The UK Heritage Lottery Fund has awarded £11.5 million to the National Museum of the Royal Navy and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to conserve and restore HMS Caroline, the only survivor of the 1916 Battle of Jutland.
The grant aims to renovate HMS Caroline, currently located in Belfast, Northern Ireland, into a visitor attraction before the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Jutland on May 31st 2016.
The exhibition intends to highlight the use and experience of the ship during the First World War in intelligence gathering, and later as a command centre and training centre in Second World War. The ship will display original compasses and telegraphs, the engine rooms with four Parsons turbines, and various living quarters, preserved as they were 100 years ago.
Crew aboard HMS Caroline
Minister for the First World War Centenary, Helen Grant said: “This is wonderful news. HMS Caroline has had a long and distinguished career, starting of course in the First World War. It is beyond doubt an important part of our island history, and it’s great that the Heritage Lottery Fund have been able to support its restoration in this Centenary year so that it can continue serving, in a different role, for many years to come.”
Carole Souter, Chief Executive of HLF, said: “As we mark the Centenary of the First World War, people across the UK are learning more about how it changed millions of lives. This Lottery grant will restore and open up HMS Caroline, and enable future generations to explore the incredibly important, yet often lesser known, role played by those who served in the Royal Navy during this momentous conflict.”
Sources: Heritage Lottery Fund
Images: Heritage Lottery Fund
Posted by: Ellen Tranter, Centenary News