WW1 warship facing 'disastrous' move to scrapyard

A World War One anti-submarine ship is due to be scrapped, to the dismay of campaigners.

HMS President, believed to be one of three surviving Royal Navy vessels built during the conflict, will imminently be removed from its current berth in Chatham, Kent and dismantled.

The ship, originally called HMS Saxifrage, has sat unused since being relocated from London in 2016.

Daniel Broom, who is campaigning to save the vessel, said its loss "would be disastrous" as it was the last surviving warship of its kind.

HMS President is moored at ArcelorMittal Kent Wire's site, but the company says it does not own the ship.

The steel company announced in December it would close its Chatham Docks site due to "the severity and scale of the challenges facing the business".

The firm said it "agreed with the owner of the ship to berth HMS President in 2016" but that the owner had "ignored requests" to "take responsibility for their ship".

A spokesperson said the company had "therefore borne the ongoing costs of maintaining the vessel, including the installation and continuous operation of bilge pumps to ensure it remains safely afloat".

ArcelorMittal Kent Wire said it had "has explored a range of options for the vessel", including for it to be berthed elsewhere, but was "unable to identify a viable location or plan for relocation".

The warship will instead be "dismantled in accordance with all relevant safety and environmental regulations, and with the owner's consent".

It is understood this depends on weather and tide conditions but is expected to take place at some point in July.

An ArcelorMittal spokesperson said this was "an outcome we regret" but that "it is with great sadness that we have reached the conclusion that this is the only responsible course of action within our control".

Broom - the chair of the Q-ship Society, which campaigns to protect the vessel - said he felt "really shocked and disappointed" when he learned its likely fate.

He told the BBC that the organisation had been searching for an alternative berth for HMS President.

"We've had so much public interest but the people that can help are not stepping up to assist," he said.

Launched as HMS Saxifrage in 1918, the vessel was a "Q-ship", designed to appear as an ordinary merchant ship to lure in enemy U-boats before unleashing its disguised armaments.

It was renamed in 1921, according to National Historic Ships UK, and became a drill ship on the Thames the following year, a role it carried out until it passed into private ownership in 1987.

HMS President's previous owners operated the vessel as an events venue from its former Thames mooring and had applied for funding for its preservation.

According to ArcelorMittal Kent Wire, a recent survey found the warship was "in very poor condition with extensive deterioration and asbestos", and that restoration would be "highly complex and prohibitively costly".

The BBC has attempted to contact the current owner.

Broom, a postal worker, told the BBC he regularly hears from Medway residents that were trained on the vessel or maintained it at Chatham docks.

He said time was running out to rescue the vessel and it was "a matter of days to go" before it was scrapped.

"Once she's gone, she's gone," he added. "She's not replaceable."

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