Your email address will not be published. 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. And now within range of the battleships of the 3rd Squadron which opened fire on the 5th Battle Squadron as they made their turn. Hindered by poor visibility, no significant damage was inflicted and Richelieu was not hit before the bombardment was called off after 20 minutes. The British captured the submarine and took possession of its Enigma cipher machine. The fleet sailed in concert with Rear Admiral Franz von Hipper's five battlecruisers and supporting cruisers and torpedo boats. [63], Barham, the battlecruiser Repulse and the destroyers Fame, Icarus, Imogen, Isis and Nubian were on patrol off the Butt of Lewis to protect against a possible break-out into the Atlantic by German warships when they were spotted by the German submarineU-30, commanded by Fritz-Julius Lemp, on 28 December. All footage can be viewed on the British Path website. 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. She sailed south through the Suez Canal to Mombasa, Kenya, where her damage was inspected. First published on Mon 12 Sep 2016 11.41 EDT. [18][19][Note 2] Barham cost a total of 2,470,113. 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. If it happened, British Path filmed it. [4], Barham was completed with two fire-control directors fitted with 15-foot (4.6m) rangefinders. You can see all the lifeboats. This required maximum offensive power and a speed several knots faster than any other battleship to allow them to defeat any type of ship. 377, 386, Admiralty Historical Section, pp. 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). The enemy struck at 4.25pm as Richard was on a tea break and talking with a friend. Guy Morris), S.O.O./S.N.O. That's the ultimate goal, anyway," said Mr Mearns. [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. 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. Once the news had come through around 1630 hours that Force K out of Malta had sunk these, the battleships turned for Alexandria. [67] Barham played no role in the Norwegian Campaign although some of her crew and marines participated. [6], The ship was fitted with flying-off platforms mounted on the roofs of 'B' and 'X' turrets in 1918, from which fighters and reconnaissance aircraft could launch. 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. On 612 May, she covered the Alexandria-Malta convoy of Operation Tiger. A very detailed account by a surviving officer of her loss is at this link. The loss of the crew was sensational news in the mid-19th . The British had recently broken the Italian codes and sailed after dark on the 27th to intercept the Italians. Producers had wanted to stage a live, underwater broadcast from the sunken remains of a famous ship. 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. A fortnight later, she was attacked by the U-30 which put her out of commission for six months with a single torpedo hit. The start date is universally agreed to be 17 November 1941, while the end date is 15 January for the British (thus excluding the Axis counter-offensive of late January), while it is 6 February for the Axis, including the counteroffensive. Nov 24, 2021. [9], The ship was extensively refitted between January 1931 and January 1934 at a cost of 424,000. Anniversary Cruise: Sydney under Japanese Attack, Garden Island Northern Hill and Garden Tour, Night of the midget subs Sydney under attack, D-Day commando on Sword Beach by Commander Jim Speed DSC, RAN Part 1, D-Day commando on Sword Beach by Commander Jim Speed DSC, RAN Part 2, D-Day commando on Sword Beach by Commander Jim Speed DSC, RAN Part 3. [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. [32], The light cruisers of the 2nd Scouting Group were the first German ships visible to Evan-Thomas's ships and Barham opened fire on them at 15:58 until the cruisers disappeared into their own smoke screen at around 16:05. Barham. [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. When Richard came round, he was underwater. One 250-kilogram (550lb) bomb struck 'Y' turret and started a fire inside the turret that took 20 minutes to quench. Late in the afternoon of November 24, 1941 WARSPITE, (C. in C.), BARHAM and VALIANT and a screen of nine destroyers sailed from Alexandria to provide heavy gun cover for the Cruisers. Richard Laland is one of only two survivors from the doomed battleship HMS Barham still alive today. Earlier in the day there had been a couple of Air Raid warnings, and reports of enemy aircraft Shadowers, but nothing of particular consequence. Merlin Burrows have found and pin-pointed the exact location of the wreck of HMS Barham - a Queen Elizabeth-class battleship built for the Royal Navy in February 1913. As a result, the operation was confined to the northern end of the sea. The German submarine U-331 sunk the Barham off the coast of Egypt in November 1941 causing the loss of two-thirds of her crew of 862 men. Germany initially denied involvement fearing the US would join the war. Ltzow was only slightly damaged by these hits, which essentially only knocked out the primary and back-up wireless rooms while the shells that hit Derfflinger hit the side of the ship's bow, knocking off several armour plates, while fragments opened holes that ultimately allowed roughly 2,000 tonnes (1,968 long tons) of water to enter the bow. The battle was known as "Operation Crusader" to the British, the 2nd (British) Offensive to the Italians, and as the 'Winterschlacht' (winter battle) to the Germans. Beatty continued south for another two minutes to confirm the sighting before ordering his force to turn north, towards the Grand Fleet in what came to be known as the "Run to the North". HMS Barham was one of five Queen Elizabeth -class battleships built for the Royal Navy during the early 1910s. 