[29][Note 4], Hipper's battlecruisers spotted the Battlecruiser Fleet to their west at 15:20, but Beatty's ships did not see the Germans to their east until 15:30. [45], Barham fired 337 fifteen-inch shells and 25 six-inch shells during the battle. Shipwreck-hunter David Mearns says sonar data shows the transatlantic passenger liner Athenia to be lying 200m down on Rockall Bank, off Ireland. "By the time we got on deck, the ship was listing at a 45 degree angle. The fleet returned to Scapa Flow on 24 April and refuelled before proceeding south in response to intelligence reports that the Germans were about to launch a raid on Lowestoft. By this time the 5th Battle Squadron was about seven point five nautical miles (13.9km; 8.6mi) northwest of Beatty. [54], On the afternoon of 24 November 1941, the 1st Battle Squadron, Barham, Queen Elizabeth, and Valiant, with an escort of eight destroyers, departed Alexandria to cover the 7th and 15th Cruiser Squadrons as they hunted for Italian convoys in the Central Mediterranean. U-boat commander Fritz Julius Lemp had mistaken the liner for an armed cruiser and the German naval authorities tried to cover up the sub's actions. At the going down of the SUN, AND in the MORNING; WE WILL REMEMBER THEM, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM!! After the Battle of Jutland, 1 inch (25mm) of high-tensile steel was added to the main deck over the magazines and additional anti-flash equipment was added in the magazines. In addition, a pair of quadruple mounts for Vickers 0.5in (12.7mm) AA machine guns were added abreast the conning tower. This is the only British battleship sunk by the U-boat during this war. The third shell detonated on the face of the starboard wing turret, although some fragments entered the turret and caused minor damage. During a port visit to Corfu in July, the ship was visited by King George II of Greece. [86], In mid-April she escorted the fast transport MVBreconshire, together with Warspite and Valiant, from Alexandria to Malta before the battleships bombarded Tripoli on the evening of 20 April. [18][19][Note 2] Barham cost a total of 2,470,113. Shortly before the turn, one of his escorting light cruisers, Galatea spotted smoke on the horizon and continued on her course to investigate. [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. This podcast series examines Australias Naval history, featuring a variety of naval history experts from the Naval Studies Group and elsewhere. Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. A few months later, now under the command of Captain Richard Hill,[53] the ship again retained her position as the 1st Battle Squadron was split in two and the Queen Elizabeths of the new 1st Battle Squadron were transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet on 1 November 1924. This meant that they were some 4,000 yards (3,700m) closer to the rapidly advancing High Sea Fleet. These new approaches would help achieve an international goal set last year to have 100% of the topography of the world's ocean bed mapped by 2030. Nov 24, 2021. Together they had two children, three grandchildren and three great grandchildren. A fortnight later, she was attacked by the U-30 which put her out of commission for six months with a single torpedo hit. During this time BARHAM was bombed and severely damaged by the Luftwaffe and had to go to Capetown for extensive repairs. [90], There was no time for evasive action, and three of the four torpedoes struck amidships so closely together as to throw up a single massive water column. 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. Produced by the Naval Studies Group in conjunction with the Submarine Institute of Australia, the Australian Naval Institute, Naval Historical Society and the RAN Seapower Centre. Aquarian Press, pp. Rawlings took over temporarily from P-W who became Vice Admiral Light Forces. [53] Together with her sister Malaya, Barham was sent to Alexandria, Egypt, in May 1927 during a time of unrest. When VE Day arrived, he was escorting an Arctic convoy north of Norway. [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. "I shot to the surface," he said. I was trying to push myself away when I got blown away by this massive explosion as the magazine went up. During this refit, the aft superstructure was rebuilt and the torpedo-control tower and its rangefinder were removed, together with the aft set of torpedo tubes. The report that it had been found was made in 2017 This find is one that has been anticipated heavily for many years and we are ecstatic to have found it here at Merlin Burrows. Our C. in C. (Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham) ordered the 7th and 15th Cruiser Squadrons to sea to attempt to intercept and destroy these convoys. Craske), the Admiral and S.W.O. !, YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN, Casualties of MEN/HEROES-SERVING IN H.M.S. The only contact came in the evening when Tyrwhitt sighted the High Seas Fleet but was unable to achieve an advantageous attack position before dark, and broke off contact. The translated detailed report of the attack by U-331 can be found at this link. Three minutes later, she sighted the topmasts of Vice-Admiral Reinhard Scheer's battleships, but did not report this for another five minutes. Something went wrong, please try again later. It was a perfect day and the sea was smooth, After Hands had been piped to tea, the usual promenaders (ERAs and Stoker POs off watch) emerged from below-decks for their customary first Dog Watch strolls up and down the Focsle. This was initially a Fairey IIIF until it was replaced by a Fairey Swordfish in 1938. U.331 was under the command of Freiherr Diedrich von Tiesenhausen who was a lieutenant of 26 years of age. [96] The sinking was captured on film by a