Warfare in News

Save HMS President 1918!


HMS President 1918, one of Britain’s last remaining ships from the First World War, is in dire need of funding for restoration if she is to continue to offer educational, commercial and hospitality services on the River Thames.

Without vital funding through Libor fines administered at next week’s Autumn Statement, she will be consigned to the scrapheap. This would be an irreplaceable loss to our war heritage, and a sorry way to mark the country’s First World War centenary commemorations.

A little about the ship

HMS Saxifrage was launched in 1918 as a Flower-class anti-submarine Q-ship. She was renamed HMS President in 1922 and moored permanently on the Thames as a Royal Navy Reserve drill ship. In 1982 she was sold to private owners, and having changed hands twice, now serves as a venue for conferences and functions, and serves as the offices for a number of media companies. Technically, she is now called HMS President (1918) to distinguish her from HMS President, the Royal Naval Reserve base in St Katharine Docks. She is one of the last three surviving Royal Navy warships of the First World War. She is also the sole representative of the first type of purpose built anti-submarine vessels, and is the ancestor of World War II convoy escort sloops, which evolved into modern anti-submarine frigates.


Watch coverage of HMS President, featured on the BBC Travel Show on 13/11/16.

[b]Save HMS President 1918![/b] HMS President 1918, one of Britain’s last remaining ships from the First World War, is in dire need of funding for restoration if she is to continue to offer educational, commercial and hospitality services on the River Thames. Without vital funding through Libor fines administered at next week’s Autumn Statement, she will be consigned to the scrapheap. This would be an irreplaceable loss to our war heritage, and a sorry way to mark the country’s First World War centenary commemorations. [b]A little about the ship[/b] HMS Saxifrage was launched in 1918 as a Flower-class anti-submarine Q-ship. She was renamed HMS President in 1922 and moored permanently on the Thames as a Royal Navy Reserve drill ship. In 1982 she was sold to private owners, and having changed hands twice, now serves as a venue for conferences and functions, and serves as the offices for a number of media companies. Technically, she is now called HMS President (1918) to distinguish her from HMS President, the Royal Naval Reserve base in St Katharine Docks. She is one of the last three surviving Royal Navy warships of the First World War. She is also the sole representative of the first type of purpose built anti-submarine vessels, and is the ancestor of World War II convoy escort sloops, which evolved into modern anti-submarine frigates. Watch coverage of HMS President, featured on the BBC Travel Show on 13/11/16.