[46], Following Jutland, Barham was under repair until 5 July 1916. Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. Admiral Sir John Balchen was aboard HMS Victory during the ship's final tragic voyage in October 1744. flag changed on a number of occasions. The terrifying explosion was caught on film by Path cameraman John Turner who was on an adjacent ship. [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. She was hit six times during the battle, five times by 30.5cm shells and once by a 28.3cm shell, suffering casualties of 26 killed and 46 wounded. The destroyer Hotspur rescued 337 survivors, including Vice-Admiral Henry Pridham-Wippell and the pair who later died of their wounds, while the Australian destroyer Nizam reportedly rescued 150 men. 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. 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). On December 12 1939, she collided with a destroyer, the HMS Duchess, sinking her in the mishap. U.331 was under the command of Freiherr Diedrich von Tiesenhausen who was a lieutenant of 26 years of age. Sinking of Royal Navy Battleship HMS Barham.A legendary battleship with a history at Jutland, during World War 2 HMS Barham was stationed with the Royal Navy's Eastern Mediterranean fleet in Egypt.. On the afternoon of the 24th November of 1941, HMS Barham, sailed to provide cover for the 7th and 15th Royal Navy Cruiser Squadrons. "We looked at each other and said, 'right, let's get up top!'. [16] The ship, named after Admiral Charles Middleton, 1st Baron Barham,[17] was laid down at their Clydebank shipyard on 24 February 1913 and launched on 31 December 1914. Lilly died in 2007, aged 86. At 18:17 he realised that Marlborough was actually at the rear of the formation and he ordered a turn to the north to bring his squadron into line behind the Grand Fleet. Scheer turned south again, then steered south-eastward to pursue a lone British battle squadron sighted by an airship, which was in fact the Harwich Force of cruisers and destroyers under Commodore Reginald Tyrwhitt. 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. Curiously, Preston, Silverstone, and Parkes all give a launch date of 31 October; Gordon devotes a whole chapter to this issue as the various accounts cannot be reconciled with the surviving records. The ship had been hit amidships by torpedoes on the port side. VALIANT and WARSPITE in background. Fragments from this hit caused flooding that spread throughout the bow, while the ship's speed caused water to enter directly through the hole in the side. The 92-year-old, from Leicester, miraculously escaped death when the ship was sunk by a German U-boat torpedo off the coast of Egypt on November 25, 1941. The wrecks sites upside down on the sea floor. A very detailed account by a surviving officer of her loss is at this link. Strange, if you think the ship was destroyed in 1941! Clinging to a piece of wreckage, Richard was picked up by an Australian destroyer, along with other survivors. [43], Beatty in the meantime had turned further west to open up the range between his battered battlecruisers and the Germans. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Earlier in the day there had been a couple of Air Raid warnings, and reports of enemy aircraft Shadowers, but nothing of particular consequence. On the night of 25 March, Barham and the rest of the fleet sailed from Scapa Flow to support Beatty's battlecruisers and other light forces raiding the German Zeppelin base at Tondern. 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. That's the ultimate goal, anyway," said Mr Mearns. [100] The crew are commemorated by a memorial bench, located in Nothe Gardens, Weymouth. One of these hits also started several major fires inside the hull. [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. [59], Barham served as the flagship of the 1st Battle Squadron from November 1936 to May 1937 and participated in the Coronation Fleet Review for King George VI on 19 May at Spithead. On 25 November 1941 one of the heaviest losses of life, and the only loss of a Royal Navy battleship to a submarine at sea, occurred off Bardia, when HMS Barham was torpedoed at extremely short range by U-331, and sank within four minutes. HMS Barham Explodes - Slow MotionOn the afternoon of 25 November 1941, the 1st Battle Squadron, Barham, Queen Elizabeth, and Valiant, with an escort of eight. [70], Force M departed Freetown for Dakar on 21 September and had arrived Dakar before dawn two days later. 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. This meant that they were some 4,000 yards (3,700m) closer to the rapidly advancing High Sea Fleet. 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. 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. 