Description HMS Vanguard. South Atlantic, 1982 Motto: We lead. A speculative (fictional) plan drawing of HMS Vanguard, the Royal Navys biggest, fastest and last battleship, had she survived in service into the 1980s. Laid down in 1941, launched in 1944 but not commissioned until 1946, HMS Vanguard was built quickly under wartime conditions by John Brown and Company, on Clydebank. The ship was intended for wartime service, and to speed up construction the Vanguards main guns and…