sign in sign up
<<
Home , Charles Austen, Compartment (ship), Fleet Air Arm, Fleet Commander, Fleet Review, Fort Blockhouse

The Magazine of

friendsof the Royal The National Museum of the Naval Museum and Royal () HMS Victory HMS Victory and the Friends SCUTTLEBUTT AWARD WINNING MAGAZINE

ISSN 2052−5451

46

HMS Victory Last Naval 9772052545006 ‘Trafalgar Day’ in the world Chronology

| Scuttlebutt [Edition No46, Spring 2013] [by subscriptionSpring Edition or on sale £2.50]1 The Magazine of

friendsof the Royal The National Museum of the Naval Museum and (Portsmouth) HMS Victory HMS Victory and the Friends ISSN 2052-5451 The Friends of the Royal Naval Museum is a Registered Charity No. 269387 SCUTTLEBUTT The National Museum of the AWARD WINNING MAGAZINE Royal Navy and [Edition No46, Spring 2013] [by subscription or on sale £2.50] HMS Victory, Portsmouth is a Registered Charity No. 1126283-1 CONTENTS Council of the Friends 4 Chairman’s Report (Peter Wykeham-Martin) 5 Director General’s Overview (Dominic Tweddle) 6 UPDATES: Make a difference in the future: News from the National Museum of the Royal Navy (Graham Dobbin) 8 Trafalgar Day ceremony (page 10) HMS Victory, Commanding Officer’s Report (Rod Strathern) 10 remember the museum in your will now The Victory Preservation Project (Andrew Baines) 13 199’s Hotchkiss Gun at ‘Explosion’ Museum (John Roberts) 28 Steam Pinnace 199 - Progess Report (Martin Marks) 32 Council would like to take this opportunity to 199 Sponsor a Boiler (Your chance to help preserve our naval heritage) 33 REGULAR FEATURES: encourage all Friends to consider remembering The paintings of C E Turner (Rick Cosby) 16 Naval Museum & Friends Events (including Friend’s AGM 9th May) 36 the Friends or the Museum in your will. It costs you nothing Series on Museum Figureheads (David Pulvertaft) 52 now, but every gift, however small, Museum Model Series – Part 3: The Steam-Paddle HMS Gorgon (Mark Brady) 54 Big guns of the last dreadnought SPECIAL FEATURES: will make a difference in the future. USS Texas (page 18) The Coming of the Great War First of a new series commemorating the First World War (John Roberts) 18 From Russia with Love (Martin Marks) 30 The Naval Chronology of Great Britain 1803 – 1816 (John Roberts) 34 The Story of Tactical Nuclear Weapons in the Royal Navy Continuing our history of British naval nuclear weapons – Part 2 B: (John Coker) 42 We cannot offer legal advice, The Poseidon Project (Arthur Jones) 56 but if you would like further information, please contact REGULAR ITEMS: the Museum on Tel: 023 9272 7567 Dreadnought Book Reviews 60 HMS Iron Duke (page 20) Letters to the Editor 64 “Welcome aboard!” (come & join us), benefits of membership 67 MISCELLANY: The World Society Annual Naval Meeting 1 June 2013 41 Scuttlebutt is edited by: John Roberts Naval Book & Maritime Art Gallery opened by the Second Lord 41

‘P’ Class HMS Poseidon (page 56)

The Friends of the Royal Naval Museum and HMS Victory National Museum of the Royal Navy, HM Naval Base (PP66), Portsmouth PO1 3NH

Tel: 023 9272 7562 Nuclear strike aircraft (page 42) Destruction of L’ Arianne (page 34) Gun gallery at ‘Explosion’ museum (page 29) Friends direct Tel: 023 9225 1589 Editor: John Roberts 01329 843427 ([email protected]) Design: MMCS dh.creative E-mail: [email protected] Print: Limefresh Media Advertising:: SDB Marketing 01273 594455 Find us at www.royalnavalmuseum.org www.royalnavalmuseum.org/support_friends.htm

