[46], Following Jutland, Barham was under repair until 5 July 1916. "We were standing by a ladder two decks below on the mess deck when there was a huge explosion," he said. [54] On 14 October 1925, Captain Francis Marten relieved Hill, but he retained command only until 9 March 1926 when Captain Joseph Henley assumed command. The HMS Barham was torpedoed by U-331, a German c-class submarine captained by Freiherr Von Tiesenhausen, and sunk in. During her abbreviated sea trials on 6 July 1916, Barham only reached a mean top speed of 23.91 knots (44.28km/h; 27.52mph). [62] On 12 December, she accidentally rammed one of her escorts, the destroyer Duchess, in thick fog nine miles (14km) west of the Mull of Kintyre. The fleet sailed in concert with Rear Admiral Franz von Hipper's five battlecruisers and supporting cruisers and torpedo boats. https://www.britishpathe.com/ Nov 24, 2021. [1][2], Barham had a length overall of 643feet 9inches (196.2m), a beam of 90feet 7inches (27.6m) and a deep draught of 33 feet (10.1m). By this time the 5th Battle Squadron was about seven point five nautical miles (13.9km; 8.6mi) northwest of Beatty. Senior figures in the German navy were convicted at Nuremberg for war crimes in relation to the Athenia affair. The translated detailed report of the attack by U-331 can be found at this link. She was present when the High Seas Fleet surrendered for internment on 21 November. [70], Force M departed Freetown for Dakar on 21 September and had arrived Dakar before dawn two days later. These two hits were ultimately responsible for the massive flooding that nearly sank the ship after the battle. The last shell passed all the way through the ship without detonating; it struck and dislodged a 100-millimetre (3.9in) armour plate on the waterline on the other side of the ship that caused also some flooding. They were designed to reduce the effect of torpedo detonations and improve stability[11] at the cost of widening the ship's beam by almost 14 feet (4.3m) to 104 feet (31.7m),[12] and reduced her draught to 32feet 6inches (9.9m). Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. "It was the strangest thing. This meant that the 5th Battle Squadron and the light cruisers were the sole targets available for the German ships until after his turn, although the worsening visibility hampered both sides' shooting. Lemp fired four torpedoes at the two capital ships,[64] and one struck Barham on her port side, adjacent to the shell rooms for 'A' and 'B' turrets. During the 1920s and 1930s, the ship was assigned to the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Home Fleets. copyrights: Unknown. Reblogged this on battleoftheatlantic19391945 and commented: The anti-torpedo bulge was essentially destroyed adjacent to the strike, with four men killed and two wounded. While under repair in December1939 March1940, a 20-barrel Unrotated projectile (UP) rocket launcher was installed on the roof of 'B' turret and her HACS Mk I directors were replaced with Mk III models. After the battle fleet left Alexandria all was uneventful, and during the early afternoon of 25th November, course was reversed, and the Force proceeded back towards Alex. HMS Barham was a 35,000-ton battleship built for World War I but had had an extensive refit in the 1930s. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. [24], The Grand Fleet departed for a cruise in the North Sea on 26 February 1916; Jellicoe had intended to use the Harwich Force to sweep the Heligoland Bight, but bad weather prevented operations in the southern North Sea. She was powered by two sets of Brown-Curtis steam turbines, each driving two shafts using steam from 24 Yarrow boilers. In addition, the rear of the six-inch gun casemates was enclosed by a 1.5-inch (38mm) bulkhead. No. Completed in 1915, she was often used as a flagship and participated in the Battle of Jutland during the First World War as part of the Grand Fleet. "I was disorientated but reached out and felt the ship. The hits on Seydlitz mostly opened up more holes that facilitated the flooding. [35], At 16:30, the light cruiser Southampton, scouting in front of Beatty's ships, spotted the lead elements of the High Seas Fleet coming north at top speed. And now within range of the battleships of the 3rd Squadron which opened fire on the 5th Battle Squadron as they made their turn. Her crew numbered 1,016 officers and ratings in 1916. Spiritualism: A Critical Survey. The following day, 1 October, Rear-Admiral Hugh Evan-Thomas, commander of the 5th Battle Squadron, hoisted his flag aboard his new flagship. Pridham-Wippell), and Squadron Signal Officer of the 1st Battle Squadron. [88] Repairs were completed six weeks later on 30 July and the ship returned to Alexandria in August where she resumed her role as flagship of the 1st Battle Squadron. The Queen Elizabeth-class ships were designed to form a fast squadron for the fleet that was intended to operate against the leading ships of the opposing battleline. Pictures - Barham HMS (04) [+1941] - WRECK WRAK EPAVE WRACK PECIO EN home; wrecks. [54] Now under the command of Captain Hubert Monroe[53] and accompanied by the battleship Ramillies, she cruised along the coast of West Africa from December 1927 to February 