More Disasters Caught on Camera: https://goo.gl/hYJzzNBRITISH PATH'S STORY Before television, people came to movie theatres to watch the news. Read about our approach to external linking. They hit Ltzow, Derfflinger and Seydlitz three times each between 17:19 and about 18:05. [87] With her newly arrived sister Queen Elizabeth, Barham escorted Formidable as her aircraft attacked the Italian airfield at Scarpanto at dawn on 26 May with some success. Video, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece, Harry and Meghan told to 'vacate' Frogmore Cottage, Fungus case forces Jack Daniels to halt construction, Rare Jurassic-era bug found at Arkansas Walmart, Dozens of girls treated after new Iran poisonings, Man survives 31 days in jungle by eating worms, How fake copyright complaints are muzzling journalists. But barring a photograph I can say in my expert opinion there's a very, very high probability that that's Athenia. Kapitaenleutnant Freiherr von Tiesenhausen, who did a radio broadcast on this attack in December 1941. Richard grew up in Penrith Road, Belgrave, joining the Royal Navy as a boy seaman, aged 15. Shortly after her return to the Mediterranean, Barham again became flagship of the 1st Battle Squadron in September after her sister Warspite had to return home for repairs after running aground. What is more, the coordinates are very close to those sent out by the Athenia's radio officer in his distress call, and recorded in the logbooks of the vessels that came to the rescue. Barham's signallers were unable to read the signal and her officer of the watch presumed that it was the expected point zigzag to the left of the base course and signalled that course change to the rest of the squadron. [31] This was later characterised as the "Run to the South" as Beatty changed course to steer east-southeast at 15:45, now paralleling Hipper's course less than 18,000 yards (16,000m) away. [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. Hindered by poor visibility, no significant damage was inflicted and Richelieu was not hit before the bombardment was called off after 20 minutes. Ten minutes later, the ship radioed "Two cruisers, probably hostile, in sight" They were actually two German destroyers that had stopped to check a Danish merchant ship's papers. The British captured the submarine and took possession of its Enigma cipher machine. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Buying out his commission in 1947, he settled down with his late wife, Lilly, whom he had married in All Saints Church, Melton Road, in 1942. 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. 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. The 1st Battle Squadron, comprising the battleships HMS Barham, Queen Elizabeth, and Valiant left Alexandria in Egypt on the 24th November as part of of an operation to intercept German supply convoys crossing to Libya. Craske), the Admiral and S.W.O. 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). She later became the flagship of Force M's commander, Vice-Admiral John Cunningham. "We had no idea there were U-boats in the area.". The enemy struck at 4.25pm as Richard was on a tea break and talking with a friend. The rescue effort by six other ships was nothing short of heroic, according to testimony. 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. 137144, 2-pounder (40mm (1.6in)) Mk VIII "pom-pom", https://www.navy.gov.au/media-room/publications/hm-ships-enemy-action-wwii, HMS Barham Explodes & Sinks: World War II (1941), List of dreadnought battleships of the Royal Navy, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=HMS_Barham_(04)&oldid=1131403965, World War I battleships of the United Kingdom, World War II battleships of the United Kingdom, Ships sunk by German submarines in World War II, World War II shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, 5,000nmi (9,260km; 5,750mi) at 12 knots (22km/h; 14mph), This page was last edited on 4 January 2023, at 00:34. Required fields are marked *. The Royal Navy's Room 40 had intercepted and decrypted German radio traffic containing plans of the operation. During her early-1930s refit, the platforms were removed from the turrets and a retractable catapult was installed on the roof of 'X' turret, along with a crane to recover a floatplane. [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. The detonation blew a 7-by-7-foot (2.1 by 2.1m) hole in the main deck, sent fragments through the middle and lower decks and burned out the casemate for starboard No. One 250-kilogram (550lb) bomb struck 'Y' turret and started a fire inside the turret that took 20 minutes to quench. 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. 271, 275, 27980, 284, 286290, Campbell 1986, pp. During the next eighteen months or so, the 1st B.S. Print This Page. 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. The S.G.O (Cdr. "I was disorientated but reached out and felt the ship. Rawlings took over temporarily from P-W who became Vice Admiral Light Forces. Most of those who died were in two lifeboats that were smashed just as they were about to be saved. If it happened, British Path filmed it. On 612 May, she covered the Alexandria-Malta convoy of Operation Tiger. [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. Three minutes later another shell hit the aft superstructure, severing the antenna cables of the main wireless station. 203, 205, Jellicoe, pp. (Lt. Cdr. 862 men went down with her, and her end was filmed by a war correspondent on board one of the escorting Last modified on Wed 15 Jun 2022 10.44 EDT. This was initially a Fairey IIIF until it was replaced by a Fairey Swordfish in 1938. [53] Barham participated in the Fleet review on 26 July 1924 at Spithead. "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. 