[1] It was the fifth in a series of International Festivals of the Sea held in the United Kingdom since 1996, and was also the final part to the long week of festivities that began with the International Fleet Review 2005 off Spithead, Portsmouth on 28 June 2005.
The event allowed people to walk around the Naval Base, to go on board all of the visiting vessels, including several vessels belonging to the Royal Navy and also for visitors to walk through the large sheds of the VT Shipbuilding group on site and see the parts of the Type 45 destroyers, HMS Dauntless and HMS Daring being constructed there.
The first International Festival of the Sea took place in Bristol in 1996 with the Royal Navy as primary participants.
This was followed by the 2005 International Festival of the Sea as part of the Trafalgar 200 and Sea Britain 2005 festivities to mark the 200th Anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar The main sponsors of the event were the Thales Group and Rolls-Royce, each of which sponsored a specific day out of the four.
In addition to this, The History Channel sponsored a special Sea History area and Volvo provided vehicles as the official car sponsor for the event.