hms warspite crew list

HMS Warspite bombarded on the German Villerville Battery in Normandie, France at the range of 26,000 yards at 0500 hours, northeast of Sword Beach. These included the Atlantic convoys, Narvik, Norway, Calabria, the Mediterranean, the Malta convoys, Matapan, Crete, Sicily, Salerno, the English Channel, Normandy and the Bay of Biscay. Our British ships rescued 905 Italian sailors but hurriedly departed at daybreak, fearing Luftwaffe attack; the Royal Navy would provide coordinates of remaining survivors to Italian ship Gradisca to continue to rescue. The ship bombarded German positions during the Normandy landings and on Walcheren Island in 1944, despite not being fully repaired. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/royal-navy-service.asp, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Highflyer_(1898, http://www.plymouthdata.info/Royal%20Naval%20Barracks.htm, RootsChat.com, Europa House, Bury, Lancashire, BL9 5BT United Kingdom. It was towed to Gibraltar before finalizing the repairs to Rosyth in Great Britain in March 1944. [83] On 12 June, she returned to Portsmouth to rearm, but her guns were worn out so she was ordered to sail to Rosyth via the Straits of Dover, the first British battleship to have done so since the war began. (d.23rd May 1941). [83] Warspite returned to Britain in March 1944 to continue her repairs at Rosyth. ww2dbaseWW2 began for Britain on 3 Sep 1939, and Warspite was immediately set sail for the Atlantic from the Mediterranean. -. Crew List With Additional Information. ON 10 Sep, she was among the British ships escorting the surrendering ships of the Italian Navy to Malta. Launched. The depth charge and A/S bombs exploded close to Warspite. [99], In 1950, an attempt to re-float her was tried. First, it is aiming to offer interesting She was at sea when the crews of a number of warships mutinied at Invergordon in September 1931, although three sailors were later dismissed from the ship. May 1953 saw the forward end begin coming away at the fracture. [17] When the squadron turned to join the Grand Fleet, the damage from a shell hitting the port-wing engine room caused Warspite's steering to jam as she attempted to avoid her sister ships Valiant and Malaya. If you have any unwanted The Navy Lists - Warspite. 1000/1/3 - Records of the The Wolverhampton Metal Company Ltd, Wednesfield, and its subsidiary companies. The battleship 03 H.M.S. In Apr 1942, the Japanese attacked Ceylon in force, sinking cruisers Cornwall and Dorsetshire and carrier Hermes; Warspite and other ships were dispatched to intercept the Japanese fleet, but they failed to locate it. Sub Lieutenant Herbert Annesley Packer was subsequently promoted for his command of "A" turret. Cunningham hoped to draw the Regia Marina into battle by sailing towards the "toe" of Italy to cut them off from their base at Taranto. She ran aground off Dunbar on 17 September 1915, which necessitated repairs until 20 November. [61] Vittorio Veneto escaped to the west as dusk fell but the British pursued through the night, first detecting Pola on radar and then two of her sister ships. HMS Warspite. Seeing that they were under pressure, Cunningham took Warspite ahead to assist his cruisers. [88], On 14 September, Force H was recalled to the UK to begin preparations for the invasion of France, but Warspite and Valiant were detached to provide support for Allied forces at Salerno. At 1515 hours, 50 miles south of Italy, heavily escorted Italian convoy for Benghazi, Libya ran into an equally powerful British convoy for Malta. Warspite carries the most battle honours of any ship in the Royal Navy, with the sixth Warspite being awarded fifteen of them. [12] In late 1915, Warspite was grounded in the River Forth causing some damage to her hull; she had been led by her escorting destroyers down the small ships channel. RM 2BJY9BY - HMS Warspite twin screw armour clad cruiser Floated out of Dock at Chatham Yard 29th January 1884. 7.3 The distribution of the surviving lists. It was hit three times by a German plane and accused of the loss of nine killed and fourteen wounded. They signed an armistice on 3 September, which took effect on 8 September. [66] This was not enough and the success of the Afrika Korps in North Africa induced Churchill to order a desperate attack on Tripoli to block the Axis supply route by sinking a battleships in the harbour. Diether von Roeder had to be scuttled while Erich Giese was sunk in conjunction with destroyers. If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small Churchill was suitably impressed with their accuracy and power. Seven ships of the Royal Navy have been named Warspite. They were completed after the start of the Pacific War in December and the ship sailed across the Pacific to join the Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean in early 1942. She repeated this process on 12 September for her opponent from the Battle of Calabria, Giulio Cesare. It was