‘Scuttlebutt’ gained national recognition as winner of the BAFM * award for the best Friends *The term ‘Scuttlebutt’ is nautical slang for the latest gossip and rumours; it derives from scurrilous chatter between sailors gathered magazine 2012. (*British Association of Friends of Museums) round the water cask, the equivalent, in modern terms to the office water cooler. Cover picture: ‘ 1953 The Review of Queen Elizabeth by C E Turner (1883 – 1965) showing Despatch Vessel Photographs courtesy of the National Museum of the Royal Navy (© NMRN Crown copyright) HMS Surprise (Cdr Hennessey) wearing the Royal Standard. unless otherwise stated Image © NMM and reproduced with permission by Cosby’s Maritime Prints. See page 16

Scuttlebutt | | Scuttlebutt 2 Spring Edition Spring Edition 3 The Magazine of

friendsof the Royal The National Museum of the Naval Museum and Royal Navy (Portsmouth) HMS Victory HMS Victory and the Friends SCUTTLEBUTT AWARD WINNING MAGAZINE CHAIRMAN’S

THE COUNCIL OF THE FRIENDS OF THE ROYAL NAVAL MUSEUM AND HMS VICTORY REPORT The Editor has been walking This has all the hallmarks of being a As the Friends of the National wonderful and appropriate addition to Museum at Portsmouth and HMS Patron: HRH The Prince of around recently with a big grin the National Museum at Portsmouth. VICTORY, I can assure you that we KG, KT, OM, GCB, AK, QSO, ADC and if you look at the Letters 2014 is going to see the start of series will continue to receive reports on of commemorative events marking the the ship and publish updates in VICE PRESIDENTS page in this edition of centenary of the Great War, and this Scuttlebutt. I commend Andrew’s Admiral Sir Brian Brown KCB, CBE Scuttlebutt, you will see the edition contains an article by the article to you. Richard Irwin CB Editor explaining how we intend to use Lord Judd reason why. The first A4 Scuttlebutt to publicise the role of It is good to report that another refit of edition of Scuttlebutt resulted naval forces during . In a project backed by the Friends, the President: Sir Michael Moore KBE, LVO particular we would welcome articles Steam Pinnace 199, is going well. Chairman: Peter Wykeham-Martin Royal Navy in a deluge of Bravo Zulu from Friends. One of the aspects that They had a wonderful Open Day on Vice Chairman: John Scivier Royal Navy letters – thank you to all those the National Museum wishes to focus 2 February, with a range of visiting Executive Secretary & Treasurer: Mr Roger Trise attention on is the area of innovation glitterati from the local MP, Caroline Honorary Secretary: Dr Campbell McMurray OBE of you who took the trouble to led by the Royal Navy throughout the Dineage, the Mayor and Deputy Mayor Commodore Peter Wykeham-Martin RN war, everything from the development of and local radio. The MEMBERS OF COUNCIL write. Like any first edition of the tank to air defence of interest was astonishing, and it was a Nicholas Bates, Royal Navy there are some things that s you are all aware, from early bombing raids. great boost to all the volunteers, not Mr David Baynes – Events Organiser & Volunteer Liaison need tweaking here and there, work is progressing least because it raised over £700. Lieutenant Commander Mark Brady, Royal Navy well on the new 20th This edition also sees the first article One of the ideas launched at the Lieutenant Commander Clive Kidd, Royal Navy and hopefully you will think Century Gallery for by Andrew Baines who has recently Open Day was the “sponsor a boiler Mr Christopher Knox this edition is even better than A Storehouse 10. Whilst joined the National Museum staff tube” campaign. With over 860 tubes Captain John Roberts MBE, Royal Navy there have been the inevitable delays with the key role of leading the in the Pinnace’s boiler, the concept Mr Ivan Steele – Steam Pinnace 199 Project