HMS Implacable (1805) - Fate

Fate

Unlike the unfortunate Wellesley, Implacable survived the Second World War. Still, the Admiralty scuttled her by an explosive charge on 2 December 1949. A fireboat towed her to a spot east of the Isle of Wight and she sank into Saint Catherine's Deep, about five miles from Ventnor. A French man-of-war was in attendance to render honours. Implacable was by then the second oldest ship of the Navy after Victory, and there were heavy protests against her disposal. However, given the post-War austerity the British decided against the cost of her restoration, which was estimated at £150,000 with another £50,000 for re-rigging. In 1947 they had offered her to the French, who too declined to spend the money to turn her into a museum. Still, her figurehead and stern galleries were saved and are on display in the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich, while her capstan is on display at the maritime museum at Rochefort. Public reaction to the "criminal action against the maritime history of Britain" forced the government to support the preservation of Cutty Sark.