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. Evan-Thomas turned northeast at around 18:06 and then made a slow turn to the southeast once he spotted the Grand Fleet. Despite the majority of the wreck lying some 75m below the . One was mounted above the conning tower, protected by an armoured hood, and the other was in the spotting top above the tripod mast. David Mearns: "My research rules out all other shipwrecks in this area". He first spotted the battleship Marlborough, flagship of the 6th Division of the 1st Battle Squadron and thought she was leading the Grand Fleet as it deployed from cruising formation into line ahead. [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. Three minutes later, she sighted the topmasts of Vice-Admiral Reinhard Scheer's battleships, but did not report this for another five minutes. The impacts drove in the plates and fragments caused much flooding by damaging the surrounding structure. [93][Note 6] Captain Geoffrey Cooke went down with his ship. A new beautiful success. 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. 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. 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. The loss of the crew was sensational news in the mid-19th . [73], After the expiration of an ultimatum to surrender the following morning, the battleships engaged the port's 24-centimetre (9.4in) coast-defence guns and Richelieu at 09:30. "I dived in headfirst, but as I did, the ship rolled again and I smashed my head on the hull and was knocked unconscious.". Shipwreck H.M.S. She became a private ship in January of that year and was refitted at Portsmouth Royal Dockyard in FebruaryJuly. This is the only British battleship sunk by the U-boat during this war. U-331 was not attacked by the escorting destroyers and reached port on 3 December. Between them, Barham and Valiant hit Moltke four times from 16:16 to 16:26, but only one of those hits can be attributed to Valiant. It was steaming at about twenty knots at the time, and immediately began to list to port at an alarming rate. [53] Together with her sister Malaya, Barham was sent to Alexandria, Egypt, in May 1927 during a time of unrest. They hit Ltzow, Derfflinger and Seydlitz three times each between 17:19 and about 18:05. . [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. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. 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. 862 men went down with her, and her end was filmed by a war correspondent on board one of the escorting destroyers. [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. In response the Admiralty ordered the Grand Fleet, totalling some 28 dreadnoughts and 9 battlecruisers, to sortie the night before to cut off and destroy the High Seas Fleet. Website with searchable ship database about warships, passenger liners, merchant ships, photo galleries, technical details, stories, news and much more. [54], Captain Geoffrey Cooke assumed command on 25 March[53] and the Navy took the opportunity to augment her light anti-aircraft armament and upgrade its directors. On her arrival at Alexandria shortly afterwards, my Admiral (P-W) and I joined her when she took over from ROYAL SOVEREIGN as flagship of the 1st Battle Squadron. The ship had a range of 5,000 nautical miles (9,260km; 5,754mi) at a cruising speed of 12 knots (22.2km/h; 13.8mph). It is split in the aft section where the torpedo hit, but otherwise is sitting proud of the sediment and looks to be in reasonable shape. P.W and staff moved to MALAYA and QUEEN ELIZABETH, and Rear Admiral B.S. [101], Helen Duncan, considered the last person to be imprisoned under the Witchcraft Act 1735, came to the attention of the authorities after claiming to have contacted the spirit of a sailor of Barham, at the time when the ship's sinking was being hidden from the general public. In addition the torpedo-control tower aft was replaced by an air-defence position during that same refit. [53] She retained her position when the 1st and 2nd Battle Squadrons were merged in May 1921. 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. [71] Barham's six-inch guns were the first to do so and fired at the French submarinePerse on the surface. [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 torpedoes seemed to hit the ship amidships just abaft the funnel, judging by the waterspout in that general area, of which I had a ringside view from the Admirals Bridge. Her complete service history can be found. The torpedo from U-30 struck the Athenia at 7:38 that evening. Egypt Mar Sidi Barrani. The ships had multiple armoured decks that ranged from 1 to 3 inches (25 to 76mm) in thickness. 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. Thanks to the advancements in artificial intellige. [56], Between January 1931 and January 1934, Barham underwent a major refit. In preparation for Operation Menace, a British naval attack on Dakar, Senegal, prior to a planned landing by the Free French, the ship was detached from the Home Fleet on 28 August and was assigned to Force M, the Royal Navy component of the operation. Mediterranean. She was the flagship of the 1st Battle Squadron and of the Second in Command of the Mediterranean Fleet, 1941. 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. 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