VALIANT and WARSPITE in background. 107 Squadron crews, 9 Oct 1941, India Remembers WWII: veterans’ stories – Big Ideas, Preparing for the air campaign – 13 October 1941. It is just over 49 years since H.M.S. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Barham Crew Photos. I assumed that this had happened because the submarine Captain had fired all his bow tubes at once, and had not compensated quickly enough with seawater to keep the conning tower below the surface. ( Log Out /  28 March 1941: Battle of Matapan, Barham helps sink cruiser Zara. However, I can vividly recall the sinking as though it were yesterday. The HMS Barham was torpedoed by U-331, a German c-class submarine captained by Freiherr Von Tiesenhausen, and sunk in the Eastern Mediterranean in November 1941. Captain C. E. Morgan commanding HMS Valiant described the final moments of the Battleship: Our battleships were proceeding westwards line ahead, with the Valiant immediately astern the Barham and with a destroyer screen thrown out ahead of the battlefleet. The tragedy recently inspired composer Sally Beamish to write the Sea Psalm.There is a much larger image of the sister ship to HMS Duchess, HMS Daring, at Naval History net. RAN Ships None noted. Earlier in the day there had been a couple of Air Raid warnings, and reports of enemy aircraft ‘Shadowers’, but nothing of particular consequence. Fleet. 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. Shipping losses: HMS BARHAM listing to port after being torpedoed by U 331. Filed Under: Naval Historical Review, Biographies and personal histories, WWII operations Tagged With: Ship sinking, Survivor, HMS Barham, Australian Naval History Podcasts The footage is at the end of this post. Ship sinking, Survivor, HMS Barham. There are also 14 members who served in HMS Barham before the sinking. BARHAM’s explosion after being torpedoed. 2nd January 1941: Bombarded Bardia. If you would like to add a photograph of a sailor to a 'ship' page please . AE2 – Stoker’s Submarine, Musical Composition by Lieutenant Matthew Klohs RAN. HMS Fiji (58) British light cruiser. The f… HMS Barham (04) was a Queen Elizabeth-class battleship launched in 1914 and sunk by a U-boat in 1941. Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories. The ship, named after Admiral Charles Middleton, 1st Baron Barham, was laid down at their Clydebank shipyard on 24 February 1913 and launched on 31 December 1914. HMS Barham Survivors Association. A Scottish medium, Helen Duncan brought, in early December 1941, a relative of a crew member of HMS Barham into contact with her recently dead son (or according to other accounts a husband). 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. This article includes a list of ships with the same or similar names. HMS Barham – On 25 November 1941, in the eastern Mediterranean north of Sidi Barrani, Barham capsized, exploded and sank two and a half minutes after being hit by three torpedoes fired by the German submarine U-331. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. It is just over 49 years since H.M.S. The HMS Barham was named after Admiral Charles Middleton, also known as Lord Barham, who became the First Lord of the Admiralty at the time of Trafalgar 1762-1813. This podcast series examines Australia’s Naval history, featuring a variety of naval history experts from the Naval Studies Group and elsewhere. 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 Foc’sle. One of our Royal Marine survivors, Derek Cutting who went to live in Australia has been in England during the summer. The Queen Elizabeth class was ordered as part of the 1912 Naval Programme and the contract for Barham was awarded to John Brown & Company. IWM AX64B. Photo source: IWM Lives of the First World War. Details: H.M.S. This is a listing of people associated with this ship. HMS Barham – Survivors Account Of Sinking. Publication 1 Service 1.1 First World War 1.2 Between the wars 1.3 Second World War 2 Sinking 3 … She was the flagship of the 1st Battle Squadron and of the Second in Command of the Mediterranean Fleet, 1941. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. 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. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Cain, James. She was the flagship of the 1st Battle Squadron and of the Second in Command of the Mediterranean Fleet, 1941. Richard Laland is one of only two survivors from the doomed battleship HMS Barham still alive today. The video of HMS Barham’s loss can seen below, in the context of the overall newsreel. (Lt. Cdr. Joined East Med. June 11, 1991. These recordings can be accessed through Apple iTunes or for Android users, Stitcher. HMS Barham was a Queen Elizabeth-class battleship of the Royal Navy named after Admiral Charles Middleton, 1st Baron Barham, built at the John Brown shipyards in Clydebank, Scotland, and launched in 1914. HMS Barham was struck by three torpedoes fired from German submarine U-331. It is one of the most extraordinary psychic events of the twentieth century, rave some. During this time BARHAM was bombed and severely damaged by the Luftwaffe and had to go to Capetown for extensive repairs. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. At 15.45 hours on 28 Dec 1939, HMS Barham (04) (Capt H.T.C. The list of men lost is, First time unlucky – the loss of Iride 22 August 1940, Loss of Wing Commander F.A. Kapitaenleutnant Freiherr von Tiesenhausen, who did a radio broadcast on this attack in December 1941. Then to Alexandria. 861 were killed. [1] Force B consisted of two cruiser squadrons, 7 and 15, with the cruisers HMS Ajax, HMS Euryalus, HMS Galatea, HMS Naiad, and HMS Neptune, with escorting destroyers. She was sunk during the Second World War on 25 November 1941 by the German submarine U-331. There are now 45 survivors in the Association of whom a quarter live abroad. Often used as a flagship, she participated in the Battle of Jutland during the First World War as part of the Grand Fleet.For the rest of the war, except for the inconclusive Action of 19 August 1916, her service generally consisted of routine patrols and training in the North Sea. The 92-year-old, from Leicester, miraculously escaped death when the ship was sunk by a … April 1941: Bombarded Tripoli. The Loss of HMAS Armidale by Dr Kevin Smith, D-Day commando on Sword Beach by Commander Jim Speed DSC, RAN. HMS Barham at Valetta in August 1936. 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. / HMS Barham – Survivors Account Of Sinking. 21 Monks Way Hill Head Hants Fareham P014 3LU . The video of HMS Barham’s loss can seen below, in the context of the overall newsreel. Wikipedia. First time unlucky – the loss of Iride 22 August 1940 – The Crusader Project, Emilio Bianchi – Alexandria Frogman, died at 103 years old, Supreme Sacrifice – the loss of HMS Kandahar, Transport of Sonderverband 288 to Africa – The Crusader Project, First Operation of the Special Air Service (SAS) – SQUATTER, Luftwaffe against Giarabub Aerodrome 15 November 41, http://sommecourt.wordpress.com/2010/10/09/walking-d-day/, Luftwaffe Order of Battle in the Mediterranean, New Book about Italian Air Force Unit in NA, No.33 Squadron and Fighter Ace Lance Wade, BBC Factfile People’s War “Operation Crusader”, Royal Artillery Organisation and Fire Control Techniques, Royal New Zealand Artillery Association – World War 2, Memoirs of Corporal Mork – German Truck Driver in NA, Rommel's Operational Leadership in NA (US Military MA Thesis), The Story of Doug and Eva Blake, King's Own Royal Regiment, Ball of Fire – History of 5th Indian Division, History of Panzerregiment 8 – 15th Panzer, Order of Battle – Fliegerführer Afrika and Luftwaffe in the Med, Sinking of Sebastiano Venier 9 December 1941, Sounds like the enemy – 4th Survey Regiment at war, Table of Equipment – Divisional Signals Company 90th Light, The Destruction of Force K – Australian Naval Historical Society, Thomas Barker’s Diary at Malta – No. The moment when HMS Barham's magazine exploded after being torpedoed in the Mediterranean. I was in H.M.S. ABDIEL Camilleri, Paul. in shop in collection in search list . This section includes over 21.000 Allied Warships and over 11.000 Allied Commanders of WWII, from the US Navy, Royal Navy, Royal Canadian Navy, Royal Australian Navy, The Polish Navy and others. 