With no visible evidence of it being once mounted we consider this as an unissued, yet official, dockyard/ships spare. We assume the latter as it was bought by collector Mr Ferrers-Walker from the ship-breakers and then later put on display at the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth Dockyard. HMS Galatea (71) was an Arethusa-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy, launched on 9 August 1934 and commissioned on 14 August 1935. Built by Scotts Shipbuilding in Greenock, Scotland, she initially served as flagship of the destroyer flotilla in the Mediterranean Fleet, participating in non-intervention patrols during the Spanish Civil War.

At the outbreak of World War II, HMS Galatea was recalled to home waters, engaging in operations to intercept German merchant ships attempting to break blockades. In April 1940, she took part in the Norwegian Campaign, transporting part of Norway’s gold reserves to Britain. Later that year, she struck a mine off Sheerness, necessitating repairs until January 1941. In mid-1941, HMS Galatea joined the Mediterranean Fleet, operating from Malta with Force K to disrupt Axis supply convoys to North Africa. On 14 December 1941, she was torpedoed by German submarine U-557 off Alexandria, Egypt, sinking within minutes. Approximately 470 crew members, including her captain, perished; around 100 survivors were rescued. U-557 was accidentally rammed and sunk by the Italian torpedo boat Orione less than two days later.

In a market full of souvenirs & fakes, we are proud to present to you these, the ‘Real McCoy,’ in which to confidently invest, and wholeheartedly enjoy. We have the largest stocks of original Royal Navy ships badges and tompions , if you can not find the ship you are after please email us.

Note : This tompion came from the famous Ferrers Walker collection. Mr Ferrers Walker spent a lifetime collecting the largest and most significant WW1 and WW2 Naval history artefacts. He gave his collection to Portsmouth Naval Museum to exhibit.