Ship model of the famous SOVEREIGN OF THE SEAS of 1637

Launched in 1637, the SOVEREIGN OF THE SEAS was larger and more powerful than any other ship of her time.  She sailed with 800 men, and her 104 guns could fire a broadside of more than a ton of metal.

In 1634, Charles I had asked the great English shipbuilder Phineas Pett to build a great new ship as part of his overall effort to improve and expand England’s navy. Built at a cost of £65,586 – about ten 40-gun ships could have been built for the same amount – the SOVEREIGN OF THE SEAS was intended as an instrument of propaganda as well as war. She was the Royal Navy’s most lavishly ornamented vessel.

In 1660 she was overhauled and renamed Royal Sovereign. During the three Anglo-Dutch Wars, she saw action at the Battle of Ketish Knock in 1652, Orfordness (1666), Solebay (1672), Schoonveld (1673), and at Texel (1673). Following another overhaul in 1685, in the War of the League of Augsburg, she was at Beachy Head (1690) and Barfleur (1692). In 1696 a misplaced candle set the ship on fire and she burned at Chatham. 

This ship model was made 95 % from oak. 1300 gilded pieces were used for decoration.

Here are several views of the model. If you click on a photo you will get that photo in high resolution. (If you use Microsoft Internet Explorer or Firefox, press F11 to minimize navigation bars and have a larger screen with the photos.)

This fine ship model of the SOVEREIGN OF THE SEAS is 1 : 78 scale. Length is 110 cm, width 47 cm, height 98 cm.