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. (Lt. Cdr. [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. The attack on an unarmed passenger liner was a clear breach of international protocols. The shell struck just below the waterline and burst on impact with the belt armour. [79] She was briefly assigned to Force H, before she was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet in November 1940. In addition the torpedo-control tower aft was replaced by an air-defence position during that same refit. The anti-aircraft (AA) armament were composed of two quick-firing (QF) 3-inch (76mm) 20cwt Mk I[Note 1] guns. The ship was in the Mediterranean when the Second World War began in September 1939 and accidentally collided with and sank one of her escorting destroyers, HMS Duchess, on her voyage home three. This meant that the 5th Battle Squadron and the light cruisers were the sole targets available for the German ships until after his turn, although the worsening visibility hampered both sides' shooting. HMS Barham floating on side at sea. [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. [25] On 21 May, the 5th Battle Squadron was attached to Beatty while his 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron was detached for gunnery training and arrived at Rosyth the following day. [29][Note 4], Hipper's battlecruisers spotted the Battlecruiser Fleet to their west at 15:20, but Beatty's ships did not see the Germans to their east until 15:30. First published on Mon 12 Sep 2016 11.41 EDT. An ASDIC operator aboard one of the leading destroyers, Jervis, detected the submarine at 16:18 at an estimated range of 9001,100 yards (8201,010m), but the contact was disregarded as it subtended an angle between 40 and 60 degrees wide, far larger than a submarine. "We climbed over the guard rail and started running down the side of the ship. HMS Barham was a Queen Elizabeth-class battleship of the Royal Navy.On 25 November 1941, while steaming to cover an attack on Italian convoys, Barham was hit by three torpedoes from the German submarine U-331, commanded by Lieutenant Hans-Dietrich von Tiesenhausen.As she rolled over to port, her magazines exploded and the ship quickly sank with the loss of over two thirds of her crew. In addition, a pair of quadruple mounts for Vickers 0.5in (12.7mm) AA machine guns were added abreast the conning tower. Two minutes later, Beatty ordered a course change to east-southeast, positioning the British ships to cut off the German's line of retreat, and signalled action stations. By this time the 5th Battle Squadron was about seven point five nautical miles (13.9km; 8.6mi) northwest of Beatty. [102], Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}3234N 2624E / 32.567N 26.400E / 32.567; 26.400. [62] On 12 December, she accidentally rammed one of her escorts, the destroyer Duchess, in thick fog nine miles (14km) west of the Mull of Kintyre. This means that we may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. Pictures - Barham HMS (04) [+1941] - WRECK WRAK EPAVE WRACK PECIO EN home; wrecks. 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 wrecks sites upside down on the sea floor. 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. [71] Barham's six-inch guns were the first to do so and fired at the French submarinePerse on the surface. A salvo of torpedoes from a German submarine struck from close range on HMS Barham on November 25, 1941 in the Mediterranean. The ships were fitted with four submerged 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes, two on each broadside. The latter was only struck by a single shell splinter before the Allies broke off the bombardment at 10:07, although she had hit Barham once with a 155mm (6.1in) shell[74] that blew a hole 4 feet (1.2m) in diameter in the bulge. BARHAM was torpedoed by U.331 and lost off the Western Desert of Egypt - off Sollum and Sidi Barrani. petrol. 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 translated detailed report of the attack by U-331 can be found at this link. [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. Full title reads: "HMS BARHAM 1914 - 1941". HMS Barham was a 35,000-ton battleship built for World War I but had had an extensive refit in the 1930s. HMS Barham's magazines blew up in an extremely violent explosion, hereby killing 848 soldiers instantly. Shortly after 4.00 pm I was on the Admirals Bridge. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross that day. The . 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. [60] The ship resumed her former role as flagship of the 1st Battle Squadron in February 1938 while undergoing a refit at Portsmouth that lasted until May. 