Navy’s‘untold stories’to be revealed

F RO M THE f irst British shot fired at sea in the FirstWorldWar, through the life of a submariner in the Second World War to the hi-tech warfare of Afghanistan, a major new trio of exhibitions is being launched telling 100 years of “untold stories” of the Royal Navy.

The £11.5 million visitor attractions at the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, Hampshire, which includes the only surviving British Second World War-era submarine, have been designed to give the public an insight into life at sea protecting British interests around the globe during the major conflicts of the past century as well as in peace time.

The HMS Hear My Story exhibition, which opens on Thursday, tells the stories of 1,000 men and women who have served in the past century.

Visitors

entering

the £4.5 million permanent exhibition will pass by the imposing sight of the four-inch gun from HMS Lance which fired the first British shot at sea of the First World War on August 5 1914.

M a t t h ew Sh e l d o n , project director, said: “Through the exhibitions, we’ll be telling the undis- covered stories from the ordinary men, women and ships which have shaped the Royal Navy’s astonishing history over the century of greatest change.”

Picture: PA. Former submariner and volunteer guide John Buffery on board submarine HMS Alliance.