the last. Our hopes are that in a building of this age, it is still preservation of HMS VICTORY. was to ask people to sponsor a tube Mr Paul Woodman the advertising revenue will hoped to commence fitting out in He briefed the recent Friend’s Council for £10, or half a tube for a fiver. This September, ready for the opening in meeting on the daunting task of has really fired the imagination, and if EX OFFICIO MEMBERS OF COUNCIL help us maintain this standard March 2014. I recently went around getting the ship into better shape. you haven’t already sponsored a tube Commander John Bingeman, Royal Navy of magazine which will not the site and the first thing that struck His first task has been to initiate a – or more – please do so. There is an – Society for Nautical Research me was what a wonderful addition this thorough survey of the whole ship so advert with all the details of how to Mr Graham Dobbin – Chief Operating Officer NMRN only give current Friends good area will be for the Museum. By that a proper long term work sponsor a tube in this Scuttlebutt on Mrs Erica New – National Museum of the Royal Navy Friends Liaison value for their subscription, extending the Storehouse ground floor programme can be put in place as page 33. I hope that by the time you Lieutenant Commander Rod Strathern Royal Navy out to the colonnade, the display opposed to the somewhat haphazard receive this copy of Scuttlebutt that – Commanding Officer HMS Victory but attract new Friends. areas are well proportioned and with programme of the past which was 199 will be afloat once more and on Councillor Rob Wood - Portsmouth City Council the beams exposed, will also be basically driven by available funding. “trials”. The work done by the Councillor Chris Carter – County Council attractive. The linking passage is also His briefing of Council was a volunteers has been amazing; without taking shape and some of the larger masterpiece, succinctly explaining the their dedication this unique craft Executive Secretary exhibits including a 4” gun will be technical issues and the challenges would not be able to steam again. Roger Trise (023 9225 1589) [email protected] installed soon. Many of you will have faced. It is fair to say that your Council seen the branding for the exhibition found his initial report a little alarming, Finally, I would like to draw your The purpose of the Friends is to provide assistance to the National ‘HMS – Hear My Story’, and at a but were at least reassured that the attention to the 2013programme of Museum of the Royal Navy (Portsmouth) and HMS Victory when recent Museum Management Board first steps were in place. VICTORY events for Friends. David Baynes has requested, to promote the interests of the museum and to help Meeting we saw some of the filming, has recently made the news as she pulled together an interesting financially wherever possible with local children interviewing was closed due to some concerns programme of visits which we hope veterans. It was humbling to see the over public access. She has now re- appeal to you. Please support this National Museum of the Royal Navy, HM Naval Base (PP66) enthusiasm of the children as they opened to the public, but regrettably initiative and I hope to see many of Portsmouth PO1 3NH researched questions and the it is going to be a number of years you at the AGM on Thursday 9 May. www.royalnavalmuseum.org resulting interviews are fascinating. before we see her back to her fully rigged glory. Peter Wykeham-Martin

Scuttlebutt | | Scuttlebutt 4 Spring Edition Spring Edition 5 Director General’s Overview If 2011-12 was the year of HMS Victory, witnessing her transfer to the National Museum of the Royal Navy, then we might have hoped for a respite in 2012-13. Some hope. 2012-13 turned out to be a year of four and a gallery.