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. The first of these struck the ship's upper deck before detonating upon striking the main deck above the medical store compartment, which was completely burnt out. The following day, 1 October, Rear-Admiral Hugh Evan-Thomas, commander of the 5th Battle Squadron, hoisted his flag aboard his new flagship. The remains of the first British ship to be sunk in WW2 appear to have been identified on the Atlantic seabed. [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. Other fragments from the second hit caused damage that allowed the water to spread even further. A pair of octuple mounts for 2-pounder (40mm (1.6in)) Mk VIII "pom-pom" anti-aircraft guns were added abreast the funnel and two positions for their directors were added on new platforms abreast and below the spotting top. [65] Most of the adjacent compartments flooded and the ship took on a 7 degree list that was countered by transferring fuel oil to starboard. Hindered by poor visibility, no significant damage was inflicted and Richelieu was not hit before the bombardment was called off after 20 minutes. Website with searchable ship database about warships, passenger liners, merchant ships, photo galleries, technical details, stories, news and much more. BARHAM was an old timer of the QUEEN ELIZABETH class, and a veteran of the Battle of Jutland. Searching the seafloor for sunken ships in this way is usually a wasted pursuit because of the dearth of high-resolution sonar data. Guy Morris), S.O.O./S.N.O. [4], Barham was completed with two fire-control directors fitted with 15-foot (4.6m) rangefinders. flag changed on a number of occasions. Print This Page. 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. 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. [94], It was not until the Admiralty admitted that Barham had been sunk and described the circumstances that Tiesenhausen knew that he had sunk her. Within four minutes, the battleship had listed over to Port and the. 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. 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. "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. After the Battle of Jutland, 1 inch (25mm) of high-tensile steel was added to the main deck over the magazines and additional anti-flash equipment was added in the magazines. 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. And now within range of the battleships of the 3rd Squadron which opened fire on the 5th Battle Squadron as they made their turn. This sent splinters in every direction and started a small fire, but otherwise did no significant damage. 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. Beatty then altered course to the east, as he was still too far north to cut Hipper off. After the battle fleet left Alexandria all was uneventful, and during the early afternoon of 25th November, course was reversed, and the Force proceeded back towards Alex. U-331 was not attacked by the escorting destroyers and reached port on 3 December. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. The Grand Fleet sailed with 29 dreadnoughts and 6 battlecruisers while the Germans mustered 18 dreadnoughts and 2 battlecruisers. The turbines were rated at 75,000 shaft horsepower (56,000kW) and intended to reach a maximum speed of 25 knots (46.3km/h; 28.8mph). The resulting shockwave pushed the bulge inwards for a length of 7 feet (2.1m) and it started to slowly flood. Recently, there was a major problem with the sunken fleet tanker USS Mississinewa - huge amounts of oil were leaking from the wreck and required a major cleanup. A new beautiful success. copyrights: Unknown. 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. 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. 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. [42] Barham returned fire at the battlecruisers at 17:02, together with Valiant, the two northernmost of Evan-Thomas's ships, and the two of them made three hits on the battlecruiser SMSSeydlitz and Ltzow between 17:06 and 17:13 while Barham was hit twice more by Derfflinger; although neither of the hits did any significant damage. [54] At that time, Captain Norman Wodehouse relieved Scott. You can see all the lifeboats. "There was my friend Ted Clow, from Oadby, but he died last December, aged 93.". Beatty then ordered Evan-Thomas to turn his ships in succession to follow the battlecruisers three minutes later. [33] About three minutes later, the ship opened fire on the battlecruiser SMSvon der Tann at a range of about 23,000 yards (21,000m). During the 1920s and 1930s, the ship was assigned to the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Home Fleets. After temporary repairs at Scapa, Barham was sent to Cromarty Firth for more permanent repairs in the floating dry dock there that lasted until 23 December. (Cdr. The following year the UP mount was replaced by a pair of quadruple Vickers 0.5-inch machine gun mounts and another pair of eight-barreled "pom-pom" mounts were added abreast her conning tower. 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