HMS Victory

HMS Victory
Belongs to	Great Britain
Crew	271
Guns	106 (49 on each side, 4 stern chasers, 4 bow chasers)
Firepower	2488
Range	400
Accuracy	30
Reloading skill	10
Hull strength	10586
Speed	14
Maneuverability	Low
Tech requirement	None
Produced from	Steam Drydock
Special abilities	Top Gallants
Cost	4740 (SP)/3672 (MP)
Upkeep	1180

The HMS Victory showing off the amount of guns.

HMS Victory is a ship type in Empire: Total War. She is available with either the special edition of the game, or with the download of the Special Forces & Bonus Content DLC.

Description

HMS Victory is a first rate ship of the line, carrying some 100 guns and a crew of more than 800 men.

Like all first rates, Victory is not a handy ship, being both slow and unresponsive. Good sailing qualities, however, are secondary to the weight of broadside that she can both deliver and withstand. This is important in a warship that is intended to form the centrepiece of any squadron and act as an admiral's flagship.

Completed in 1765, Victory is probably the most famous first rate in history, and the only one still in existence. The work of naval architect and genius Sir Thomas Slade, Victory was always intended to be a flagship; the Royal Navy preferred the smaller 74s as battleships. Forty years later, in 1805, she was Horatio Nelson's flagship at Trafalgar, a battle which gave the Royal Navy undisputed mastery of the world's oceans for more than a century.

General Information

The HMS Victory is in most ways identical to a First Rate Ship of the Line, except that it has far better hull strength. As with other first rates, the HMS Victory has poor handling characteristics and speed but excellent firepower and durability.

Although Great Britain is limited to only one HMS Victory, multiple copies of the ship can exist if one is captured from the British navy, allowing Great Britain to construct another one.

History

Today HMS Victory resides in drydock in Portsmouth, where she is the flagship of the Second Sea Lord. As such she remains in commission and is now the oldest commissioned ship in the world. Following the scuppering of HMS Implacable in 1949, she is now the only intact survivor of the Battle of Trafalgar, as well as the only surviving First Rate Ship of the Line.

The HMS Victory's magazine exploding