1928. Hamilton. The impacts drove in the plates and fragments caused much flooding by damaging the surrounding structure. [22], Barham joined the Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow the next day and participated in a fleet training operation west of Orkney during 25 November. Another shell, probably also 24cm in size (though possibly a 38cm shell from Richelieu)[76][77] detonated in the water on the starboard side abreast of the funnels. By the time the Grand Fleet approached the area on 26 March, the British and German forces had already disengaged and a strong gale threatened the light craft, so the fleet was ordered to return to base. He eventually lost his life in a confrontation in 1941 when his U-110 boat was forced to the surface after being damaged by depth charges. She became a private ship in January of that year and was refitted at Portsmouth Royal Dockyard in FebruaryJuly. [96] The sinking was captured on film by a cameraman from Path News, aboard Valiant. Tiesenhausen ordered all four bow torpedo tubes fired at a range of 375 metres (410yd) at 16:25. "We looked at each other and said, 'right, let's get up top!'. This was replaced by a torpedo rangefinder in early 1928 when the permanent position was installed in the remodelled spotting top. Germany initially denied involvement fearing the US would join the war. Barham quickly capsized to port and was lying on her side when a massive magazine explosion occurred about four minutes after she was torpedoed and sank her. [54] Reinforced by the battleship Resolution and the aircraft carrier Ark Royal from Force H, Barham departed Gibraltar for Freetown, Sierra Leone, four days later. [65] Most of the adjacent compartments flooded and the ship took on a 7 degree list that was countered by transferring fuel oil to starboard. Throughout the next day, Jellicoe and Vice-Admiral Reinhard Scheer, commander of the High Seas Fleet, received conflicting intelligence; after reaching the location in the North Sea where they expected to encounter the High Seas Fleet, the British turned north in the erroneous belief that they had entered a minefield. Searching the seafloor for sunken ships in this way is usually a wasted pursuit because of the dearth of high-resolution sonar data. [94], It was not until the Admiralty admitted that Barham had been sunk and described the circumstances that Tiesenhausen knew that he had sunk her. Experience the HMS Barham explosion after being struck by torpedo in 4K resolution at 50 fps and in color! The shell devastated a messdeck and dented the armoured deck by a depth of 8 centimetres (3.1in), but caused no casualties. The wrecks sites upside down on the sea floor. "There was my friend Ted Clow, from Oadby, but he died last December, aged 93.". We've also got a detailed model of the Athenia. Twelve of the fourteen BL 6-inch (152mm) Mk XII guns were mounted in casemates along the broadside of the vessel amidships; the remaining pair were mounted on the forecastle deck near the aft funnel and were protected by gun shields. First published on Mon 12 Sep 2016 11.41 EDT. To control these guns a temporary High-Angle Control Position was mounted above the torpedo-control tower aft. HMS Barham was one of five Queen Elizabeth-class battleships built for the Royal Navy during the early 1910s. Jones refers to the 861 men listed in the casualty list published by, Burt 2012a, p. 85; Raven & Roberts, pp. The Board of Enquiry into the sinking ascribed the final explosion to a fire in the 4-inch magazines outboard of the main 15-inch magazines, which would have then spread to and detonated the contents of the main magazines. Duchess capsized and sank, with the loss of 124 of her crew. "It was a shocking event," said Riverside curator Emily Malcolm. One fragment ricocheted off the upper deck and through the side plating on the opposite side of the ship. (Mute & Track Negs.) [57] Now under the command of Captain Richard Scott,[53] Barham was assigned to the Home Fleet as the flagship of the 2nd Battle Squadron,[54] and deployed to the West Indies in JanuaryFebruary 1935 for training. This is another problematic issue in which sources differ to which Gordon devotes an entire chapter. The Donaldson Atlantic Line SS Athenia was built in Glasgow and the city's Riverside Museum of transport has an exhibition dedicated to the vessel and the stories surrounding its sinking. Shortly after 4.00 pm I was on the Admirals Bridge. Thanks to the advancements in artificial intellige. He went on to serve as a gun range finder aboard HMS Nelson, involved in bombarding German defences in Normandy on D-Day. [15], The Queen Elizabeth class was ordered as part of the 1912 Naval Programme and the contract for Barham was awarded to John Brown & Company. David Mearns: "My research rules out all other shipwrecks in this area". [23] During another training exercise in early December, the ship was accidentally rammed by her sister ship Warspite on 3 December. [78] The severe damage to Resolution caused Operation Menace to be abandoned and Barham had to tow her to Freetown for temporary repairs, before escorting a convoy to Gibraltar where she arrived on 15 October where her own damage was repaired. Goebbels has a reputation as a skilful