Former HMS Hermes sailor launches £15m bid to convert warship into Portsmouth concert venue
The former naval aircraft carrier, which was the Falklands flagship, was due to be converted into a 600-room floating resort in India, complete with five restaurants, a nightclub and swimming pools.
That plan was scrapped late last year, condemning the 24,000-tonne vessel to the scrapheap.
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Hide AdBut now former HMS Hermes sailor Andy Trish has told the Mail on Sunday he plans to pay out £500,000 of his own cash to bring the ship back to Portsmouth.
He wants the ship to be a tourist attraction, play host to concerts and have office space.
‘I want to own the ship as a private concern and I will buy her directly from the Indian government. I am not looking for any money from the UK Government at all. I believe I could make it work as a business,’ he told the newspaper.
According to the national newspaper it would cost £5m to buy, £5m to tow to Portsmouth and £5m to turn her into offices and a museum at the city’s dockyard.