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. Crew List Photographs AE1 – The Ship without a Name, Musical Composition by Lieutenant Matthew Klohs RAN. 828 Squadron FAA, With the 5th South African Brigade at Sidi Rezegh, German Tank Deliveries to North Africa - 02/1941 to 03/1942, Luftwaffe against Giarabub Aerodrome 15 November 41, Order of Battle – 8th Army, 18 November 1941, Motor Transport Organisation and Numbers in 8 Army, November 1941, Rorie Grieve (Treasurer/Deputy Chairman - The Neptune Association on. The battleships were providing distant cover to the light cruisers of Force B[1], engaged in searching for the German merchants Maritza and Procida (see also this link and this link). The loss of HMS Barham contributed to the very high number of losses at sea suffered by the Royal Navy in the period of Operation CRUSADER, about which I have written at this link. List of shipwrecks: 2 November 1941 Ship Country Description Balilla Italy World War II: The cargo ship (2,469 GRT, 1920) was shelled and torpedoed in the Mediterranean Sea north west of Trapani, Sicily) by ORP Sokół ( Polish Navy), shelled and sunk later in the day by HMS Utmost ( Royal There were no casualties and 25 survivors. The HMS Royal Oak, a Royal Sovereign class dreadnought, the HMS Prince of Wales, a King George V class and the HMS Barham, a Queen Elizabeth class, which was a modernized warship from World War One. Blackett, Patrick Maynard Stuart - Midshipman. June 11, 1991. The U-boat War in World War Two (Kriegsmarine, 1939-1945) and World War One (Kaiserliche Marine, 1914-1918) and the Allied efforts to counter the threat. ( Log Out /  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 Admiral’s Bridge. This is a listing of people associated with this ship. Burner, Lancelot. Cartmell, Colin. Enlarge image. HMS Barham was a Queen Elizabeth-class battleship built for the Royal Navy during the early 1910s. 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. Company / organization. BARHAM CREW PHOTOGRAPHS. U.331 was under the command of Freiherr Diedrich von Tiesenhausen who was a lieutenant of 26 years of age. We also have a detailed page on the British light cruiser HMS Fiji (58). HMS Barham crashed into HMS Duchess, cutting her in half. WRIGHT, Gerald V, Act/Ordnance Artificer 4, 67375 (SANF), MPK. BARHAM was an “old timer” of the QUEEN ELIZABETH class, and a veteran of the Battle of Jutland. All electric motors had stopped, all power had gone ‘off the Board’, there was an ominous creaking of Bridge work and Rigging, the ship was ‘dead’ and it was clear to all of us that it was every man for himself while the going was good. ( Log Out /  For sale 0; Collectors 1; In search list 0; None for sale yetYou can place this item in your search list. It proves that mediums really can communicate with the dead, state others. The aim of this blog is to accompany the preparation of a complete history incorporating the Axis and Commonwealth perspectives of the Winterschlacht (Winter Battle) in North Africa, November 1941 to February 1942. flag changed on a number of occasions. Burt, David. 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. 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. 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 translated detailed report of the attack by U-331 can be found at this link. BARHAM was torpedoed by U.331 and lost off the Western Desert of Egypt – off Sollum and Sidi Barrani. She started off World War II by being torpedoed off Liverpool, and after being patched up was in trouble again during a bombardment of Oran, when she was hit by Free French shore batteries. H.M.S. HMS Barham Survivors Association. Barham was a British battleship, and part of the Meditteranean Fleet. Harte and No. 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. The list of men lost is at this link. HMS Barham Association Home About us Latest news The ship Crew Name Search Guestbook Photos & video ... Hotspur picked up most of the survivors, HMS Nizam picked up the remainder, and we headed back to Alexandria. Where we hold a names list for the memorial, this information will be displayed on the memorial record. HMAS Sydney II and the HSK Kormoran Shipwreck Sites, Admiralty House, Garden and Fortifications, Royal Australian Naval Transmitting Station ACT, Heritage Tour of Northern End of Garden Island, First Victory, Musical Composition by Petty Officer Musician Martyn Hancock.