HMS Wellington (U65) - Victoria Embankment (London)
N 51° 30.637 W 000° 06.740
30U E 700375 N 5710563
HMS Wellington (U65), the last surviving member of Royal Navy Grimsby-class sloop, is the headquarters ship of the Honourable Company of Master Mariners, permanently moored alongside the Victoria Embankment on the River Thames in Loondon.
Waymark Code: WMQB90
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 01/27/2016
Views: 6
HMS Wellington (U65), launched in Devonport in 1934, served during the WWII as a convoy escort ship in the North Atlantic. She is now moored alongside the Victoria Embankment, at Temple Pier, on the River Thames in London, as the headquarters ship of the Honourable Company of Master Mariners, where she is known as HQS Wellington.
HMS Wellington was always the ambition of the founding members of the company to have a livery hall. Up to the outbreak of war in 1939, various proposals were examined, including the purchase of a sailing ship, Archibald Russell. After the WWII, it became apparent that the possibility of building a hall in the City of London had been rendered very remote. In 1947, the Grimsby-class sloop Wellington was made available by the Admiralty. The company decided to buy her with money subscribed by the members and convert her to a floating livery hall, an appropriate home for a company of seafarers.
HMS Wellington served in the Pacific mainly on station in New Zealand and China before the Second World War. As built, Wellington mounted two 120 mm guns and one 100 mm gun. Additionally, anti-aircraft guns were fitted for self-defence. Depth charges for use against submarines were carried. Wellington served primarily in the North Atlantic on convoy escort duties. She shared in the destruction of one enemy U-boat and was involved in Operation Cycle, the evacuation of Allied troops from Le Havre. During 1943 she was briefly commanded by Captain John Treasure Jones, at that time a lieutenant commander in the Royal Navy Reserve, who would later be the last captain of RMS Queen Mary.
After WWII, she was converted from being His Majesty’s Ship Wellington to Head Quarters Ship (HQS) Wellington at Chatham Dockyard. The cost of this conversion was met by an appeal to which Lloyd's, shipping companies, livery companies and many other benefactors generously contributed. It included the installation of a grand wooden staircase taken from the 1906 Isle of Man ferry SS Viper, which was being broken up at the same time. Wellington arrived at her Victoria Embankment berth in December 1948 to continue service as the floating livery hall of the Honourable Company of Master Mariners. In 1991, HQS Wellington was dry-docked at Sheerness for three months during which, apart from extensive steelwork repairs and complete external painting, she received a major refurbishment which included the refitting of all toilet facilities, offices and accommodation areas. For the first time, Wellington was fully fitted with custom-made carpet, and displays were installed of the Company’s marine paintings and artefacts, gold and silver plate, ship models and newly discovered very early 18th-century charts. [wiki]
The ship is open to visitors on occasions throughout the year and group tours can also be arranged at a nominal cost, to include refreshments. The ship is located just across the road from Temple tube station (on the District / Circle Lines), a 10 minute walk from either Charing Cross or Blackfriars mainline stations and a 15-20 min across the Thames from Waterloo. As HQS Wellington is a working environment, we are not open to the public except on specified days, but students of maritime history and those interested in the sea are most welcome to visit us by appointment.
Contact business@hcmm.org.uk or phone 0207 836 8179 for further details.
The Grimsby-class sloops were class of 13 sloops-of-war laid down between 1933-1940. Of these eight were built in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy, four in Australia for the Royal Australian Navy and one for the Royal Indian Navy. Main armament was initially two 120 mm guns for RN ships and three 100 mm for Australian ships, but armament varied considerably between ships, and was increased later. Losses during World War II were Grimsby, Indus, Yarra, and Parramatta. Some survivors of this class served into the 1960s. One ship, Wellington, is preserved as the headquarters of the Honourable Company of Master Mariners. [wiki]