2348 - Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom

Habitation in and around Portsmouth can be traced back to Roman Britain. In 1194, King Richard granted market town status to Portsmouth.  Portsmouth has a great naval history. The oldest dry dock in the world, the No. 1 Dock, was ordered built by King Henry VII in 1495. 

In the early 1800s, the world's first mass production line was developed in the Portsmouth Dockyard's Block Mills. Portsmouth is considered to be the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution.

In the mid 1800s, Portsmouth became the world's most fortified town as France threatened to invade this important naval base. At the height of the British Empire, Pax Brittanica, Portsmouth was consider the world's greatest naval port. 

During the Second World War, Portsmouth was heavily bombed by the German Airforce and resulted in 930 deaths. Later, in 1944, Portsmouth became the embarkation point for the allied DDay invasion of France. 

In 1982, at the start of the Falklands War, the Portsmouth naval base dispatched most of the ships in the task force sent to defend the Falklands.

Today Her Majesty's Naval Base (HMNB) Portsmouth is considered the home of the Royal Navy and is the base to two-thirds of the surface fleet. HMNB Portsmouth also has three important ships:

• the Mary Rose, a carrack-type warship. It served for 33 years in several wars against France, Scotland, and Brittany.
• the HMS Victory, Horatio Nelson's flagship, and it remains the world's oldest naval ship still in commission.
• the HMS Warrior, a Victoria Era ironclad.

Portsmouth is also the birthplace of Charles Dickens, considered to be the greatest author of the Victorian Era. Isambard Kingdom Brunel was a civil engineer and is considered one of the ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history and one of the greatest figures of the Industrial Revolution. Leonard James Callaghan, prime minister from 1976-1979, was also born in Portsmouth. He has the unique distinction of being the only person to serve in all four of the Great Offices of State. He was the Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1964-67; Home Secretary from 1967-70, the Foreign Secretary from 1974-76, and of course as the prime minister. 

Emma sent me a card with a modern looking tourist card from the Gunwharf Quays. The Gunwharf Quays is a shopping area. The Gunwharf Quays used to be the  HM Gunwharf, a naval facility that stored and repaired cannons, ammunition, and other weapons. It was closed it 1995.