HMS Victory has been sitting Number 2 Drydock in Portsmouth since 1922. The drydock is a historical national monument itself as the oldest dry dock in the world still in use. 22 steel cradles were holding HMS Victory in place however the bellying of the hull was warping and deforming and a solution had to be developed to prevent any further misshaping.

ML UK worked closely with BAE Systems design team in trialling new support systems. A design scheme was developed to which a series of 134 steel props would be fitted. Each stainless steel prop is calibrated and adjustable providing a fully integrated monitoring system for load analysis of the complete hull.

ML UK was awarded the project to provide and install the new prop support system. The ML (UK) team began work on this unique and ambitious project 3 years ago and will be due to finish at the end of March 2020. We have been delighted to work within the conservation team on this exciting project to provide long term support to Britain’s most celebrated warship.