Warship Management Ltd

This is a question frequently asked and I wish there was a fantastic, simple and optimistic answer but alas……..no news is good news?

We have in fact been up to all sorts of things, as some of you may know we had an excellent splash of publicity last November courtesy of the Plymouth Evening Herald and Lord Owen who spoke on our behalf at ‘Making Plymouth Great’, a business to business exhibition at Plymouth University.

Lord Owen has expressed considerable interest in our cause and spoken on our behalf on several other occasions.

It might seem a little unbelievable at this stage and some will ask why haven’t we said this before but we have discovered ‘options’ here in Plymouth.  None are ideal, which is why we haven’t acted on any or publicised our findings.

There are disused commercial moorings on the Tamar which could (at a cost) be upgraded and adapted for Plymouth’s use (the owner of the moorings has been approached and ‘agreed in principle’ that they could be used by Plymouth).  It has also been suggested that she could be ‘mounted’ off the Northern side of Mountbatten breakwater.  We think that this idea would be even more difficult and expensive than the preferred ‘golden option’ of a pocket berth in Sutton harbour (which was estimated circa £2 million) but perhaps someone knows better, and even better, might be able to help? 

The latest option to be explored was to sit ‘on the mud’ alongside Howard’s Quay on the river Plym.  The area is (currently) not the ideal spot for tourism being next to a scrapyard and close to a South West Water treatment plant but, there’s a lot of space and a quayside in good condition.  Image courtesy OF ‘Google Earth’.

The quay has been mostly cleared since this image was taken so car parking and building (?) should pose no problem and the road access is being improved.

We aren’t saying ‘let’s take her there next Spring’ but the site remains an option and doesn’t stop us from moving her elsewhere in the future.  Having said that, the owner is looking for a ‘long term’ deal.  For those that want to place the quay geographically, it’s around 250m South of Laira bridge which IS the main road linking Plymouth to Plymstock and the South Hams.  Plymouth would certainly dominate the local skyline.  Image courtesy OF ‘Google Earth’.

The benefits OF being alongside far outweigh the cheaper option of a mooring IN that power, water and waste disposal are readily available and access is simple and not weather dependant.  It’s not Sutton harbour, it’s not even Vittoria dock but it’s better than a beach in India or Indonesia!

One of our most vociferous supporters, Professor David Salter (Plymouth City Councillor and cabinet member) still has hopes of berthing in Sutton harbour, as I’m sure we would all like to do but the price tag may preclude that option, unless there’s a very wealthy ‘type 12 fan’ out there watching and waiting for the perfect moment!

 There have been a couple of items on the Association’s message board recently about getting more publicity and stimulating wider interest, about which we don’t disagree but as I stated earlier, we had some terrific radio, TV and newspaper coverage and support last year.  The Associations funds have grown but WML have gained no further offers of  (financial) support and yes, we have asked.  Most importantly despite our publicity, no offer of a berth has come forward apart from those mentioned above and they came about through our own research (Howard’s Quay at the suggestion of a friend of Lord Owen).

AS we’ve said on many occasions (courtesy Mike Critchley) ‘we could have millions IN the bank (AND a host OF willing volunteers, ED) but it’s of no use without a wall to park against’!

Last Summer the HMS Plymouth Association received a ‘quite unusual’ letter and a ’substantial’ contribution to their ’save the Plymouth fund’, taking the total in excess of £30,000.  It came from a Frenchman by the name of  Vincent Betremieux, below is an extract from his letter.  It’s heartening to know that people in other parts of the world are watching and do care but at the same time a shame that there aren’t more people closer to home with the same sentiments, faith and vision as Vincent.

‘I’m 47 years old. I’m an executive and I’ve worked in the French shipbuilding industry since 1985.

I’ve been involved in attempts in France to save 2 ships. One is the former France and then Norway passenger ship. She has very unusual funnels at least. I’ve fought quite a lot to help trying saving her and the battle is now nearly for sure lost. To me it’s painful.

The other one is the Colbert. She is a cruiser completed in 1959. She became a museum in 1993 I think. At first it worked well but later, in the town where she was, the environment and the position of the mayor changed a lot. Also the French State remained her owner and that mayor asked to get her taken away. She is now somewhere else, not open to the public, and is expected to be scrapped towards 2010, being kept til then to provide spare parts if needed. I still hope it might change. After I learned things were going wrong for her, I looked at the web to know more about the situation of HMS Belfast and HMS Plymouth to get ideas for the Colbert. This is how I got aware of the problem OF HMS Plymouth.

I’ve invested that sum of money to try to help saving for a long time HMS Plymouth mainly because :

- I think, in the long term, it will make sense saving her for a long time (because, ED) the Leanders, , Whitbys, Salisburys and Leopards had in common a somewhat unusual hull and foredeck shape in front of the main front turret.

- This ship means something to me, as I spent all together about 2 months in and around Plymouth in the 70s and in 1980 and I started reading regularly magazines related to ships in 1975.

Also,
- I already gave, but far less, in 1988 or 1989 to help saving her, and I would be sad to see that previous effort being somewhat wasted.

- I found it was a very good idea to consider selling the ship after running her as a museum, if we had made before good enough business, as it meant we might not invest “for ever”. (recoup investments after sale? ED)

Furthermore, when I went to watch The Who near Liverpool last June, I was pleased to see that HMS Plymouth was still in Birkenhead and still looked OK from the distance. I had imagined that I could then learn that she had gone for scrap. I would be sad to see that pleasing moment followed by a disappointment’.