IN this week’s Looking Back we remember what might have been a wonderful tourist attraction for the Wirral had it not ended up on the scrap heap.

Based in Birkenhead, the Warship Preservation Trust once hosted Europe’s largest collection of preserved warships captured here by Wirral photographer Bernard Rose between 2003-09.

At its peak in the early 00s the fleet consisted of the frigate HMS Plymouth and the submarine HMS Onyx, both which saw action in the Falklands War; the minehunter HMS Bronington; the German submarine U-534; and LCT 7074, the last surviving tank landing craft that took part in D-Day.

The East Float dock was transformed into the historic warship exhibition under a partnership with Wirral Council and proved to be a popular destination until it closed in February 2006 after the decision to redevelop the adjacent Grade II listed former flour milling warehouses.

Without a replacement berthing agreement, the Trust subsequently went into voluntary liquidation prompting a sorry end for a number of their vessels.

HMS Plymouth, on which Argentina forces acknowledged defeat in the Falkland War, languished at the docks until efforts to save it were shelved in 2014 and it was towed to Turkey where the ship was scrapped.

A similar fate befell HMS Onyx which was sold to the Barrow-in-Furness businessman Joe Mullen, for a reported £100,000 as a ‘gift to the people of Barrow’ in 2006. The submarine was to form the centrepiece of the town’s Submarine Heritage Centre, but in 2014 she was towed to Scotland and scrapped.

As for HMS Bronington, hopes remain that she could be raised her from the murky depths of the docks where she currently lies half-sunk with a campaign having the backing of Prince Charles, who once served on the ship.

The future also looks brighter for U-534 which is now being conserved and upgraded as part of the Western Approaches visitor attraction while LCT 7074 is currently being restored in Portsmouth.