HMS Victory to be passed over to new museum
The director of the navy's new national museum says HMS Victory can be a jewel to attract Olympic crowds to the dockyard.
Dr Dominic Tweddle will sit down with Ministry of Defence staff on April 1 to sign an agreement guaranteeing the future of the Georgian warship.
It will establish the different roles the museum and MoD will play in the care of Victory, which until September faced an uncertain future.
As revealed in The News, the Ministry of Defence conducted an all-options report into the ship's upkeep - which included giving it to another government department or charity.
Now though, on April 1, the National Museum of the Royal Navy will be on the road to having the world's most famous warship under its umbrella.
Dr Tweddle said: 'April 1 is the time when we start the process that will lead to the museum running the visitor services side of things.
'Running parallel with that will be continued MoD input through upkeep of the ship through repairs and maintenance.
'It is going to be a long road but when it is complete we should have an attraction that will be a massive draw in the years to come.
'With events like the Olympics that can only help to bring more people to the Portsmouth heritage area.'
Since moving into his new job, Dr Tweddle has been working on co-ordinating Gosport's submarine museum, Victory, the Marines museum at Eastney and the Fleet Air Arm museum in Somerset.
He has control of a multi-million pound budget which aims to attract visitors to more sites in the Portsmouth area.
At the same time, Peter Goodship of Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust has led the purchase of Explosion! museum at Priddy's Hard in Gosport and is due to trial a small passenger boat which will carry about 60 passengers around the harbour sites.
Dr Tweddle said: 'By 2012 we could have an excellent set-up for London visitors to come and see.'
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Friday 25 May 2012
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