Calling all HMS London (1656) fans

[mifune]

Revell 1/150 VOC retourship Batavia? I think she is close enough. What do you think?

[Maarten Sch�nfeld]

Hi Mikko,

Nice thought! Many similarities. But remember the Batavia was built 1625 as a (Dutch) East Indiaman, whilst HMS London (1656) was an already further evolved warship, three decades later. The first glaring difference is that the sheer of the later ship is much less, and the gun ports don't follow the sheer anymore.

I haven't studied the British warship kits of the 17th century, but from the Dutch ships available the Eendracht would be a better comparison. The Revell kit of 'Wappen von Hamburg', which has also appeared as the Lindberg 'Captain Kidd pirate ship' (surprised?) is a much better representation in 1:150 (surprised again? The scale with these old Revell kits is often far from the figure given on the box ).

The reason behind this: the Wapen von Hamburg (the correct spelling then was with a single p, and her sister ship Leopoldus Primus) was built by a Dutch shipbuilder master, on the pattern of the then famous Dutch 'two-decker'. As no plans of the Wapen have survived, the model must have been created after the Dutch plans for these two-deckers, the Revell/Lindberg kit being the result.

As a model kit it is truly awful, but if you plan to build such a ship it could be a good basis. I'm already working some time to convert the kit into the Aemilia of 1632, I made a completely new transom plus adjoining galleries, but for the rest the kit could largely remain the same.

[Maarten Sch�nfeld]

One more thought: would the 'Royal Sovereign' (Sovereign of the Seas) or the Prince, both from Airfix, be possible starting points for the London? Seem to be closer to the required era anyway.

Maarten

[Guest]

Hello Maarten!
The first HMS London was a East Indiaman purchased in 1636. She had 40 guns. She was listed until 1653.

[Maarten Sch�nfeld]

Hello Maarten!
The first HMS London was a East Indiaman purchased in 1636. She had 40 guns. She was listed until 1653.

Eeeh, Yes! That could be much closer to the Batavia indeed. However, I couldn't find much data and no images at all from this particular ship.

Mikko asked by the way for the first HMS London:technically the is the HMS London of 1666. The ships before her date weren't strictly speaking Royal Navy ships (and didn't have the 'HMS' title) but indeed East Indiamen. Just like the Batavia (there was not a Dutch Navy either in those days, but four diffferent Admiralties) these were merchantmen of the VOC, by necessity equipped with guns and therfore rather suitable for fighting as well.

So over to Mikko again: which 'HMS' London do you have in focus?