Royal Navy State Funeral Gun Carriage

[1][2][3] A smaller version, known as the Portsmouth Gun Carriage, has been used at the ceremonial funerals of several senior naval officers in the 20th century.

[5] The carriage was made by Vickers, Sons and Maxim in 1896 and entered storage at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, being recorded as No.

According to a naval observer, Lieutenant Percy Noble, the RHA's horses had not been exercised while awaiting the Royal Train's arrival and were unhappy when the coffin was placed on the carriage.

Noble stated that Prince Louis of Battenberg asked the Royal Navy party commander, Lieutenant Algernon Boyle, for his sailors to pull the carriage.

The carriage is held at 24-hours readiness for service in a facility kept at a constant temperature of 16–20 °C (61–68 °F) and between 40 and 70% humidity to hinder fungal growth.

After the service at the abbey the carriage was used again, attended by 137 naval ratings (one having fallen ill),[citation needed] to carry the coffin to Constitution Hill where it was transferred to the state hearse for its journey from Wellington Arch to St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle for interment.

[10] This occasion marked the first time in history that women of the Royal Navy were part of the gun carriage crew.

A plaque on the carriage records that it originally came from HMS Pembroke in Chatham, Kent, and was first used for the funeral of Sir Charles Madden at Westminster Abbey on 7 June 1935.