cameraman from Path News, aboard Valiant. [44], Hipper turned his ships southward around 18:05 to fall back upon Scheer's advancing battleships and then reversed course five minutes later. "The Germans were at the gates of Alexandria at that time and we were accompanying destroyers trying to stop their supplies," said Richard, who lives off Groby Road. [8] Two years later, her anti-aircraft defences were upgraded when the original three-inch AA guns were replaced with a pair of QF four-inch (102mm) Mk V AA guns between November 1924 and January 1925 and another pair of four-inch AA guns were added from October to November later that year. The relatively shallow water on Rockall Bank, an area of raised seabed a few hundred km from the Irish coastline, means it should be reasonably straightforward to send down a remotely operated vehicle to investigate the sonar contact. This required maximum offensive power and a speed several knots faster than any other battleship to allow them to defeat any type of ship. Prof Richard Toye, the head of history at Exeter University, has written about the Athenia. Of the 1,184 officers and men on board, 841 were killed. The battleships were providing distant cover to the light cruisers of Force B[1], engaged in searching for the German merchantsMaritzaandProcida (see also this link and this link). The shell devastated a messdeck and dented the armoured deck by a depth of 8 centimetres (3.1in), but caused no casualties. Within four minutes, the battleship had listed over to Port and the. "It was a shocking event," said Riverside curator Emily Malcolm. The main conning tower was protected by 13 inches (330mm) of armour. "Fearing the impact of the affair on American opinion, the Germans promoted an absurd conspiracy theory, claiming that Winston Churchill, as First Lord of the Admiralty, had been responsible. In contrast, the hit on Ltzow flooded a 15-centimetre (5.9in) magazine and the hits on Seydlitz blew a 10-by-13-foot (3.0 by 4.0m) hole in the side of her bow. HMS Barham was a 35,000-ton battleship built for World War I but had had an extensive refit in the 1930s. Mediterranean. 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. "It was by an air vent from the engine room that was hit and all this smoke came pouring up. BARHAM was torpedoed by U.331 and lost off the Western Desert of Egypt off Sollum and Sidi Barrani. His expertise means he has been appointed as a judge on the Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE, a $7m incentive to get engineering groups to develop innovative seafloor mapping technologies and strategies. In addition, the rear of the six-inch gun casemates was enclosed by a 1.5-inch (38mm) bulkhead. [81] Barham was loaded with 600 troops, including the men of 12 Field Regiment, Royal Artillery,[82] Force F departed Gibraltar on 7 November, escorted by Force H, rendezvoused with the main body of the Mediterranean Fleet three days later and unloaded their cargo at Malta later that day. She participated in the Battle of Dakar in mid-1940, where she damaged a Vichy French battleship and was slightly damaged in return. [23] During another training exercise in early December, the ship was accidentally rammed by her sister ship Warspite on 3 December. "I was disorientated but reached out and felt the ship. Beatty then altered course to the east, as he was still too far north to cut Hipper off. A very detailed account by a surviving officer of her loss is at this link. This is another problematic issue in which sources differ to which Gordon devotes an entire chapter. [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. Print This Page. [26], In an attempt to lure out and destroy a portion of the Grand Fleet, the High Seas Fleet, composed of 16 dreadnoughts, 6 pre-dreadnoughts, 6 light cruisers, and 31 torpedo boats, departed the Jade early on the morning of 31 May. A German submarine torpedoed the ship hours after Britain declared war on Hitler in 1939 - more than 100 people, including many Americans, were killed. Quora User Shipwreck H.M.S. Despite the majority of the wreck lying some 75m below the . [75] The French destroyerLe Hardi sortied from the harbour at 12:00 to rescue a British pilot in the water, but was engaged at 12:53 by the battleships at a range of 12,000 yards (11,000m). Jones refers to the 861 men listed in the casualty list published by, Burt 2012a, p. 85; Raven & Roberts, pp. A salvo of torpedoes from a German submarine struck from close range on HMS Barham on November 25, 1941 in the Mediterranean. [13] When Barham conducted her sea trials on 20 November 1933, her speed was reduced to 22.5 knots (41.7km/h; 25.9mph) from 65,655shp (48,959kW). 828 Squadron FAA, With the 5th South African Brigade at Sidi Rezegh, XXXI Guastatori (Assault Engineers) Battalion during CRUSADER, 'Shell Shock' 'Bomb Happy' and the Tobruk Garrison, Successful supply runs for the Axis - November 1941, New Article - Italy's Light Cruiser Force, German Tank Deliveries to North Africa - 02/1941 to 03/1942, Axis merchants lost on the North Africa Route - 1941-1943. [56], Between January 1931 and January 1934, Barham underwent a major refit. BARHAM, on November 25, 1941!!!. Pictures - Barham HMS (04) [+1941] - WRECK WRAK EPAVE WRACK PECIO EN home; wrecks. [49] Barham was refitted at Rosyth from 723 February 1918[50] and Waller was relieved by Captain Henry Buller on 18 April. Most of those who died were in two lifeboats that were smashed just as they were about to be saved. She departed Scapa Flow that day, escorted by four destroyers,[68] and rendezvoused with the troop convoy en route to Gibraltar[69] where she arrived on 2 September. [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. In addition the torpedo-control tower aft was replaced by an air-defence position during that same refit. The 92-year-old, from Leicester, miraculously escaped death when the ship was sunk by a. The secondary armament was primarily controlled by directors mounted on each side of the compass platform on the foremast once they were fitted in July 1917. The rescue effort by six other ships was nothing short of heroic, according to testimony. Admiral Angelo Iachino, commander of the Italian fleet, ordered the two other heavy cruisers of the 1st Division to render assistance to Pola in the darkness. 