Figure 1.--Here we see the boys of the training ship "Lion" at Devonport in 1897. "Lion" and and other training ships in the 19h century were sailing ships. One of the skills the boys learned was how to set the rigging. That seems a little dangerous. I'm not sure how common accidents were.

The HMS Lion was activated as a training ship at Devonport in 1871. The ship had been originally launched (1847). Lion was a very popular name for a Bitih war ship and has been used since the earliest years of the Royal Navy (16th century). The first ship was ctually captured from the Scottish Navy. It was used to train boys for over three decades. Something like 18 ships over time were named "Lion", presumably because of the association with both the courage of the animal and the smbology of the British crown. In the 20th century a battle cruidser was name Lion which fought in World War I. There was also thre training ship Lion. Lion was an old wooden two-decker which was moored with the Implacable off Torpoint, about half-way up the Hamoze. The vessel had a striking gilded figure-head which was meant to represen the British lion rampant. The vessel was built at Pembroke Dockyard and launched (1847). It was an 80 gun ship of the line meant to carry a company of 750 men. After her active service with the fleet in the Royal Navy, she was converted to a training ship (1871). Lion was moored to Implacable, which had been at Trafalgur, and the two vessels made up the training school for boys at Devonport. The training brig Liberty served as a tender. Lion and and other training ships in the 19th century were sailing ships. One of the skills the boys learned was how to set the rigging. That seems a little dangerous. I'm not sure how common accidents were. We note a HMS Lion boy at home with his brothers about 1900. The Royal Navy as part of a reorganization decided to build a shore training facility at Shotley. As a result HMS Lion was deactivated (1904) and sold (1905). A new HM Lion was commisioned (1910). Four ships were designed to be built as a class: Lion, Tiger, Queen Mary, and Princess Royal. The four were known as the 'Splendid Cats'. I am not sure whether someone had a sense of humour when calling the Queen and Princess 'cats'! Although was launched in 1910, it wasn't commissioned until 1912. It was soon in the thick of action at Heligoland, (1914) Jutland (1916), and Dogger Bank.These four ships were to be the largest warships in the world at the time. Lion was badly damaged twice and spent quite a bit of time under repair during the War. She was decommissioned after the War (1920) and scrapped in 1924. I.

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Created: 3:22 AM 6/12/2007
Last updated: 7:06 AM 6/2/2012