Royal Navy ship badges and sometimes tompions were made on board ships from the official wooden pattern and served as souvenirs. These crests were often given as gifts to visiting dignitaries or purchased by crew members and sailors as keepsakes of their service. HMS Warspite was a Queen Elizabeth Class Battleship. Built at Devonport Dockyard. HMS Warspite served in both World Wars, earning the most battle honours of any individual Royal Navy ship. For this and other reasons she gained the nickname the Grand Old Lady after a comment made by Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham in 1943, while she was his flagship.

She was present at the Battle of Jutland in WW l, as part of the Grand Fleet. During WW ll she was involved in several major engagements, including battles in the North Sea and Mediterranean. The ship bombarded German positions during the Normandy landings on Walcheren Island in 1944, despite not being fully repaired. She ran aground on her way to be broken up in 1947 and was scrapped in 1950.

We have been the World’s largest dealers in these original Royal Navy artefacts for over twenty years now, the bulk of our stock coming directly from invitation by the Royal Navy and the Royal Navy Museum in Portsmouth Dockyard. In a market full of souvenirs & fakes, we are are proud to present to you these, the ‘Real McCoy,’ in which to confidently invest, and wholeheartedly enjoy. HMS Warspite Unofficial Boat Badge - 1915. Unofficial, as this badge pre dates the Admiralty standardisation of Royal Navy badges in 1919.