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. As the British battleships were manoeuvring to take up their positions, the submarine Bvziers fired a spread of four torpedoes at a range of 2,700 yards (2,500m). [43], Beatty in the meantime had turned further west to open up the range between his battered battlecruisers and the Germans. [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. [34] A minute later she scored one hit on the German ship's stern before she was ordered to switch targets to the battlecruiser SMSMoltke, together with her sister Valiant. On 612 May, she covered the Alexandria-Malta convoy of Operation Tiger. "Can I go into a court of law and say, '100%, that's Athenia?' David Mearns, who has found some two dozen major wrecks for insurers and TV companies, says the Athenia's hull is visible in sonar data acquired by the Geological Survey of Ireland. It proved to be worse than expected and Barham had to be repaired at Durban, South Africa, as she was unfit to make the trans-Atlantic crossing for repair in the United States. U-331 was not attacked by the escorting destroyers and reached port on 3 December. (Mute & Track Negs.) [70], Force M departed Freetown for Dakar on 21 September and had arrived Dakar before dawn two days later. "It was the strangest thing. Egypt Mar Sidi Barrani. [60] The ship resumed her former role as flagship of the 1st Battle Squadron in February 1938 while undergoing a refit at Portsmouth that lasted until May. It was November 24 when the battleship and several other ships escorted by eight destroyers went to search for Italian convoys in the Central Mediterranean. Wikipedia. Actually, my last time in Pearl (around 1994) I saw petrol bubbles coming from the wreck. petrol. [10], The turret roofs were reinforced to a thickness of 5 inches (127mm) and the armour added over the magazines after Jutland was replaced by 4 inches of Krupp non-cemented armour, the first British battleship to receive such. (Lt. Cdr. British Path was at the forefront of cinematic journalism, blending information with entertainment to popular effect. 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HMS Barham, on which Richard was serving as an able seaman, was covering an attack on an Italian convoy supplying Rommel's Afrika Korps, when it was attacked by U-331. [52] Captain Robin Dalglish relieved Horne on 1 October 1920. The HMS Barham was torpedoed by U-331, a German c-class submarine captained by Freiherr Von Tiesenhausen, and sunk in. "I saw one of my shipmates in the water and asked him, 'where's the ship?' The impacts drove in the plates and fragments caused much flooding by damaging the surrounding structure. [102], Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}3234N 2624E / 32.567N 26.400E / 32.567; 26.400. Contents 1 Service 1.1 First World War Towards the end of 1941, the Med Fleet was experiencing some ups and downs, as the Luftwaffe became increasingly active and aggressive during the advance of General Rommel (the Desert Fox) and his Afrika Korps across the Western Desert towards Alexandria. Tiesenhausen ordered all four bow torpedo tubes fired at a range of 375 metres (410yd) at 16:25. Shortly afterwards, she was deployed to Gibraltar for several months after the beginning of the Spanish Civil War in July. By the afternoon the submarine and the 1st Battle Squadron were on reciprocal courses and Tiesenhausen ordered his boat to battle stations around 16:00. While the other four ships of the Queen Elizabeth class were given a second, more extensive refit in the mid-to-late 1930s (which for Warspite, Valiant and Queen Elizabeth amounted to a complete reconstruction with new machinery and superstructures), changes to Barham were relatively minor. BARHAM's explosion after being torpedoed. They hit Ltzow, Derfflinger and Seydlitz three times each between 17:19 and about 18:05. That's the ultimate goal, anyway," said Mr Mearns. Required fields are marked *. She was powered by two sets of Brown-Curtis steam turbines, each driving two shafts using steam from 24 Yarrow boilers. Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in December 1939, Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in November 1941. While making the turn,[40] Barham was struck by two 30.5-centimetre shells beginning at 16:58, probably from the battlecruiser SMSDerfflinger. https://www.britishpathe.com/ None of the men were ever found alive, and the expedition is considered one of the worst disasters in the history of polar exploration. One fragment ricocheted off the upper deck and through the side plating on the opposite side of the ship. 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. This was replaced by a torpedo rangefinder in early 1928 when the permanent position was installed in the remodelled spotting top. The Germans said he had ordered a British submarine to fire on the Athenia as part of a plot to force Washington's hand. P.W and staff moved to MALAYA and QUEEN ELIZABETH, and Rear Admiral B.S. [54] Captain Henry Horan assumed command on 28 July 1937, although he only remained in command until 22 April 1938 when he was relieved by Captain Algernon Willis. But barring a photograph I can say in my expert opinion there's a very, very high probability that that's Athenia. 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