Antique Vesta / Match Holder Made From Teak From The HMS Champion.

Measures approx 6cm high

HMS CHAMPION

Eight light cruisers were ordered for the Royal Navy in the 1913 budget. The six ships of the Caroline class used conventional direct-drive turbine engines but two, Champion and Calliope, had experimental engine designs using geared reduction to match optimum working speeds of turbines and propellers.

Built by Hawthron Leslie and Company at Tynside, England, Champion was laid down on 9 March 1914, launched on 29 May 1915, and completed in December 1915.

Champion was commissioned into service in the Royal Navy on 20 December 1915. She was assigned to the Grand Fleet upon completion, serving as the leader of the 13th Destroyer Flotilla through World War I and until early 1919. She fought in the Battle of Jutland on 31 May-1 June 1916, during which she also was the flagship of Commodore (D), the senior commander of the fleet's destroyers.

Champion briefly served in the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron during 1919. She then was attached to the Royal Navy Torpedo School, HMS Vernon, from 1919 to 1924, undergoing a refit in 1923. She was decommissioned and placed under dockyard control at Portsmouth in October 1924.

In May 1925, Champion was re-commissioned to serve as Gunnery Firing Ship. She was attached to the Signal School in 1928, and was used as a test bed for the Royal Navy's first remote power control (RPC) gunnery systems that year.

She was decommissioned in December 1933 and placed under dockyard control.

Champion was sold on 28 July 1934 to Metal Industries of Rosyth, Scotland, for scrapping.

The Vesta holder is in good, original condition.

A great piece of British Naval Shipping memorabilia!