The WWI: Britain’s Surviving Vessels project was delivered by National Historic Ships UK (NHS-UK) and funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) under its ‘Your Heritage’ programme. The project ran from October 2013 to December 2016 and achieved the following:
- Research undertaken into 71 registered historic vessels, telling the stories of the role they played during the First World War
- Created a dedicated web-page on which to upload the vessel information
- Developed a pop-up touring exhibition
- Wrote Statements of Significance for the 52 featured vessels in the project
- Undertook over 40 vessel visits
The history of First World War at sea is more than Jutland and a handful of other big ship actions. It is a much richer story, incorporating not only fighting, but requisitions by the Navy, the development of new technologies and transporting men and supplies to the Western Front and Gallipoli. A few vessels even managed to continue their usual roles, seemingly relatively unscathed by the war.
To learn more about the project, please visit the dedicated link here, and download the full evaluation report.
