Henry V's Warships Built on the Hamble

1415

The River Hamble's shipbuilding reputation reached its medieval peak during the reign of Henry V, when the river's yards constructed warships for the English fleet. Henry V invested heavily in naval power to support his campaigns in France, including the Agincourt campaign of 1415 and the subsequent conquest of Normandy. The Hamble was one of several locations on the south coast where royal ships were built and fitted out. The most notable vessel associated with the river is the Grace Dieu, an enormous warship built at the Hamble between 1416 and 1418. At approximately 1,400 tons, she was one of the largest ships constructed in medieval England. The Grace Dieu was built using the clinker method, with overlapping planks, and required vast quantities of timber from the Hampshire and Sussex forests. The ship was launched into the Hamble and sailed to Southampton, but she saw limited service. After Henry V's death in 1422, the ship was laid up in the river and was eventually struck by lightning and burned in 1439. The remains of the Grace Dieu lie in the mud of the Hamble near Bursledon, where the timbers can still be seen at very low tides. The construction of royal warships on the Hamble demonstrated the river's importance to the English Crown and cemented its reputation as a centre of maritime craftsmanship.