t the Submarine Museum, The other major project which has the restoration of HMS moved from planning to doing is the Alliance, our Second World construction of new 20th and 21st A War submarine, is now really century galleries in Portsmouth. The motoring. The construction of the coffer builders are on site and the new spaces dam and hard standing beneath her is are taking shape as is the glass link complete. This will allow easy access for between storehouses 10 and 11. There maintenance work on the boat in future are all sorts of new and interesting years. Meanwhile work on the boat is objects entering the collections and proceeding apace beneath a vast tent. still others being loaned to us. This will This is a nerve wracking time; as parts be an exciting space and certainly the of the submarine are removed for only dedicated modern navy gallery restoration there is always the fear she anywhere in Britain. This £4.5m project may be in worse condition than we think The ship will be open to visitors, and still has a little way to go in fundraising, and that even the £6.5m fundraising there will be shore side facilities such but Babcocks have stepped in to name target for the project will not be enough. as an exhibition space, shop and café. the galleries and Lockheed Martin has So far, so good. HMS Alliance has Fingers firmly crossed for a positive become a major corporate partner of remained open to the public almost decision in April. the museum. With help from friends throughout and new exhibitions and like these we will get there by opening learning facilities have helped keep We have also been thinking about the day in early 2014. visitor numbers up. It is anticipated that future of M33, which sits between all the work will be completed by early NMRN (P) and HMS Victory. Working Of course, these are just the highlights 2014. This is a complex project and the with her owner, Hampshire County of a year which has seen major team at the submarine museum are to Council, we plan to turn M33 into a advances everywhere: in collections, be congratulated on progress to date. Gallipoli memorial, to be opened in time in learning, and in planning for new for the centenary in 2015. This can be projects for the future. That so much Another major ship project is HMS done (just), providing that HMS Caroline has been achieved is a tribute to the Caroline. Caroline is a light is funded and we are able to turn our museum team, to the volunteers who built in 1914. She is the last survivor attention elsewhere. Fortunately, thanks give us so much of their time, energy of the and the last survivor to the good work of Hampshire County and expertise and to our wider of the Battle of . She was Council and their team, M33 is in good stakeholders who support in all kinds decommissioned in March 2011 after structural condition so that we can of ways. Of course, chief among our a long life as the RNR HQ in . concentrate scarce resources on supporters are the Friends. The re- From its very inception, the National interpretation and on creating good imagined Scuttlebutt is but one example A tribute to Baroness Thatcher Museum has been trying to save her access to the vessel. of the quality of thought that the Prime Minister of Great Britain and give her a viable future. That work Friends bring to their task and to the has begun to pay off. In November Smallest among our ship projects, is the museum. We are fortunate indeed to during the 1982 2012 we were awarded £1.1m by the steam pinnace ‘199’. She may be the have you. National Heritage Memorial Fund to smallest of the projects we are tackling safeguard the ship, and we have a in terms of size, but certainly not in And what of the future? Well watch Heritage Lottery Fund bid in for a terms of courage and imagination. The this space! further £11.4m. We believe that if pinnace team have set about raising the the HLF give us a grant, then the £100k or so needed with a will, while Dominic Tweddle matching £3m worth of funding will doing much of the work themselves. be immediately available for the project Supported by the Friends, they have to go ahead. HMS Caroline will remain raced ahead and the steam pinnace in Belfast as an out-station of the will once again grace the waters of National Museum. Portsmouth any time now. A brilliant achievement!

Scuttlebutt | | Scuttlebutt 6 Spring Edition Spring Edition 7 Farewell the topmasts - HMS Victory’s “haircut”

NEWS FROM THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE ROYAL NAVY (PORTSMOUTH) Most of this news update is devoted to bringing everybody CHIEF OPERATING up to date about the work that OFFICER’S REPORT the Museum does within the local community.

Top left: The Fishing Project Right: ‘HMS’ Hear My Story Project Far Top Right: Visitors to ‘Yarnscape’ Project Far Bottom Right: Pickle Night in the USA Museum NEWS

