The History
HMS Intrepid was a Royal Navy ship which served from 1967 until 1999.
The LPDs provided support to a Royal Marines amphibious assault force and provided a platform for the Headquarters capability prior to, and during, the assault phase.
Intrepid was undergoing decommissioning in 1982 at the outbreak of the Falklands War. The ship was also one of the warships used for imprisoning the Argentinean prisoners of war.
From 1985 until 1990 she supported the sea training phase of initial officer training, undertaken at Britannia Royal Naval College, as part of the Dartmouth Training Squadron.
Intrepid was placed in reserve status in 1991. She was decommissioned in 1999 and awaited her disposal, by scrapping, in Fareham Creek, Hampshire.
On 12 February 2007, the MoD announced that HMS Intrepid is to be recycled at a British facility. Having received the required planning permission and environmental licences for disposal, Intrepid duly left Portsmouth for her final journey to Liverpool on 13 September 2008.
The Explore
Firstly, great thanks to Userscott for all his hard work prior to the explore working out the logistics. We arrived in Liverpool late on Friday night ready for what would be a dangerous but well worth explore. In the party was myself, our guide Userscott, Ozzy UE legend Dsankt who had flown in from Paris, Vivo, Crossy and Yaz.
Firstly we had to scale a derelict building on the Docks, just to try and suss out any change in access, this was when the scale of what we were about to attempt hit home. This was not going to be easy for the following reasons:
A) There is a LIVE Royal Navy Ship docked right next to it
B) The road outside is patrolled regularly by Harbour and normal Police and we have no excuse to be there
C) Each entrance to the Dock has a Security hut with at least one guard.
D) And finally the Intrepid has four caravans full of the dismantlers “own†on site security on the Dry Dock.
If it sounds like a tall order, you’d be about right! lol
Anyway, we decided to go for it! I will obviously not be posting up the access details.
Once on board you never really know whether you’ve been seen, so we made the most of it in the time that we had.
It’s fair to say that its’ pretty massive and quite difficult to navigate around. First we found some of the Sleeping Quarters and Bunks, featuring some interesting old hand painted Graffiti (e.g. Hagar the Horrible – 80’s tabloid and Skol character)
Next we headed down toward the Engine and Store rooms, which meant opening hatches, squeezing through tight holes and climbing down a lot to stairs and ladders.
The Stores were still to be cleared and all sorts of crap still filled the shelves.
We then headed back up through the ship and found the Officers quarters, kitchens, laundry, and finally the Bridge area.
By this time it was getting well on for morning, so after venturing out onto the Deck, we called it a night and made our escape (which proved to be quite eventful).
Once we were quite sure the coast was clear, we exited the Ship and legged it down the dock side. Crossy made the fatal mistake of looking back, went over a mooring and came close to falling 40 feet in the Dry Dock by the side of him.
Then when we finally thought we were safe, the sound of a siren and the flashing of Blue lights were fast approaching from behind us. Luckily we all managed to get around/under some fencing and hid behind another derelict building. Luckily the Police had stopped a Car and seemed to be unaware of us. 10 minutes later they went, so we got back to the Cars and headed back to Manchester feeling very pleased with our epic explore.
Here are my pics from one hell of a night:
Reccie from a nearby roof – Live navy ship in the foreground, HMS Intrepid sat behind in darkness
Some of the corridors were already lit
The Bunks looked fairly comfy
Proper Washing Machines
The Mast; shame we didn’t have a flag with us
Ring Ring! This is your Captain speaking
Some of the hatches were a tight squeeze
All the Corridors looked the same
The sign means business
More Bunks plus some Navy-based graffing on the lockers
The Stores were not totally empty
Taking the Controls
All doors and hatches not surprisingly seal firmly shut
Looking down at the Bow from the side of the Bridge
HMS Intrepid was a Royal Navy ship which served from 1967 until 1999.
The LPDs provided support to a Royal Marines amphibious assault force and provided a platform for the Headquarters capability prior to, and during, the assault phase.
Intrepid was undergoing decommissioning in 1982 at the outbreak of the Falklands War. The ship was also one of the warships used for imprisoning the Argentinean prisoners of war.
From 1985 until 1990 she supported the sea training phase of initial officer training, undertaken at Britannia Royal Naval College, as part of the Dartmouth Training Squadron.
Intrepid was placed in reserve status in 1991. She was decommissioned in 1999 and awaited her disposal, by scrapping, in Fareham Creek, Hampshire.
On 12 February 2007, the MoD announced that HMS Intrepid is to be recycled at a British facility. Having received the required planning permission and environmental licences for disposal, Intrepid duly left Portsmouth for her final journey to Liverpool on 13 September 2008.
The Explore
Firstly, great thanks to Userscott for all his hard work prior to the explore working out the logistics. We arrived in Liverpool late on Friday night ready for what would be a dangerous but well worth explore. In the party was myself, our guide Userscott, Ozzy UE legend Dsankt who had flown in from Paris, Vivo, Crossy and Yaz.
Firstly we had to scale a derelict building on the Docks, just to try and suss out any change in access, this was when the scale of what we were about to attempt hit home. This was not going to be easy for the following reasons:
A) There is a LIVE Royal Navy Ship docked right next to it
B) The road outside is patrolled regularly by Harbour and normal Police and we have no excuse to be there
C) Each entrance to the Dock has a Security hut with at least one guard.
D) And finally the Intrepid has four caravans full of the dismantlers “own†on site security on the Dry Dock.
If it sounds like a tall order, you’d be about right! lol
Anyway, we decided to go for it! I will obviously not be posting up the access details.
Once on board you never really know whether you’ve been seen, so we made the most of it in the time that we had.
It’s fair to say that its’ pretty massive and quite difficult to navigate around. First we found some of the Sleeping Quarters and Bunks, featuring some interesting old hand painted Graffiti (e.g. Hagar the Horrible – 80’s tabloid and Skol character)
Next we headed down toward the Engine and Store rooms, which meant opening hatches, squeezing through tight holes and climbing down a lot to stairs and ladders.
The Stores were still to be cleared and all sorts of crap still filled the shelves.
We then headed back up through the ship and found the Officers quarters, kitchens, laundry, and finally the Bridge area.
By this time it was getting well on for morning, so after venturing out onto the Deck, we called it a night and made our escape (which proved to be quite eventful).
Once we were quite sure the coast was clear, we exited the Ship and legged it down the dock side. Crossy made the fatal mistake of looking back, went over a mooring and came close to falling 40 feet in the Dry Dock by the side of him.
Then when we finally thought we were safe, the sound of a siren and the flashing of Blue lights were fast approaching from behind us. Luckily we all managed to get around/under some fencing and hid behind another derelict building. Luckily the Police had stopped a Car and seemed to be unaware of us. 10 minutes later they went, so we got back to the Cars and headed back to Manchester feeling very pleased with our epic explore.
Here are my pics from one hell of a night:
Reccie from a nearby roof – Live navy ship in the foreground, HMS Intrepid sat behind in darkness
Some of the corridors were already lit
The Bunks looked fairly comfy
Proper Washing Machines
The Mast; shame we didn’t have a flag with us
Ring Ring! This is your Captain speaking
Some of the hatches were a tight squeeze
All the Corridors looked the same
The sign means business
More Bunks plus some Navy-based graffing on the lockers
The Stores were not totally empty
Taking the Controls
All doors and hatches not surprisingly seal firmly shut
Looking down at the Bow from the side of the Bridge