repaired in the United States and later deployed to the Indian Ocean before returning to the Mediterranean in June 1943 in order to participate in the H force in Operation Husky in Sicily and Operation Avalanche Before Salerno. This refit gave the Admiralty a virtually new warship, replacing internal machinery and significantly changing the battleship's appearance and capabilities. She was powered by two sets of Parsons steam turbines, each driving two shafts using steam from 24 Yarrow boilers. [83] Her surface radar was replaced in Durban in October and Captain Packer, her former Assistant Gunnery Officer at Jutland, took command in January 1943. HMS Warspite Crew List Page Discussion English Read View source View history More Read View source View history From Battle of Jutland Crew Lists Project (Index of Ship Interest Groups)- (Index of Crew List Photographs)- (Index of Crew Lists) Last updated on: June 14, 2013 My dad, Leslie Lee, served on the Warspite during World War 2. In the subsequent months she was damaged twice, first running aground in the Forth then colided with battleship Barham. American tugs towed her to Malta then to Gibraltar for emergency repairs, then she sailed on her own back to Rosyth for permanent repairs. At the Battle of Matapan on 28 Mar 1941, battleships Barham, Valiant, and Warspite and other ships sank three Italian cruisers and two destroyers. British battleships HMS Barham, HMS Valiant, and HMS Warspite continued to shell the Italian fleet off Cape Matapan, Greece. Let us know. The main armament could be controlled by 'B' turret as well. The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed, Based at Chatham docks where he was acting Boatswain from 1928. On her return, Admiral Cunningham inadvertently coined the nickname by which she would be known thereafter when he signalled: "Operation well carried out. [39] Warspite finally entered Grand Harbour, in Malta, on 14 January 1938 and continued gunnery practice and training. The firm previously employed had used 27 four tool compressors, WM had the advantage of being able to use 2 jet compressors, loaned by the Ministry of Supply, and had expert advice from Rolls Royce Ltd. On May 12th 1952, The Wolverhampton Metal Company Ltd succeeded in lifting HMS Warspite and managed to move her inshore by a quarter of a mile. [83], At 0500 on 6 June 1944, Warspite was the first ship to open fire,[94] bombarding the German battery at Villerville from a position 26,000 yards offshore, to support landings by the British 3rd Division on Sword Beach. During the Second World War, Warspite was involved in the Norwegian Campaign in early 1940 and was transferred to the Mediterranean later that year where the ship participated in fleet actions against the Royal Italian Navy (Regia Marina) while also escorting convoys and bombarding Italian troops ashore. Italian cruiser Fiume, cruiser Zara, destroyer Alfieri, and destroyer Carducci were sunk, while destroyer Oriani was heavily damaged. She was badly damaged by German radio-controlled glider bombs during the landings at Salerno and spent most of the next year under repair. If the information here has been helpful or you have enjoyed reaching the stories please conside making a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting or this site will vanish from the web. The gun turrets were protected by 11 to 13 inches (279 to 330mm) of KC armour and were supported by barbettes 710 inches (178254mm) thick. The battleship HMS Warspite was wrecked on the rocks of Mounts Bay, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, while being towed to the breakers. In 1934, she underwent a complete modernization, radically altering her superstructure and adding an aircraft hangar. HMS Warspite is the third planned Dreadnought -class ballistic missile submarine. It was finally demolished the same year. [72] A 500lb bomb damaged her starboard 4-inch and 6-inch batteries,[73] ripped open the ship's side and killed 38 men. [103] The stone was unveiled by Admiral Sir Charles Madden and prayers were read by a former crew member. She returned to Malta at high speed on 18 July, avoiding several air attacks during the night. [45], Warspite's first task was to escort convoy HX 9 carrying fuel from Nova Scotia to the UK. Admiral Cunningham took the fleet to sea on 7 July to meet two convoys travelling from Malta to Alexandria, knowing that part of the Italian fleet was escorting its own convoy to Tripoli. We place some essential cookies on your device to make this website work. In March, Somerville received intelligence indicating the Japanese Fast Carrier Strike Force was heading towards the Indian Ocean and he relocated his base to Addu Atoll in the Maldives. Launched in 1913, the battleship HMS Warspite saw extensive service during both world wars. [51] The Second Naval Battle of Narvik was considered a success. Repaired throughout the First World War after various additional incidents, it was engaged