~ Bronze Ship’s Boat Badge From HMS Vindictive (1918) Aircraft Carrier ~
The badge is pentagonal in shape with a roped border, and depicts a hand coming from a cloud wielding a sword against a blue background.
The border of the piece has five mounting holes, one at each corner.
The reverse is impressed ‘VINDICTIVE’.
This would have originally been fitted to one of the ships launches.
~ HMS Vindictive ~
HMS Vindictive was a Royal Navy warship built between 1916 and 1918. Originally designed as a Hawkins-class heavy cruiser and laid down under the name Cavendish, she served in several different roles and underwent several conversions in a remarkably varied career that lasted until she was scrapped in 1946.
The design of the Hawkins-class cruisers was finalized in late 1915 and four ships were ordered in December of that year. The fifth and last was ordered in April 1916. As all the class were named after famous Elizabethan seafarers, this fifth ship was named Cavendish after the adventurer and circumnavigator Thomas Cavendish. She was laid down at the Belfast yard of Harland & Wolff in July 1916. Following the promising flight trials aboard Furious in 1917, the Admiralty decided that Cavendish should be converted and completed as an experimental aircraft carrier. She was therefore redesigned with a hangar on the forecastle with capacity for six aircraft which could be hoisted through a hatch to the roof, which formed a flying-off deck. This was connected by a catwalk on the port side to a landing-on deck constructed abaft the funnels, while buffer nets prevented overruns that could have collided with the superstructure. Though six aircraft were allowed for, it was found that two fighters and six scout planes could be carried. The original cruiser armament was reduced to four 7.5 in (190 mm) guns. Cavendish was launched on 17 January 1918. In June 1918, she was renamed Vindictive, since it was desired to perpetuate the name of the old Arrogant-class cruiser Vindictive which had distinguished herself in the Zeebrugge Raid of April 1918 and had been sunk as a blockship at Ostend in May.
~ Dimensions ~
The piece has a height of 5.5 inches (14cm), a width of 5.5 inches (14cm) and a depth of 0.6 inches (2cm). It weighs 822g.
~ Condition ~
The paint has some minor wear but remains in otherwise good condition.