Thread by @dhartley_NMRN

#OTD 60 years ago HMS Vanguard ran aground as she left Portsmouth Harbour for the final time to be scrapped.

Her departure marked the end of the battleship era for the Royal Navy. She had a dramatic exit too with the ship running aground.

A thread of what happened that day;

HMS Vanguard was the last battleship constructed for the Royal Navy, originally planned as a Lion-class battleship.
However in 1939 the class was cancelled and led to redesigned hull reusing turrets built for HMS Glorious and Courageous to be incorporated.

Built at John Brown and Company on the Clydebank, Scotland. Laid down in 1941 and given top priority construction. Delays added to the lengthy construction with lessons learnt from the loss of HMS Prince of Wales.

Vanguard was launched 30th November 1944 by Princess Elizabeth, her first ever ship launch.
However it was not until May 1946 she was be commissioned due to the end of the war slowing the urgency for new ships.

Not long after her initial trials she was in refit being converted to serve as a Royal Yacht. This was for upcoming tours of South Africa and Australia.
However quickly during the 50s after small deployments and minor refits he was placed in reserve in 1955.

During her time in reserve she served as a film location for Sink the Bismarck with quarters and her WW2 era turrets used as the protagonist and antagonist ships. As well as in the Carry on Admiral title sequence.

In 1959 it was announced Vanguard was to be scrapped, she was decommissioned in June 1960. She was sold to the BISCO company for £560k, and she was stripped and made ready for departure on Thursday 4th August 1960.

There were calls to have her preserved as a museum ship in Portsmouth. This was led by a former CO of Vanguard Admiral Parham, however high operational costs scuppered any successful plans. But it was attempted, another one of his ships as CO HMS Belfast went onto preservation.

Onto HMS Vanguard's departure, she was taken in tow by four tugs and lined up with Portsmouth Harbour. Two amidships and two at the stern guiding the ship towards the narrow harbour entrance.

Hundreds of locals and holiday makers gathered to watch in Old Portsmouth to watch.

However as journey made its way past the South Railway Jetty the bow of Vanguard started to swing to port. The two tugs ahead tried correcting to starboard and the harbour tugs full astern to no avail.
She was heading straight at Spice Island where hundreds were gathered.

The senior pilot on board Roy Ottley prevented disaster by letting go of the Starboard anchor which caught chains from an old floating bridge across the harbour.
This caused the bow to move away from the sea wall and from the waving crowds who mistook the crews pleas to move.

At 1035 she ran aground just next to Custom Jetty and Still and West pub. The large ship was now stuck by the narrow harbour entrance.

The harbour tugs were not powerful enough to move Vanguard. However the two ocean tugs nearby provided the assistance needed.

The lowering tide and the danger of her stern swinging out across the harbour mouth. This eventually would've broken the ships back blocking the harbour.

At 1115 the ship was released from where she ran aground before being guided out of Portsmouth Harbour by five tugs.

Here is a video of the incident which shows the tugs struggling with the 45,000 ton battleship.
Showing how close she was to the watching crowds!

She left Portsmouth to be scrapped in Faslane, Scotland arriving under tow five days later. Vanguard was fully scrapped within two years.

Hope you have enjoyed this thread! Really interesting to research and write!
If you'd like to learn more about HMS Vanguard and her service life I'd recommend @Drachinifel extended history of the ship;

@portsmouthnews @PortsmouthProud @navalhistorian @AC_NavalHistory @UoP_History