in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean during the Interwar period. Message Board. Warspite took part in 15 major engagements, from Jutland in World War 1 to 14 actions in World War 2. A large crowd and the media watched on as the salvage crew set to work. Division One and Two rendezvoused in the Gulf of Sirte on 9 July and covered the assembling convoys. At 1936 hours, HMS Formidable's aircraft returned, joined by land-based aircraft from Crete, Greece, putting cruiser Pola out of action, but failed to catch Vittorio Veneto as she had received temporary repairs and was already en route back to Taranto, Italy. [78] Warspite was still at the shipyard when the Japanese Navy attacked Pearl Harbor and went on alert as she would have been one of the few ships in the harbour which could have provided anti-aircraft defence should the Japanese have struck east. [4], 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. Subsequent air attacks damaged the battleship and the cruiser Pola, slowing the former and crippling the latter. [63] Pola was also sunk once her crew had been taken off. My grandfather James Shackleton Illingworth served aboard HMS Warspite in around 1914-1918 and was stationed at Scapa Flow i believe. The Wolverhampton Metal Company Ltd, Wednesfield, then negotiated a contract in August 1947 with Mr R Bennett, under which they were to advance monies against the vessel's much needed non-ferrous metal to be salvaged and delivered, estimated at 1,250 - 1,500 tons [see 'The August Agreement']. A Queen Elizabeth -class battleship, Warspite was completed in 1915 and fought at Jutland the following year. 7th Deployed with HM Battleships WARSPITE, MALAYA, ROYAL SOVEREIGN, HMS EAGLE, HM Cruisers NEPTUNE, GLOUCESTER , ORION and SYDNEY screened by HM Destroyers DAINTY, DEFENDER, HASTY, HOSTILE, HYPERION, ILEX, IMPERIAL, JUNO, VAMPIRE (RAN) and VOYAGER (RAN) as Force A to provide Distant Cover for passage of Convoys MF1 and MS1 in a repeat of [80] She joined the Eastern Fleet at Trincomalee in March 1942. In April of 1940 HMS Warspite took part in the Second Battle of Navarik and her reconnaissance aircraft bombed and sank German submarine U-64. Although there were proposals to retain her as a museum ship, the Admiralty approved Warspite's scrapping in July 1946 and she sailed from Spithead into Portsmouth to have her guns removed. Want to find out more about your relative's service? [67] Cunningham rejected this plan, but on 21 April he sailed with Warspite to bombard the harbour in company with Barham and Valiant, the cruiser Gloucester and several destroyers. [2][3], Warspite 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). 124.73 + 14.97 Postage. To HMS Warspite went the honor of being the first ship to open fire on D-Day, with her shells pummeling a German gun battery that showed signs of life. VALIANT. The shells landed harmlessly at a gunnery range where a platoon of the Green Howards was exercising. Completed during the First World War in 1915, she was assigned to the Grand Fleet and participated in the Battle of Jutland. George Douglas Blake HMS Warspite, Cmmd.Boatswain. Inline images in messages are the copyright of the respective linked sites. Shortly after commissioning in early 1916, she participated in the Battle of Jutland of the First World War as part of the Grand Fleet.In the Second World War, Malaya served mostly in escort duties in the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean. Hi Ady thanks for that - excellent info. Bad luck with collisions and other incidents kept her more so in the shipyards than in battles. The U-boat fired three torpedoes, all of which missed their target. Second, it is to showcase The British Royal Navy battleships HMS Warspite and HMS Valiant bombarded Reggio Calabria at the southern tip of Italy, eliminating a six gun battery. [7], 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. A storm in April 1947 sank it in Mount Bay and, despite multiple efforts to refloat it, its wreck remained there until 1950. In 1946, deemed a total loss and judged entirely unrecoverable, HMS Warspite was sold for scrap by the underwriters to a Mr Richard Bennett [by 1947 Mr R Bennett had set up 'Western Salvage Co Ltd', of Penzance & Bristol.] The remainder of Warspite's cruise was uneventful. 