As you are all aware the HMS of the new galleries. The Sea Life Art and Portsmouth but also the talent and Fish and seahorses came from VISIT TO THE USA important contacts – and good friends – Hear My Story project is well and Roadshow project continues to creativity of local people. The Learning , Florida, Abu-Dhabi and 40 As I reported in the last issue Dominic – in America, one of these being our and truly underway with lots thrive and by the time it finishes in Department worked in partnership places across the UK. As a result we and I went to New York to attend the developing links with the American 2014 we will have taken the Museum with Katrina Henderson from the Art also created a special under the sea National Maritime Historical Society of new developments taking annual Pickle Night Dinner in the New to 5 different community locations and Stop Café and their knitters to create wall, which now lives opposite the York Club which is organised by for whom we have already contributed place every week. To help worked with 15 different schools. a fabric Yarnscape of Yarnscape - and I really urge as many the Museum’s American Society of several articles in their prestigious Sea deliver the project the Soon we will also be starting on the seafront, which includes a knitted Pier, of you as can to come and have a look Friends. As always, this was a History magazine. We have lots of Learning Department has ‘Big Book’ Storytelling project with the Cathedral, Canoe Lake along with – you will not be disappointed! stunning evening in magnificent ideas about how we can develop this been working hard to engage under 5s and our ‘Community Portsmouth Landmarks old and new. surroundings. Guest speakers were goodwill towards the Museum – watch new audiences as well as Curators’ project involving access As part of the project, the Community KT MacFarland (a journalist with this space! groups, local families, BAME groups The project was created in response Engagement Officer, Jo Valentine build on our existing ones, News) and Commodore Eric Fraser and the over 55s. to discovering 1940’s patterns from visited over 9 local groups to show CBE who is the Naval Attaché in Whilst in USA, Dominic and I also met and at the time of writing over ‘The Department for Knitted Garments them previously unseen artefacts and Washington. Both gave very different with the British Consul General and 6000 members of the local All these projects are essential to the for the Royal Navy’ in the collection talk about knitting and embroidery in but complementary talks on Nelson’s with the History Channel and we both community have taken part success of the HMS – Hear My Story along with wool pictures created by the Navy. Many of our fish came from leadership and the continuing special of us made side trips to Washington in activities delivered by the project as not only do they help raise sailors in 1850’s, embroidered ex-Wrens, some ex-Sailors and even relationship between the US Navy and where we met the Naval Attaché and Learning Department over awareness, and increase access, to slippers, naval mascots and even toys current personnel serving on HMS the Royal Navy. From the word go also our opposite numbers at US the project but they each result in made by the sailors themselves for Victory. The age of those taking part Naval Heritage & Command. I was the last year. there was a real buzz in the room - innovative new resources and outputs their children. ranged from 8 - 92 years old! For planning is already underway for this also lucky enough to be in New York for all our visitors to enjoy. some this was the first time they had year’s Pickle Night in New York as and Washington on Presidential These activities range from object- As part of the project the public were picked up their knitting needles in over well as considering the possibility of Election Day – being stood in Times handling sessions, talks and A good example of this is the also asked to send in knitted fish and 20 years. On top of this some keen doing similar events in and Square at about midnight when the Community Open Days to Behind the wonderful Seaside Yarnscape creatures. The response from the knitters have also made balaclavas California! The American Friends result was declared was quite an Scenes tours and bigger events such currently on display in ‘The ’ public was phenomenal. In fact we and other items from the ‘Ministry of have worked tirelessly to promote the experience! as the Hampshire Water Festival and play area in the Victory Gallery. The had over 1900 knitted creatures sent Knitted Goods’ handbook, which will Museum and it’s aspirations to the HMS Sultan Show. We have also Seaside Yarnscape Community art into to the museum. Our aim was to be available for visitors to try on in American audience and, thanks to Graham Dobbin been working with a number of local project was opened to a crowd of 120 make the project reach as far and as the new Babcock Galleries opening their efforts, we have made a lot of Chief Operating Officer schools and veterans through the people in February and celebrates not wide as the Navy and we succeeded! in 2014. Story Exchange Film project and only the history of knitting in the Navy initiatives linked to the development

