Portsmouth and the Royal Navy: the back story

About Portsmouth and the Royal Navy: the back story

By the ULTIMATE Brighton Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

At Portsmouth Historic Dockyard you can see Henry VIII’s Mary Rose, sunk in the Solent in 1545 and raised in 1982; HMS Victory, Nelson’s flagship at Trafalgar; and HMS Warrior, the Victorian ironclad still afloat in the harbour. A waterbus crosses to the Submarine Museum in Gosport, and the Spinnaker Tower rises over Gunwharf Quays next door.

Few places tell the story of the Royal Navy like Portsmouth. In the Historic Dockyard three great ships, from the age of the Tudors, of Nelson and of the first ironclads, lie within a few minutes’ walk of each other, and the harbour around them is still a working naval base.

The Mary Rose

Henry VIII’s favourite ship, in the Mary Rose Trust’s words, was built in 1510–11 and sank in 1545, during the Battle of the Solent. More than four centuries later, on 11 October 1982, her hull was lifted from the seabed in a steel cradle and brought home to the dockyard where she had been built. Her museum holds what the Trust calls the largest collection of Tudor objects in the world: the possessions of the men who sailed in her.

Give the Dockyard a whole day, and save the Spinnaker Tower for the evening light.

HMS Victory

HMS Victory, Nelson’s flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, sits in dry dock at the heart of the Dockyard, and you can walk the decks Nelson commanded. The ship is the focus of a major conservation project, so parts of her may be under wraps when you visit.

HMS Warrior

The Victorian ironclad HMS Warrior is still afloat more than 150 years after she revolutionised naval warfare, as the Dockyard puts it. On board, guides bring her to life as she was in 1860: walk the top deck, then go below to the engine rooms.

The Spinnaker Tower

The sail-shaped Spinnaker Tower rises 170 metres above Gunwharf Quays. A high-speed lift climbs to three viewing decks, and the glass floor of the Sky Walk looks 100 metres straight down. A new operator took over the tower in October 2026, so check its own site for opening times.

Across the water to Gosport

A waterbus runs from the Historic Dockyard to the Submarine Museum in Gosport (daily from 10am to 4pm in summer, weather permitting; weekends only in winter), and the Gosport Ferry crosses the harbour in about four minutes from the pontoon beside Portsmouth Harbour station.

Our advice: buy a Dockyard ticket for the year, take the Mary Rose and Victory first while you are fresh, then cross to Gosport on the waterbus.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Portsmouth and the Royal Navy: the back story before you go.