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. Hamilton. 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. She was powered by two sets of Brown-Curtis steam turbines, each driving two shafts using steam from 24 Yarrow boilers. We use your sign-up to provide content in the ways you've consented to and improve our understanding of you. 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. [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. "The Moon and Mars are mapped to a greater degree of accuracy than our seabed. [46], Following Jutland, Barham was under repair until 5 July 1916. The ship had been hit amidships by torpedoes on the port side. None of the men were ever found alive, and the expedition is considered one of the worst disasters in the history of polar exploration. The main armament could be controlled by 'B' turret as well. 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. Everything fits," said Mr Mearns, who sets out the case in his book The Shipwreck Hunter. The remains of the first British ship to be sunk in WW2 appear to have been identified on the Atlantic seabed. Barham played a minor role in quelling the 1929 Palestine riots and the 19361939 Arab revolt in Palestine. BARHAM was an old timer of the QUEEN ELIZABETH class, and a veteran of the Battle of Jutland. BARHAM was torpedoed by U.331 and lost off the Western Desert of Egypt - off Sollum and Sidi Barrani. [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. No hits were observed and the ships stopped firing after making their turn north, but Barham opened fire for a short time when they fell in line with the Grand Fleet a few minutes later, probably without making any hits. [93][Note 6] Captain Geoffrey Cooke went down with his ship. 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Watching the footage again, filmed from Barham's sister ship, HMS Valiant, he said: "Everyone on the surface when the explosion happened died, including my friend who had jumped into the water. [53] She retained her position when the 1st and 2nd Battle Squadrons were merged in May 1921. Something went wrong, please try again later. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain declared war on 3 September, 1939. Pictures - Barham HMS (04) [+1941] - WRECK WRAK EPAVE WRACK PECIO EN home; wrecks. [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 translated detailed report of the attack by U-331 can be found at this link. BARHAM's explosion after being torpedoed. Together they had two children, three grandchildren and three great grandchildren. 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. [75], After a conference aboard Barham later that day, the Allied commanders resolved to continue the attack. We've also got a detailed model of the Athenia. 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. Her crew numbered 1,016 officers and ratings in 1916. Another sweep began on 6 March, but had to be abandoned the following day as the weather grew too severe for the escorting destroyers. The Germans said he had ordered a British submarine to fire on the Athenia as part of a plot to force Washington's hand. 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. Your email address will not be published. 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. She was briefly deployed to Haifa in May 1936 at the beginning of the Arab revolt in Palestine. During the next eighteen months or so, the 1st B.S. The . Read about our approach to external linking. Richard worked as a shop floor foreman at Ratby Engineering, in Leicester, until 1982. [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 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. At 14:32, Beatty ordered a course change to south-southeast in response to the spot report. On her return I teamed up with P-W again when he shifted his flag back to the, Battleships. Fritz Julius Lemp commanded submarines for another two years. The marine scientist first got involved in the search for the wreck in a commission from the BBC. 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. "Can I go into a court of law and say, '100%, that's Athenia?' The BdU (Commander Submarines) noted in his war diary the rather jubilant: U331 1 battleship torpedoed in the Mediterranean. [54] Captain James Somerville relieved Monroe on 1 December and he was relieved in his turn on 16 March 1929 by Captain John C. 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