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. Helping people find out more about their relatives wartime experiences since 1999 by It was hit three times by a German plane and accused of the loss of nine killed and fourteen wounded. Subscribe now for regular news, updates and priority booking for events, All content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0, except where otherwise stated. As soon as the plates were landed on the deck they were cut into quarters and then sent by The Wolverhampton Metal Company Ltd's own barge to their Penzance Siding Depot to be railed to Sheffield. Permission to beach her at a convenient site was refused and so demolition began where she was lying. [32] In 1930, Warspite rejoined the Atlantic Fleet. [83] Although the Italians had surrendered, the Germans had anticipated this and moved forces into position to block the Allied landings. [5], Warspite was completed with two fire-control directors fitted with 15-foot (4.6m) rangefinders. + 2.75 Postage. Feb. 9, 2011. At 5:30 AM the whole bombardment fleet . HMS Warspite was one of five Queen Elizabeth-class battleships built for the Royal Navy during the early 1910s. [37], After completion of the refit, Warspite was recommissioned under the command of Captain Victor Crutchley. The American forces near Battipaglia were in a precarious situation following German counter-attacks. Initially, Warspite was based in Ceylon, forming a fast group with the aircraft carriers Formidable and Indomitable, four cruisers and six destroyers. [77] Repairs and modifications began in August, including the replacement of her deteriorated 15in guns, the addition of more anti-aircraft weapons, improvements to the bridge, and new surface and anti-aircraft radar. Warspite was launched on November 26, 1913, and entered service on March 8, 1915. Memorial to the Warspite at Marazion, Cornwall. [83] The U.S. VIII Corps eventually captured "Festung Brest" on 19 September, but by then Warspite had moved on to the next port. By Dec 1944, Royal Navy warship involvement in the Atlantic was reduced to very little, and she was decommissioned on 1 Feb 1945 before the European War had ended. Arnold Thomas Charles. These actions earned her the most battle honours ever awarded to an individual ship in the Royal Navy. Even $1 per month will go a long way! The British Royal Navy battleship, HMS Warspite, arrived at Malta's Grand Harbour to a rapturous welcome from the islanders. She then grounded and lay fore and aft across a deep channel and completely broke her back. [85], She underwent a short refit in May in another attempt to fix her steering problem, then joined Force H at Scapa Flow, departing on 9 June for Gibraltar in company with five other battleships, two carriers and twelve destroyers. At the Battle of Calabria on 9 Jul 1940, her shell traveled a distance of 26,000 yards to hit Italian battleship Giulio Cesare. [104][105] Her nameplate was held by the pub, The Wink, in Lamorna, Cornwall[106] but has since been sold at auction. Whilst travelling across the North Sea the ship came under attack from a German U-boat. Renovated from 1934 to 1937, the Warspite became the flagship of the British fleet in the Mediterranean. [100][101] According to the contractors, it remains the largest salvage operation ever carried out in British waters. D-Day and Battle of Normandy media library: archives photos and videos, Souvenir shop featuring t-shirts, caps, mugs, models or posters inspired by D-Day and the Battle of Normandy, D-Day Overlord - Marc Laurenceau 2003-2023. This required maximum offensive power and a speed several knots faster than any other battleship to allow them to defeat any type of ship. [1]:6. Cmmd.Boatswain. D-Day and Battle of Normandy Encyclopedia. Please refrain from using strong language. However, time had taken its toll and more modern ships were required to continue the war in the Far East. ww2dbaseIn Jun 1943, Warspite once again returned to the Mediterranean and joined Force H at Gibraltar. H.St.L. The remains of the masts lie in the yard at Porthenalls House, Prussia Cove and one portion was erected on a headland, overlooking Prussia Cove. She was the sixth RN warship to bear this name which was introduced in 1759 for a . [10] In early December, Warspite was involved in another incident when, during an exercise, she collided with her sister ship Barham, which caused considerable damage to Warspite's bow. During the battle Warspite achieved one of the longest range gunnery hits from a moving ship to a moving target in history, hitting Giulio Cesare at a range of approximately 24km (26,000yd), the other being a shot from Scharnhorst which hit Glorious at approximately the same distance in June 1940. Records of HMS Warspite from other sources. C. Peter Chen of Lava Development, LLC. Repairs to her propeller shafts and the replacement of the guns took until early August; she sailed to Scapa Flow to calibrate the new barrels with only three functional shafts, limiting her top speed to 15 knots,[83] although by now the Admiralty considered her main role was that of a bombardment vessel. This website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The latest HMS Warspite was the third of Britain's nuclear-powered submarines, and the second (and final) of the Valiant class. She remained in Norwegian waters, participating in several shore bombardments around Narvik on 24 On March 27, 1941, it took part in the battle of Cape Matapan and engaged several Italian buildings which were severely hit and destroyed. One of her boiler rooms and the X turret could not be repaired, remaining out of action