The museum opens to the public in May but before then passersby will be able to glimpse the figures through the Box’s large windows.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you very much for the speedy manner in which you conduct your business. Some were found to have started off-white, but the decision was made to keep them colourful. The hues used are based on those to be seen on a set of 1912 cigarette cards depicting navy figureheads. HMS Defiance was a 91-gun screw propelled second rate launched in 1861. She became the Navy's torpedo school ship in 1884 and was sold in 1931.

From 1953 I was Acting Electrician of AMPHION for about 2 years ( not sure when I would have been confirmed as I left the RN) . I attached the letter of reference written by my boss ,the 1st Lt , Lt Jardine , merely to show an Acting Electrician was well trained and competent . As it happens Acting Electrician Denny was very experienced in submarines and significantly older than I was with the same rate -- the whole paragraph was an insult that a dead man could not defend . Meanwhile, some of the crew, led by seaman Vizard, are preparing a written petition for better conditions, in conjunction with similar efforts throughout the British fleet. They eventually pledge nearly the entire crew. Defiance was a development of the Renown class. The second pair of Renowns, HMS Atlas and HMS Anson, had a modified, finer stern run. Defiance was originally laid down as to the same plan as Atlas, but a new plan dated 8 October 1858 was prepared giving Defiance a lengthened bow. [2]

Torpedoes were interesting, a 21" torpedoe had a four cylinder engine using diesel fuel compressed by 3000 lb air which caused ignition. The housing was 21" diameter and perhaps 12" long. It had to be stripped and rebuilt for practice. Just about everyone finished assembly with a pipe of some sort left in their box that could not be put in,- so strip and try again. A gyro driven by the 3000 lb air provided guidance. They had to be trimmed so that on start up the top pivot did not describe a spiral. This required adjusting tiny little screws and could take ages. I didn't have any particular reason for not copying my old L-Sparks-Crown badge , maybe I just thought the LTO was suitable without being obvious and as a lad had served with men who had worn it in WW2 . Very proud to have known these brave men . Some of the figureheads were so ravaged by spending decades at sea, in addition to being poorly looked after following their retirements, that their insides had turned into a soggy mulch; one or two were still so wet that water poured out when they were pierced. Her next Captain was Thomas Revell Shivers, who took command on 27 February 1797 at Torbay. In 1798, some of her crew were court-martialed for mutiny. [5] In 1948 I joined the RN Electrical Branch from civvy street via HMS ROYAL ARTHUR then the Electrical School HMS DEFIANCE ,Devonport . I did the Course and became an Electricians Mate 2nd class , then a draft to HMS HOWE where I became an EM 1st class mainly doing telephone system maintenance . Then Submarines >>> until 1955 . My own discharge papers leave no doubt.Thirteen of the figures, weighing a total of 20 tonnes, have been suspended from the ceiling of the atrium to a new museum and gallery in the maritime city of Plymouth, Devon. HMS Defiance was the Fleet Maintenance Base at HMNB Devonport between 1972 and 1979, and again between 1981 and 1994 when it was absorbed into the main base. One ship was renamed HMS Defiance whilst serving as the establishment's depot ship. HMS Defiance was a 74-gun third-rate of launched in 1783. She was used as a prison ship from 1813 and was broken up in 1817. At this time Defiance had a number of tenders including the gunboat Scourge which was fitted with an 18" aluminium torpedo tube (the only one in the service), two torpedo boats (one was torpedo boat No. 98) and a destroyer. These ships were used to carry out torpedo exercises in Plymouth Sound where there was a ‘Whitehead’ torpedo range from the Breakwater jetty along with a permanently moored tender HMS Falcon. Live firings with mine laying and recovery exercises usually took place in Whitesands Bay. The documents are stored by year in numerical sequence of registered number, as they were received, and have not been rearranged under the names of individual ships. For some of the cross-Channel and Isle of Wight passenger ferries, the practice was adopted at certain dates of making one return for all the ships of the company; when this has occurred, the ship names have been cross-referenced.