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. The sea, which had fortunately been smooth as BARHAM sank was, as far as I could see, a vast area of oil fuel and debris, with at that time no signs of life. Duchess capsized and sank, with the loss of 124 of her crew. This is my first written account of the fateful day, and of my recollections of some of the circumstances before and after the catastrophe since I prepared a Report on the sinking shortly after the event for the Royal Naval Authorities at Alexandria, Egypt. The list of men lost is at this link. The 5th Battle Squadron preceded the rest of the Grand Fleet to reinforce Vice-Admiral David Beatty's battlecruiser fleet, but the British arrived in the area after the Germans had withdrawn. HMS Barham was one of five Queen Elizabeth-class battleships built for the Royal Navy during the early 1910s. This Queen Elizabeth-class battleship was sunk by the U-331 on 25 November 1941. Neilson Larry 05/01/2011. Her complete service history can be found at this link. Chamberlain's famous "this country is at war with Germany" broadcast was delivered shortly after 11 in the morning. Nov 24, 2021. Your email address will not be published. 2023 BBC. [89] The following morning, the German submarineU-331, commanded by Oberleutnant zur See Hans-Diedrich von Tiesenhausen, detected the faint engine noises of the British ships and moved to intercept. The hits on Seydlitz mostly opened up more holes that facilitated the flooding. [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. (1966). Richard Laland is one of only two survivors from the doomed battleship HMS Barham still alive today. 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. 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. A German submarine torpedoed the ship hours after Britain declared war on Hitler in 1939 - more than 100 people, including many Americans, were killed. [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 ship participated in the Silver Jubilee Fleet Review for George V on 16 July at Spithead[58] and was then transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet at the end of August. Your email address will not be published. Barham was not hit during this time and she and Valiant, later joined by their sister Warspite, continued to fire at Hipper's 1st Scouting Group until 18:02 when Valiant lost sight of the Germans. I was in H.M.S. Despite the majority of the wreck lying some 75m below the . BARHAM was torpedoed by U.331 and lost off the Western Desert of Egypt off Sollum and Sidi Barrani. No. In addition the torpedo-control tower aft was replaced by an air-defence position during that same refit. HMS Barham was at the time engaged in an operation to engage potential enemy convoys, together with the other two battleships of the Mediterranean Fleet, HMS Queen Elizabeth (flag) and HMS Valiant, escorted by nine destroyers. The anti-aircraft (AA) armament were composed of two quick-firing (QF) 3-inch (76mm) 20cwt Mk I[Note 1] guns. This took some time and his ships had to slow down to 1218 knots (2233km/h; 1421mph) to avoid overrunning the 6th Division and blocking its fire. U-331 was not attacked by the escorting destroyers and reached port on 3 December. 340, 346, 349, 354355, 358, Jones, pp. "I'm one of only two survivors from the ship left," he said. 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. [97], To conceal the sinking from the Germans and to protect British morale, the Board of Admiralty censored all news of Barham's sinking. 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. search wreck . 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. Shortly before the turn, one of his escorting light cruisers, Galatea spotted smoke on the horizon and continued on her course to investigate. The torpedo from U-30 struck the Athenia at 7:38 that evening. Spiritualism: A Critical Survey. [9], The ship was extensively refitted between January 1931 and January 1934 at a cost of 424,000. Hamilton. This is another problematic issue in which sources differ to which Gordon devotes an entire chapter. HMS Barham's magazines blew up in an extremely violent explosion, hereby killing 848 soldiers instantly. [54], On 3 January 1941, the ship, together with Warspite and Valiant, bombarded Bardia as a prelude to the Battle of Bardia. Multiple air strikes by Formidable's Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers damaged the battleship Vittorio Veneto and crippled the heavy cruiser Pola later that evening. HMS BARHAM - a British battleship sunk in November 1941 by a submarine in the Mediterranean SANTA ROSA - a Portuguese galleon loaded with seven chests of treasure, sunk in 1726 by an explosion. "It was a shocking event," said Riverside curator Emily Malcolm. 2. [3], The Queen Elizabeth class was equipped with eight breech-loading (BL) 15-inch (381mm) Mk I guns in four twin-gun turrets, in two superfiring pairs fore and aft of the superstructure, designated 'A', 'B', 'X', and 'Y' from front to rear. 219220; Raven & Roberts, p. 359; Shores, Cull & Malizia, pp. [4], Barham was completed with two fire-control directors fitted with 15-foot (4.6m) rangefinders. [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. [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. Hipper ordered his ships to turn to starboard, away from the British, to assume a south-easterly course, and reduced speed to 18 knots (33km/h; 21mph) to allow three light cruisers of the 2nd Scouting Group to catch up. [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. A fortnight later, she was attacked by the U-30 which put her out of commission for six months with a single torpedo hit. As a result, the operation was confined to the northern end of the sea. The full truth only emerged at the Nuremberg Trials. Shortly afterwards, she was deployed to Gibraltar for several months after the beginning of the Spanish Civil War in July. Earlier in the day there had been a couple of Air Raid warnings, and reports of enemy aircraft Shadowers, but nothing of particular consequence. [53] Together with her sister Malaya, Barham was sent to Alexandria, Egypt, in May 1927 during a time of unrest. 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