00:00Built in 1917 in Renfrew, Scotland, HMS Sacriffage is one of the last surviving flower-caste sloops.
00:07Launched a year later, she played a vital role in safeguarding Britain's supply lines at sea.
00:12But today, her future is uncertain.
00:15Coup Ship Society is now fundraising and calling on Medway Council to support plans for a new home at Collier
00:20Wharf in Gillingham.
00:21Behind me is HMS Sacriffage, a rare First World War vessel that campaigners say will soon be lost without urgent
00:28action.
00:29HMS Sacriffage is the last of the class, one of only three First World War ships that have been built
00:37for the Royal Navy left in the world.
00:39The Coup Ship Society's plans for the vessel is to slowly restore her as close as possible to her original
00:46configuration.
00:47Currently moored in Chatham Dockyard, I came to take a closer look at HMS Sacriffage.
00:52However, I found it was completely inaccessible to the public, sitting behind a restricted industrial site and that could only
01:00be seen from afar.
01:01Now the Coup Ship Society is working to change that, with plans to move the historic Royal Navy vessel to
01:07a more permanent and publicly accessible home.
01:10There's a grim sort of outlook for Chatham Docks.
01:14We recognise the struggles that the Council have, as all Councils do at the moment.
01:20The Society currently relies on volunteers and has been working with local businesses, but says the cost of restoration still
01:26remains a major hurdle.
01:28There is a cost attached to obviously bring the ship to a standard where it can be moved.
01:33However, the Council has offered the solution that they could potentially transform the vessel into a museum.
01:38With an area such as Medway that has such significant naval history, we would hope that this would be considered
01:47so that we can hopefully open it up to the public.
01:50With only a handful of First World warships still in existence, supporters say saving HMS Sacriffage is not just about
01:57restoration,
01:58but instead about protecting a unique piece of Britain's naval history.
02:03Isabel Rodney at KMTV News, Chatham.
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