HMS President to Be Scrapped?

hms president first world war q ship historic vessel at risk

HMS President (1918) has arrived at the breakers at Erith as campaigners launch a last-ditch effort to save one of the Royal Navy’s few surviving First World War vessels.

Published 19 July 2026

News this week revealed that HMS President was being forced to vacate her berth at Chatham Docks due to pressure from developers looking to build on the site. She has now been towed to Erith to be broken up.

HMS President was originally built in 1918 as the Q-ship HMS Saxifrage. In 1922, she arrived in London to serve as a Royal Naval Reserve drill ship. After being retired from service, she changed hands in 1988, 2001, and 2006, operating as a private hire and functions venue. In 2014, during the First World War centenary commemorations, she was famously chosen as one of four ships to be covered in striking "dazzle" camouflage.

In 2016, she had to vacate her long-term London berth to make way for the Thames Tideway Tunnel construction and was towed to Chatham Docks until a new home could be found. During this period, her owners applied for a £330,000 National Lottery grant for vital dry-docking and restoration work, but the bid was sadly unsuccessful.

Now, after ten years of legal and physical limbo, campaigners and the Q Ship Society are launching a last-ditch effort to save the vessel from the scrapyard. As one of only three surviving Royal Navy vessels from the First World War, the stakes in preserving this historic vessel are high.

GPS Iberia and GPS Arcadia are pictured with HMS President (1918) in tow, arriving at the breakers at Erith.

Video credit: Fraser Gray
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