HMS Victoria ble lagt ned i 1887, og ble etter å ha fullført alle tester til sjøs i 1889, satt i tjeneste som flaggskip for Royal Navy`s Middelhavsflåte under Vice Admiral Sir George Tryon. I årene frem til 1893, gjør hun rutine oppdrag og øvelser i Middelhavet, og får sjansen til å teste de nye 110 tonns kanonene som er montert i et enkelt tårn i baugen. 22. Juni 1893 er de britiske krigskipene HMS Victoria og HMS Camperdown i farvannet utenfor Tripoli i Libanon, og skal denne dagen utføre en øvelse i manøvrering. Skipene får ordre om å gjøre en 180 graders sving mot hverandre selv om det tilsynelatende ikke er plass nok til en slik manøver. Etter protester fra offiserer på Victoria og en viss tvil fra Rear Admiral Markham på HMS Camperdown, starter øvelsen. Når skipene nærmer seg hverandre, oppdager man at en kollisjon er uunngåelig. HMS Camperdown`s baug treffer Victoria på styrbord side og river opp skroget. Victoria får umiddelbart en farlig slagside til styrbord, og mannskapet gjør seg klar til å reparere skaden. Men få minutter etter synker baugen ned i vannet og akterskipet reiser seg opp i luften. Snaue tretten minutter etter kollisjonen forsvinner HMS Victoria i dypet, og tar med seg Vice Admiral Tyron og 358 mann. Det er antatt at de tunge 110 tonns kanonene i baugen var årsaken til at skipet sank så raskt etter kollisjonen. Vraket av HMS Victoria ble funnet i August 2004 av Christian Francis, som har søkt etter dette vraket siden 1994. Med informasjon fra lokale fiskere og bruken av sonar, var søken etter dette vraket endelig kommet til en ende. Vraket står idag oppreist med akterskipet mot overflaten, med 1\3 del av skroget begravd i sjøbunnen. Grunneste punkt er propellene på en dybde av tjuefem meter, og dypeste punkt er på over hundre meter fra overflaten. Vraket er i fortsatt i god stand etter alle disse årene på havets bunn, og som Christian Francis uttalte i et intervju etter funnet av HMS Victoria; "We were completely and totally speechless and amazed at what we saw"...

HMS Victoria was laid down in 1887, and was after having completed all sea trials i 1889, put in service as the flag ship for Royal Navy`s Mediterranean Fleet under Vice Admiral Sir George Tryon. In the years until 1893, she does routine missions and exercises in the Mediterranean, and is given the opportunity to test her new 110 tons guns assembled in a single turret in the bow. 22. June 1893 the British ships HMS Victoria and HMS Camperdown is in the waters outside Tripoli in Lebanon, and shall this day launch an exercise in maneuverability. The ships are given the order to do a 180 degree turn towards each other even if it seems that there are no space for such a maneuver. After objections from officers on Victoria and a certain doubt from Rear Admiral Markham on HMS Camperdown, the exercise start. When the ships approaches each other, they see that a collision is inevitable . HMS Camperdown`s bow hit Victoria on her starboard side and tear open the hull. Victoria immediately get a dangerous listing to starboard, and the crew prepare themself to repair the damage. But a few minutes later the bow sinks below the waterline and the stern rises up in the air. Barely thirteen minutes after the collision HMS Victoria disappears in the deep, and takes Vice Admiral Tyron and 358 men with her. It is presumed that the heavy 110 ton guns in the bow was the course to why the ship sank so rapidly after the collision. The wreck of the HMS Victoria was discovered in August 2004 by Christian Francis, who has been searching for this wreck since 1994. With information from local fishermen and the use of a sonar , the search of this wreck was finally at an end. The wreck stand upright with her stern towards the waterline, with 1\3 of the hull buried in the sea bed. Shallowest point is the propellers on a depth of twenty five meters, and deepest point is over one hundred meters below surface. The wreck is still in a good condition after all these years at the bottom of the sea, and as Christian Francis expressed in an interview after the finding of HMS Victoria; "We were completely and totally speechless and amazed at what we saw"...

 

Name:
Former names:
 Material:
Dimensions:
HMS Victoria
  
Iron
340,0x 70,0x 27,1 f.
       
Brt \ Depl: Built: Homeport: Cargo:
\ 10470 Elswick ( UK ) 1887 ( UK )  

 

Thanks to History News Network

 

Victoria Class turret ship of the Royal Navy.
Armament: 2x 110 ton gun, 1x 9.2 ton gun,
12x 6 inch guns,
21x anti-torpedo guns
6x 14 inch torpedo tubes.
HP: 14,000.
Speed: 16.75 knots.

" Lebanese-Austrian diver Christian Francis had researched the wreck and had been conducting a search since 1994. Information from local fishermen about an unusual obstruction rich in fish helped lead Francis to the wreck's position. He first dived the wreck along with British diver Mark Ellyatt on 22 August, and the pair were quickly able to identify the wreck from the props, fittings and dimensions."

Edited 29.06.2007