propagandist but on this occasion he was ineffective, at least as far as international opinion was concerned. Her complete service history can be found. IWM FL1472. [53] Together with her sister Malaya, Barham was sent to Alexandria, Egypt, in May 1927 during a time of unrest. [80], Barham, two cruisers, and three destroyers also assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet were designated Force F as part of Operation Coat, one of a complex series of fleet movements in the Mediterranean. The Italian ships and the British arrived almost simultaneously at Pola's location, but the Italians had almost no clue that the British were nearby. [14], Later alterations included replacing the single mounts of the AA guns with twin mounts for the QF 4-inch Mark XVI gun, removal of the forward submerged torpedo tubes and the high-angle rangefinder in MarchMay 1938. The ship was in the Mediterranean when the Second World War began in September 1939, on her voyage home three months later, she accidentally collided with and sank one of her escorting destroyers, HMSDuchess. "I shot to the surface," he said. The German objective was to bombard Sunderland on 19 August, based on extensive reconnaissance conducted by Zeppelins and submarines. The ship had been hit amidships by torpedoes on the port side. The Royal Navy's Room 40 had intercepted and decrypted German radio traffic containing plans of the operation. The main armament could be controlled by 'B' turret as well. [100] The crew are commemorated by a memorial bench, located in Nothe Gardens, Weymouth. She later became the flagship of Force M's commander, Vice-Admiral John Cunningham. One of these hits also started several major fires inside the hull. [33] About three minutes later, the ship opened fire on the battlecruiser SMSvon der Tann at a range of about 23,000 yards (21,000m). 11/25/2022, @ 13:16-Still stands thine ancient sacrifice, a humble and a contrite heart; Lord God of Hosts be with us yet, LEST WE FORGET, LEST WE FORGET!! Mediterranean. On 26 March, the Italian fleet sortied in an attempt to intercept British convoys to Greece. In addition, she was joined by the battleships HMS Queen . [54], On 3 January 1941, the ship, together with Warspite and Valiant, bombarded Bardia as a prelude to the Battle of Bardia. It is just over 49 years since H.M.S. Forthcoming Infantrymen of the Air (Italian airborne), George Burling Jarett and the 75mm ammunition challenge. U-331 thus passed through the screen and was in a position to fire her torpedoes after the leading ship, Queen Elizabeth, had passed her by and the second ship, Barham, was closing rapidly. She helped to sink an Italian heavy cruiser and a destroyer during the Battle of Cape Matapan in March 1941 and was damaged by German aircraft two months later during the evacuation of Crete. Naval Historical Review, Biographies and personal histories, WWII operations Ship sinking, Survivor, HMS Barham, Australian Naval History Podcasts [21] She was completed for trials on 19 August 1915 which took until the end of September to finish under the command of Captain Arthur Craig Waller. [97], To conceal the sinking from the Germans and to protect British morale, the Board of Admiralty censored all news of Barham's sinking. Clinging to a piece of wreckage, Richard was picked up by an Australian destroyer, along with other survivors. A German submarine torpedoed the ship hours after Britain declared war on Hitler in 1939 - more than 100 people, including many Americans, were killed. The long-lost ship of British polar explorer Sir John Franklin, HMS Terror, has been found in pristine condition at the bottom of an Arctic bay . This is the only British battleship sunk by the U-boat during this war. They hit Ltzow, Derfflinger and Seydlitz three times each between 17:19 and about 18:05. This required maximum offensive power and a speed several knots faster than any other battleship to allow them to defeat any type of ship. The attack on an unarmed passenger liner was a clear breach of international protocols. [Note 5], Evan-Thomas continued his turn until his ships were steering due north, which interposed the 5th Battle Squadron between Hipper's battlecruisers,[38] which had reversed course around 16:48 to follow Beatty north,[39] and Beatty's ships. [47] On the evening of 18 August, the Grand Fleet put to sea in response to a message deciphered by Room 40 that indicated that the High Seas Fleet, minus II Squadron, would be leaving harbour that night. Everything fits," said Mr Mearns, who sets out the case in his book The Shipwreck Hunter. [18][19][Note 2] Barham cost a total of 2,470,113. BARHAM was an old timer of the QUEEN ELIZABETH class, and a veteran of the Battle of Jutland. ! Poem by Rudyard Kipling. "It always takes me back to that day in November 1941," he said. Barham was herself was struck twice during the "Run to the South": the first was a 28.3-centimetre (11in) shell from von der Tann that failed to do any damage when it hit the waterline armour and the battlecruiser SMSLtzow fired a 30.5-centimetre (12in) shell that detonated in the aft superstructure. Of 2,470,113 opposite side of the battleships of the 3rd Squadron which fire... 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