HMS Vanguard (23): Britain's Last Battleship Ran Aground on Her Way to the Scrapyard

HMS Vanguard (23)

Launched by a Princess

HMS Vanguard was built by John Brown and Company at Clydebank, with construction beginning on 2 October 1941, though wartime design revisions meant a long gestation. Princess Elizabeth presided over the launch on 30 November 1944, the first ship she ever launched, and Vanguard finally commissioned on 12 May 1946, after the war had already ended, making her the last battleship ever built for any navy.

Old Guns, New Ship

Rather than wait for entirely new 16-inch turrets to be developed for the planned Lion-class battleships, designers equipped Vanguard with four existing 15-inch gun turrets originally built for First World War-era battlecruisers, a pragmatic compromise that let Britain complete a genuinely fast and powerful battleship, displacing 44,500 long tons and reaching over 31 knots on trials.

Carrying the Royal Family to South Africa

Following sea trials, Vanguard was modified to serve as a royal yacht, and in early 1947 carried King George VI and his family on the first Royal Tour of South Africa by a reigning monarch, departing on 1 February and arriving in Cape Town on 17 February, a role that suited her scale and prestige rather better than any battle she would ever fight.

Flagship Duties and the Coronation Review

Through the 1950s, Vanguard served as flagship for various Royal Navy commands, taking part in exercises and ceremonial duties, including Queen Elizabeth II's Coronation Fleet Review at Spithead on 15 June 1953, a fitting moment of pageantry for the navy's newest and largest capital ship.

Aground on the Way to the Breakers

Declared obsolete by October 1959 and decommissioned on 7 June 1960, Vanguard drew enormous crowds along the Southsea seafront during her final tow to the breakers on 4 August 1960. In a moment of high drama, the great ship slewed across the harbour and ran aground near the Still and West pub, before tugs managed to refloat her and send her on to Faslane, where she was completely broken up by the middle of 1962, a memorably undignified send-off for the last of the Royal Navy's battleships.