ARK Royal

Product detailed description

History on Wikipedia: HERE

The ship was built at the R. Chapman shipyards in 1587 for Sir Walter Raleigh. However, the ship was immediately seized as a tax debt of £5000 and renamed ARK Royal. She was massive for her time, but cumbersome and unstable.

Yet for many years she served as a flagship, being one of the largest vessels in the English fleet. Her combat history began in 1588 as Admiral High Howard's flagship in a battle against the Spanish fleet. He defeated the Spanish fleet and pursued the remnants into the North Sea. A year later, he commanded a successful attack from her at Cadiz, where much of the Spanish fleet was destroyed. The command ship was also in the fighting against the Spanish during their raids in 1599. The ship continued to serve successfully for a long time after being renamed Ark Royal Anne.

In 1608 she was rebuilt and again better armed. She finally ended up in the River Medway in 1636, where she was badly damaged by her own anchor during a voyage and sank. After being raised they wanted to carry out repairs, which eventually proved impossible due to the extent of the damage and the wreck was dismantled in 1638.

It is a pity that this is a 1:250 scale model. A larger model would certainly be interesting. The kit is made with reasonable quality, and those who play around a bit will have an interesting addition to their naval fleet.