HMS Conway (school ship)

HMS Conway was a naval training school or "school ship", founded in 1859 and housed for most of its life aboard a 19th-century wooden battleship. The ship was originally stationed on the Mersey near Liverpool, then moved to the Menai Strait during World War II. While being towed back to Birkenhead for a refit in 1953, she ran aground and was wrecked, and later burned down. The school moved to purpose-built premises on Anglesey where it continued for another twenty years.

Famous alumni

Cadets over the years included:

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• Captain Matthew Webb (at Conway 1860–1862), the first man to swim the English Channel from England to France
• John Masefield (1891–94), Poet Laureate 1930–1967
• Lionel "Buster" Crabb (1922–1924), the Royal Navy frogman who disappeared in mysterious circumstances while on a diving mission near a Soviet warship in 1956
• Iain Duncan Smith (1968–1972), leader of the Conservative Party 2001–2003
• Sir Clive Woodward (1969–1974), rugby union player and England coach