for the remainder of her career. [54][55] The shell pierced Giulio Cesare's rear funnel and detonated inside it, blowing out a hole nearly 6.1 meters (20ft) across, while fragments started several fires and their smoke was drawn into the boiler rooms, forcing four boilers off-line as their operators could not breathe which reduced the ship's speed to 18 knots (33km/h; 21mph). She was diverted northwards in pursuit of the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau which had sunk the armed merchant cruiser Rawalpindi north of the Faroe Islands, but failed to make contact. Australian and New Zealand troops were pulled back from Maleme to Suda Bay to protect the main supply point while regrouping for another counterattack. Crew List (Photographs) Directory of Names. [84] She covered the landings at Mahajanga and Tamatave during the Battle of Madagascar an Allied invasion, in September. [30] After the process finished in 1926, Warspite assumed the role of flagship of the Commander-in-Chief and Second-in-Command, Mediterranean Fleet. Class: Queen Elizabeth-class battleship, Armament (1944): 8x 381 mm guns, 10x 152 mm guns, 4x 102 mm guns, 32x 40 mm anti-aircraft guns, 16x 20 mm guns, 16x 12,7 mm machine guns, 4x 533 mm torpedo tubes, Displacement: 33,410 tons Battle honours [ edit] Cadiz 1596 Orfordness 1666 Sole Bay 1672 Schooneveld 1673 Texel 1673 Barfleur 1692 Warspite was among a WW1-era battleship class whose existance had much to do with the influences of First Sea Lord Admiral Sir John "Jackie" Fisher and First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill. Warspite later attempted to ram a surfaced U-boat. [81], Warspite joined the Eastern Fleet as flagship of Admiral Sir James Somerville, who had commanded her in 1927. They were too slow to screen her effectively, but there were no more encounters with German vessels and she reached Rosyth safely on the morning of 1 June, where it took two months to repair the damage. Creator/User: Britain Admiral Cunningham's Mediterranean Fleet, consisted of battleship HMS Warspite, battlesip HMS Valiant, aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, and 7 destroyers departed Alexandria, Egypt, to meet the Excess convoy. She returned to the Mediterranean as the flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet, then spent some time with the Atlantic Fleet. The Captain spoke to the ships company telling. Have you found an error with this catalogue description? The Japanese believed that she was still in Sydney and ordered the attack on Sydney Harbour. and useful information about WW2. [19], The crew regained control of Warspite after two full circles. The Italian cruisers turned away under a smoke screen while the battleships Giulio Cesare and Conte di Cavour closed on Warspite before Malaya and Royal Sovereign could catch up.[54]. Layman, RN), HMS Havock (Lt.Cdr. 1. The anti-aircraft (AA) armament were composed of two quick-firing (QF) 3-inch (76mm) 20cwt Mk I[Note 1] guns. [74] The attack was carried out by Jagdgeschwader 77 (JG 77Fighter Wing 77). [28], In 1919, Warspite joined the 2nd Battle Squadron, part of the newly formed Atlantic Fleet, and undertook regular spring cruises to the Mediterranean. On closer inspection these dates do overlap but this original order has been maintained. For this and other reasons, Warspite gained the nickname the "Grand Old Lady" after a comment made by Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham in 1943 while she was his flagship. [10] After undergoing repairs for two months at Rosyth and Jarrow, she rejoined the Grand Fleet, this time as part of the new 5th Battle Squadron which had been created for Queen Elizabeth-class ships. HMS Warspite was built at the Devonport dockyard in Plymouth, launched on the 26th November 1915, and became one of Britain's most decorated ships of the twentieth century. In order to lighten the ship with the least possible delay it was decided to remover her 21-ton lower armour plates whole, and for this purpose a 25 ton crane was purchased. [25] She signalled ahead for escorts and a squadron of torpedo boats came out to meet her. Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo used five carriers and four battleships in the Indian Ocean raid a naval sortie into the Indian Ocean in April, attacking Allied shipping and bases in the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal. [42] She undertook another cruise of the western Mediterranean in the spring of 1939. At 0400 hours, British destroyers HMS Jervis and HMS Nubian approached damaged Italian cruiser Pola, captured her crew, and sank her with torpedoes. One hit might have been obtained on a 8" cruiser. R.E. Captain Packer was mentioned in despatches for his actions bringing the ship to Malta,[92] the second time he had limped into port on board a heavily damaged Warspite. HMS Liverpool was hit by a dud, but it still killed 1 and wounded 2.

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