SHE was battered by the might of the German navy, shot up by Hitler's airforce and finally crippled by a mine. Yet she was the ship they just couldn't sink.

In fact, the story of the destroyer HMS Worcester reads like a classic seafaring saga that dates from the days when Britannia truly ruled the waves.

And Faithful City resident John Sanders should know - for not only has he devoted many years to researching the ship's history but has also just finished building a scale model of the vessel that once defied everything the enemy could throw at her.

The retired engineer, who is a volunteer guide at Tudor House Museum, Friar Street, said: "It all started when I inherited this model from the late Maurice Jones who had been a helper at Tudor House.

He was the man responsible for many of the paintings and models at the museum.

"Originally, he asked me to make the model but I said no - I felt it was to the wrong scale. But when he died, his widow said to me you've got to build it now - it would be a memorial to Maurice' .

"He'd only completed the bare hull when he died. When I examined it, I realised that he'd got some of the measurements wrong but decided to go ahead and complete the project all the same."

John, aged 74, of St Oswald's Road, off the Tything, Worcester, used every spare moment to build the model, and is proud to have created a lasting tribute to a ship that lived up to all the traditions of the senior service.

There have been seven Royal Navy warships that carried the name Worcester' and it is believed that the first - launched in 1651 on the orders of Cromwell - was in commemoration of his decisive victory of that year.

"The Commonwealth Navy had a number of ships named after Parliamentarian victories. Another Worcester - the third - was involved in the American War of Independence.

"The keel to our ship was laid in 1918, and despite naval spending cuts after the Armistice, the ship went ahead and was completed in 1922.

"She was immediately sent to support the fledgling Irish Free State and then went off to the Indian Ocean to support the Worcestershire Regiment that was stationed in the region.

"When the Second World War broke out, she was involved in the Dunkirk evacuation and made a total of six trips. However, she was badly damaged by Stuka attacks and this caused a great loss of life. But after repairs, the ship took up station at Scapa Flow and became involved in escorting the Russian convoys."

John's always been keen on the sea and ships and, as a young man, had wanted to join the Navy.

However, because of his engineering skills, he ended up in the Army.

"Around the time I was called up, the Korean War was in full swing. When the recruiting sergeant heard that I was an apprentice engineer, they decided to put me in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. After demob I returned to the motor trade."

However, his love of all things nautical - which had started when he joined the Sea Cadets in Worcester at the age of 13 - led him to building model lifeboats and it's an interest he's maintained ever since.

HMS Worcester faced her ultimate ordeal by fire in February, 1942, when a German fleet comprising the battle cruisers Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen left Brest in Brittany and made a dash for the port of Bremerhaven.

Despite being outgunned, the Royal Navy sent a flotilla of ancient destroyers to intercept - an entire squadron of obsolete Fairy Swordfish torpedo bombers had already been destroyed attempting to stop the cruisers.

John takes up the story "This engagement became known as the Channel Dash and turned into an utter shambles. The torpedo attacks failed and Worcester was hit time and again by German gunfire. She sustained many direct hits, one landing amidships. The ship was dead in the water and the Germans decided to leave her alone as they thought she would soon sink.

"But despite all the damage, she managed to steam home on one boiler, thanks to the efforts of the chief engineer. It was about this time that the people of Worcester adopted the ship, raising money during Warship Week, which was held in March, 1942."

Amazingly, Worcester was repaired and returned to escort duties. But two days before Christmas, 1943, a mine exploded under her stern 70 miles east of Great Yarmouth. Incredibly, she remained afloat and managed to reach Harwich.

She was then used as an accommodation ship and ended her days moored on the Thames before being scrapped in 1948, thus ending nearly 300 years of naval history. There is currently no Royal Navy vessel of that name.

John now plans to have his beloved model placed in a glass case and, at some stage, there will be a suitable unveiling at the Tudor House Museum. And when that day comes, the people of Worcester will have a fitting and lasting reminder of the plucky little craft and the courageous crews who lived or died on her battle-scarred decks.

For John's labour of love has ensured that the memory of the ship that wouldn't sink will never fade.