Royal Navy decides against painting ex-warships HMS Manchester and HMS Gloucester
THE Royal Navy has decided against repainting decommissioned warships at Portsmouth Naval Base as part of a new marketing campaign.
The idea to spruce up HMS Manchester and HMS Gloucester was put forward after it was agreed to place a new banner on the training ship HMS Bristol to promote the navy to the 3m international ferry port users who sail past every year.
The retired ships, both of which left service last year after more than 30 years of service, are moored directly opposite Bristol.
They have been stripped bare of useful parts and have patches of yellow undercoat showing through.
Because of their proximity to Bristol, it was felt they would detract from the navy’s new marketing campaign.
Talks were held at the naval headquarters at HMS Excellent on Whale Island about whether it was worth painting the old ships which are due to be put up for sale later this year.
It was argued that costs could be kept down by using surplus paint, which would also help maintain the metal.
But it was finally decided to leave Manchester and Gloucester alone.
A navy spokesman said: ‘As a service we need to look at the preservation, maintenance and presentation options for our decommissioned warships.
‘A painting option was considered as part of the maintenance of these warships; however this option was not taken forward.’
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Friday 25 May 2012
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Comments
There are 6 comments to this article
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Pride of the South RED and WHITE
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 09:30 AMThis country for sure is in a dreadful state of affairs. Manchester and Gloucester should have been at least kept in some short term state of readiness, should the inevitable happen with the Falklands or any other part of the world. The cost would be reasonable if the ships were manned with say a half of normal compliment and maintained to a level of serviceability. These ships may be thirty years old but compared to some of the fleets around the world these two were not in too bad a shape. They could when necessary be sold as working ships with a few years of service left in them as opposed to razor blade fodder. I travel across the Channel very frequently and it worries me when I see our primary Naval Base so empty. Our defences are seriously lacking. We would have trouble defending the Isle of Wight. Let alone our entire country.
Croffles
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 06:41 PMWhat was that? £16 million on a Victory makeover??
ConDems Out!
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 05:28 PM@Dave120 Great post... I can't see that anyone can argue with that.
Dave120
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 04:30 PMI think having two type 42 destroyers rusting on Fountain Lake jetty represents today’s "Modern" Royal Navy more appropriately and in keeping with the mindset of the MOD than any promotional banner flown from HMS Bristol. It highlights the real issues the senior service faces, and ironically demonstrates how all our problems are "painted over" to hide the real problems.
ConDems Out!
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 03:31 PMI agree with that (shock!)... whether these vessels could have been kept in service longer is another story, but it's pointless spending money on them if they are going to the scrapyard shortly. If they're such an eyesore, then strip them of parts and move the hulks to a different part of the harbour??
wizard of oz
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 03:12 PMHow about spending on new warships as opposed to dressing up old ones that will never sail again.
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