largest
floating 'education centre', including a naval aviation museum with old
fighter aircraft on the deck. At the meeting with the Devon
and Cornwall Business Council (DCBC) Commodore Mathews indicated
that there was not enough room at the Naval Base at Devonport. Cdre Mathews said: "We are delighted that Devon
and Cornwall Business Council came in to discuss their proposal for HMS
Vengeance. It is an exciting proposal and we wish them every
success".
The Devonport option was selected as just
one of the favoured Plymouth options, the meeting being held to rebuild the link
with the Royal Navy and mantain our Rotal Navy heritage. The DCBC chief executive is
following the other Plymouth options and has planned to meet officials from the Cattewater Harbour
Commission. Another option is for a swinging mooring, somewhere in the
Sound, and the Team are looking somewhere around Cattewater.
Millbay docks area is also being investigated.
Plymouth is perhaps the ideal location for HMS Vengeance.
Naval and Maritime heritage in the West Country and Plymouth go back a long way. Our greatest Naval hero, Sir
Francis Drake, was from Plymouth
and the English ships that defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588 sailed from
the mouth of the River Plym. The Royal Navy have
had a Naval Dock at Devonport since 1693, and the naval aviation history of
Plymouth is some of the oldest in the UK dating back to 1913 when the Royal
Naval Air Service (RNAS) had a seaplane base in the area, and soon followed
by civil and military aviation at Roborough which
continues to today. Plymouth was also an important location for such famous
Second World War Aircraft carriers as HMS Ark Royal and
HMS Furious.
It is early days yet but it is hoped that
eventually HMS Vengeance is permanently moored at Plymouth, adding to her unique maritime and aviation history,
and providing a World class museum and tourist attraction to be found
nowhere else in Europe.
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FURTHER DETAILS ABOUT PLYMOUTH
HMS VENGEANCE AND TORBAY
A third leading option which has been
investigated as a potential berth for HMS Vengeance is Torbay
in Devon. A proposal for her to be moored alongside the Brixham
Breakwater has been made in Autumn 2002 by the Devon and Cornwall Business
Council and South Devon Chamber of Trade. A mooring is being investigated
for her after the current MOD barge 'Longbow' leaves the outer harbour after 13 years. Discussions have been held with
Torbay and Brixham
Shipping Agents, the owners of the Breakwater. An open meeting was held on
16 October 2002 at the Bixham , Fishermen's Mission. Subsequently, the plan to bring
the disused HMS Vengeance aircraft carrier into Tor
Bay is being investigated by the group Brixham
21.
OTHER POTENTIAL BERTHS
Additional sites are being looked at
including Southampton Water, Hull,
Kent and the Thames Estuary. At present the Southampton option appears to costly
and the site on the Thames will not be ready for a few years. Other options
have been put forward in 2003 and will be elaborated in later version of
this webpage.
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