A day trip from London to Portsmouth offers centuries of British naval history

Portsmouth, England: Centuries of naval history

PORTSMOUTH, England — A modern tower shaped like a sail, with a view of the sea, stands in tribute to the history of this famous port, where centuries of naval warfare can be experienced in a day trip from London, just 75 miles away.

Portsmouth has been a naval station since Roman times. A narrow channel port and the Isle of Wight just offshore offer natural defensive advantages. Here Viking invaders were fought off, the world’s first dry dock was built, and the D-Day invasion of Nazi-occupied France, just across the English Channel, was planned, changing the course of World War II.

Today’s visitors can tour ships in the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, visit a D-Day museum, follow the Millennium Trail along the waterfront, and take in the panoramic view from the observation deck of the Spinnaker Tower, which looks 23 miles out to sea.

Other tourist attractions include Charles Dickens’ birthplace. The writer lived here for a few years as a young child after his father was transferred to Portsmouth by a Navy office.

But the dockyard — heaven for naval history buffs — is Portsmouth’s biggest draw. Its centerpiece is HMS Victory, the vessel on which legendary naval commander Lord Nelson was killed in 1805 during the Battle of Trafalgar, in which the British fleet defeated a combined French and Spanish armada.

Today, the Victory sits resplendent in black and yellow livery, its three masts stayed by dozens of rigging lines, with cannons peering out from gun ports. You can walk up the gangplank to explore the ship from inside. On deck, a small brass plaque marks the spot where Nelson was felled.

Visitors can also go aboard HMS Warrior, which was launched in 1860 as one of the first armored warships. Modern British naval warships are often in port as well, complete with sailors and naval cadets from the working naval base milling around.

Another main attraction is the museum of the Mary Rose, King Henry VIII’s flagship, which sank in 1545 in a battle with French naval forces just off Portsmouth. The Mary Rose was one of the first warships built to carry heavy guns, which may have contributed to her demise. According to a popular theory about the ship’s sinking, gun ports near the waterline were left open after firing and when the ship heeled over in heavy wind, water poured in. More than 400 people aboard were killed.

The wreck was raised from the seabed in 1982 and conservationists have been working to restore the ship’s hull along with 19,000 Tudor-era artifacts found with it. A new museum set to open in a few years will display 70 percent of the artifacts as well as the hull. The existing museum displays just 6 percent of the artifacts, but still offers plenty to see — including a fragment of a rigging line that still smells of the tar used to keep it waterproof 500 years ago.

Below deck, visitors can explore the low-ceilinged quarters for regular sailors, the ornate quarters of the admiral and the galley with its giant stoves. Gundecks are crowded with massive cannons.

After a morning at the dockyard, I was ready for lunch. A guard who looked the picture of an old-fashioned sailor in a blue uniform, bushy white beard and cap adorned with military insignia directed me to the Britannia Fish Bar, just outside the gate. It was, he advised, where all the staff ate.

I dined on fish and chips, then set off to explore the town. My lodestar was the Spinnaker Tower, a white 558-foot tower in the shape of, and named after, the sail. Rising above the centuries-old buildings surrounding the harbor, the tower, which opened in 2005, is a modern take on the area’s traditions.

The building also marks the start of the Millennium Promenade tourist walk; just look for the chain motif carved into the sidewalk. The motif is a reference to a chain that used to be stretched across the harbor to defend against potential attack.

The trail starts at the tourist office just outside the dockyard gate and leads to the harbor station (where catamarans run to the Isle of Wight). It picks up on the other side of the station, where the Spinnaker Tower sits in front of Gunwharf Quays, a newly redeveloped shopping center.

The trail follows a serpentine path down to the seafront promenade, past new condo developments, the town’s small fish market and around the marina to massive sea wall fortifications. At one end of the wall is the Round Tower, located at the narrowest part of the harbor to help defend it. Portions of the stone tower are centuries old.

The chain trail leads on, down narrow alleyways and past skinny houses, to the tip of the peninsula in front of a pair of pubs. It’s the perfect place for a day-tripping landlubber to grab a drink before heading back to London.

If You Go…

PORTSMOUTH HISTORIC DOCKYARD: Victory Gate, HM Naval Base, Portsmouth, England; www.historicdockyard.co.uk or 011-44-23-9283-9766 or recorded info line at 011-44-23-9286-1512. Open at 10 a.m. daily (closed Dec. 24-26). Last admission 4:30 p.m. April-October (4 p.m. November-March). Adults, $27 (18 pounds); students age 60 or older, $24 (16 pounds); children age 5-15 and students with ID, $20.50 (13 pounds, 50 pence); family ticket (two adults/seniors, three children), $77 (50 pounds, 50 pence).

PORTSMOUTH VISITOR INFORMATION: www.visitportsmouth.co.uk or 011-44-23-9282-6722.

GETTING THERE: Trains run from London to Portsmouth throughout the day, 90 minutes to 2 hours each way.

SPINNAKER TOWER: Gunwharf Quays; www.spinnakertower.co.uk. Open daily except Christmas Day 10 a.m.-6 p.m. (in August, Sunday-Thursday, open until 7 p.m.) Adults, $11 (7 pounds, 25 pence); seniors age 60 and older and students, $10 (6 pounds, 50 pence); children age 3-15, $9 (5 pounds, 75 pence); children under 3, free.