Reclassified 1st to 2nd 05/2010

Reclassified 2nd to 3rd 05/2010

Reclassified from 3rd to 4th 05/2010

National-Class

Onslaught-Class

Mercurial, Volitant and Preserver originally Tender (Aircraft), redesignated Tender (Submarine) 041106

Reclassified from 2nd Rate Gunboat to Fleet Auxiliary 05/2010

HRMS Neptun was laid in Reichlau in 1786 at the behest of King Frederick August I during his "Great Naval Expansion" after more than 50 years without having had any first or second rate ships built.  Neptun was one of the last of the Gotz 74's of the 18th century.  The ship served with distinction as Bannership of the Van until 1823 and then Bannership of the Courland Squadron until 1829.  That year the Neptun carried the body of King August William II back to Konigslanden from Rovigo after the Sea King's death. From 1831 to 1840 the ship was laid up and decommissioned in Ganden, necessary repairs having been deferred and King Henry Albert II's focus on the army taking precedence over the navy.  Henry Albert II's death brought Frederick II to the throne, his policy opting towards a fair balance between both branches of the military. 

The Neptun however was only to serve until 1852 in active service before being relegated to a fortress ship in Troy Harbour, a duty it endured for 9 years before being further relegated to a barracks ship in Ganden in 1862.  A cholera outbreak aboard in 1870 resulted in Neptun becoming one of many of the grand old battle wagons made into a depot ship for some of the newer fleet of ironclad and armoured vessels.

In 1889, the Royal Navy proposed a plan to finally scrap all of the remaining wooden warships left in the fleet, almost all serving as barracks, depot ships and harbour batteries.  The plan proceeded and all ships were broken up with exception of Neptun, which was saved at the 11th hour by August William III, who interred the ship at a prominent point near the Lighthouse in Ganden as a monument to the history of the Royal Navy and its contributions to Gotzborg.  This is where the ship remained until recently decided by the Naval Staff to embark upon an ambitious rebuild/refurbishment programme to bring the Neptun back to operational status with the objective of becoming a training ship to cadets and midshipman as part of the Royal Military College, as a diplomatic tool for the Royal Government and an active memorial to the importance of the Royal Navy.