The Hermitage Autumn Open Days are upon us.
On Saturday there is a very good chance that a Thames fire tender will visit, on Sunday we have SB Will, a regular here at Hermitage.
The usual pop-up cafe will operate from the Pier House, with the usual teas, coffees, cake & cordial.
We also have again a small part of a big vessel on display – before it is fitted to one of the barges here – a watertight bulkhead door that was originally in Royal Navy HMS Hermes. HMS Hermes was decommissioned in 1984 and then recommissioned and refitted to become the Indian Navy’s INS Viraat.
Brief Vessel History of HMS Hermes
1944 – laid down in Barrow-in-Furness during WWII as HMS Elephant
1945 – 52 construction suspended
1953 – hull launched
1959 – 1984 service as HMS Hermes, Royal Navy
1982 – flagship of the British forces during the Falklands war
1987 – 2016 Indian Navy, INS Viraat, and their flagship for most of this period
INS Virant pictured below in 2002
