One of the last remnants of Queen Victoria’s mighty navy is back in her natural element.

Experts have refloated 125-year-old HMS Gannet at Chatham’s Historic Dockyard.

Gannet is thought to be the final sloop remaining of her day, but has spent almost two decades undergoing the slow process of regeneration in the Kent dockyard.

Bosses there plan to open the 1878 warship to the public next year, and one of the final acts of restoration was to flood her dry dock home.

It has taken £3m of lottery money to get Gannet to her current state. The sloop spent her latter years on the River Hamble, on the Solent coastline, as an accommodation vessel for schoolchildren.

The goal of the restoration project is to return her to her appearance of the 1880s, the sole time she saw action.

Gannet was instrumental in defending the port of Suakin, when Sudanese rebels threatened to overrun it in 1888. Her main armament unleashed 200 shells, and her machine-guns loosed 1,200 rounds to prevent Suakin from falling.

The final touches of the overhaul include adding replica guns, ship’s boat and interpretation areas for visitors to learn more about the vessel.

Despite being flooded up again, the dry dock is as far as Gannet will be going; the revamp has not made her seaworthy again.

Nearly 2,000 Kent Cub Scouts visited Chatham Historic Dockyard to present a Red Ensign to commemorate the completion of the restoration of HMS Gannet, and to see the ceremonial unfurling of the ensign from the reborn ship’s masthead.