HMS Victory is without her masts after complex removal operation for conservation work
HMS Victory is without all her masts for the first time since the 1890s in the latest step of a major £42m conservation project to repair the historic vessel.
Across three nights, a 30-strong specialist team using a 750-tonne crane and carefully removed Victory's mizzen (rear), foremast (front) and bowsprit (the bow).
Once the masts were removed, they were safely lowered and laid near the ship's side at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, ready for careful conservation work to begin.
The technical operation followed months of meticulous planning, as great power was required to lift the 15-tonne masts, but also serious precision to avoid damaging the delicate fabric of Nelson's 18th-century Battle of Trafalgar flagship
A scaffolding structure will enclose the vessel and remain in place until the conservation work is completed in 2033.
It is the latest phase of the 10-year scheme, dubbed The Big Repair, that marks the 100th anniversary of the ship being brought into Portsmouth's dry dock.
On Saturday Patrizia Pierazzo, HMS Victory deputy project director, said: "The removal of the mizzen mast and bowsprit was a great success and lessons learnt from the foremast removal earlier in the week really helped the team".
"This was a precise operation that required input from a wide range of specialists, and we’re very pleased with the outcome."
The main mast was removed from HMS Victory in 2021.
Andrew Baines, executive director of museum operations for the National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN), said: "This is a key moment for The Big Repair project, being the first time Victory will have been without all her masts since the early 1890s.
"Our team has planned this step in meticulous detail but we still have to work around factors like the weather.
"That's why we will carry out the lifts overnight, so we can work safely and without interruption for several hours at a time."
He added: "The operation itself will be impressive with a 750-tonne crane rigged on site for a week.
"We have learned a huge amount from the removal of the main lower mast in 2021 and once all masts are removed and safely stored, we can begin the critical work of conserving them before their eventual return to the ship in 2033."
HMS Victory, which is the world's oldest commissioned warship, was Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar and it was on the ship's quarterdeck that he was fatally shot by a French sniper on 21 October 1805.
Victory was first floated out at Chatham in 1765 but by the 1920s was in poor condition and moved to dry dock in Portsmouth, Hampshire, in 1922.
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