How did engineers save HMS Victory from collapsing in on itself?

HOW do you save a 250-year-old-ship that will collapse if it’s not afloat – but may rot and sink if it’s set on water?
Rob Hanway, BAE Systems HMS Victory program manager. Picture: Habibur RahmanRob Hanway, BAE Systems HMS Victory program manager. Picture: Habibur Rahman
Rob Hanway, BAE Systems HMS Victory program manager. Picture: Habibur Rahman

This is the problem Rob Hanway, HMS Victory programme manager from BAE Systems, and his team, have overcome with a world-first solution.

Scans of HMS Victory had revealed that after resting on steel cradles since 1922, the iconic warship had begun to sag in its old age.

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Gary Morrison, BAE System’s lead engineer on the HMS Victory project, said: ‘In some places, you were able to see it by eye.

‘3D scans showed the hull was beginning to look more like a “w”.

‘The ship can swell up to 12mm on a hot days – it’s very sensitive.’

Now the ship has something even better than the ocean waves to keep steady pressure on its hull – as it rests on 134 adjustable ‘smart’ props, which relay information about the structural integrity of the ship every ten seconds.

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The solution is the first time a prop system of this nature has been used on any ship, representing ‘a unique solution for a unique ship’ according to Mr Hanway.

He said: ‘By comparison, in London the Cutty Sark has a steel structure inside the hull to which the external props are connected.

‘Our propping system doesn’t have the luxury of an internal structure to aid it.

‘The props are attached on the outside of the hull only and set in to steel base angles on the dock steps.’

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He added: ‘At the touch of a button you can add or take away force in the props.

‘But we were worried throughout. Even though we had a lot of 3D modelling going on, it wasn’t until we began to test the props that we really knew it we had a problem or not.

‘As we got to the end, we were pleasantly surprised at how sound (the ship) was.’