Scuttlebutt | | Scuttlebutt 8 Spring Edition Spring Edition 9 Above Left: Trafalgar Day ceremony on Victory’s (crown copyright) Other notable recent visitors have nobody would fly one. Thus, at midday on 30 November Above Right: Vice Admiral Steele salutes after laying the wreath been the Indian , 12, as Admiral Sir KCB DSC handed on the spot where Nelson fell (crown copyright) the heads of Pusser’s Rum for a the role to Vice Admiral Philip Jones charity cheque presentation to the CB in the Fleet HQ on Whale Island, in a small ceremony Naval Charity, the of the Mikasa onboard 1SL’s Flagship VICTORY, Admiral Sir Mark Society with a large Japanese Stanhope’s Cross of St George Flag was ‘broken’ at the delegation (Mikasa is a Japanese main and the Union Flag hauled down. museum ship from the early 1900s and is their VICTORY equivalent) and The New Year started with addition to routine business HMS the Royal College of Defence Studies onboard with the ‘launch’ of the Submarine Command Royal Marine buglers sound the alert (crown copyright) Course (the “Perisher”), which now officially starts The sun shone on a briskly cold onboard VICTORY with a brief from the course Trafalgar Day morning, with the November saw the major annual fire exercise involving all commander (called ”Teacher”) and a tour. wreath being laid by our new Second the Emergency Services and a visit by Rear Admiral This course is famously the most difficult in the RN. Sea Lord, Vice Admiral David Steel Whitney, the Admiral responsible for all US Navy VICTORY and Supervisor of Ship Building. December saw the COMMANDING OFFICER’S REPORT and the Great South Run passed by This coincided with the now well established launch of Festival of Christmas in the arenas and adjacent areas the Commanding Officer’s Designate Course in the VICTORY RN business remains brisk as ever, with some major the Ship in . In November, Father Andrew McFadden, Senior bringing a substantial boost in visitor numbers, and a visit Great Cabin by 2SL. events since my last report, including dinner onboard in RC Chaplain of the Navy was from the Head of the Methodist Church, with the year December for the recently appointed Admiral Chirkov, Head of presented with his Monsignor’s scroll culminating in the traditional Christmas NBC and 2SL Forthcoming naval events in the next few months include the Russian Federation Navy, hosted by 1SL, who also hosted a in the Great Cabin by the RC Bishop Carol Services onboard. the supersession of the First Sea Lord on 9 April, when major dinner for the Channel Commander’s Conference in of the Forces, NAVSEC Rear Admiral Zambellas replaces Admiral Stanhope. November, for the most senior officers from the Dutch, Admiral Woodcock toured, Lion TV Of ceremonial significance, members will note VICTORY is French, Spanish, Belgian, Portugese, and Italian filmed for ‘Find my Past’ and there flying a different Admiral’s Flag at the Mainmast (1SL’s flag Finally, and sadly, a former CO, Lt Cdr Charles Addis (11 in total). A number of 2SL influence dinners have was a ‘24 hours in a Liferaft’ charity was previously a Union Flag). This is because defence died in November and through John Scivier’s request, restructuring means the First Sea Lord is the only remaining also taken place and continue as a means of engaging at high challenge in No 1 basin adjacent to with the approval of 2SL’s office, VICTORY flew her flags the Ship. full Admiral in the Navy (Fleet Commander, formerly known at half during the funeral, as a final mark of respect. level with key influencers in society in presenting as CINCLEET is a Vice Admiral now). This being so, were the Naval Case and in promoting VICTORY. 1SL not to fly the cross of St George Admiral’s Flag, Rod Strathern

Scuttlebutt | | Scuttlebutt 10 Spring Edition Spring Edition 11 Andrew Baines, Project Director for the conservation project to restore HMS Victory, takes a look at progress after a year’s hard preparatory work on this important Museum project to preserve Nelson’s great flagship for the future. CONSERVING VICTORY By the time this edition of Scuttlebutt been focussed on stabilising Victory – longitudinal axis – i.e. rolling to one lands on doormats across the stopping her condition deteriorating – side. Physical work to the ship over country, the National Museum of and gaining a thorough understanding the past year has concentrated upon the Royal Navy will have been of her fabric and the agents of preventing water ingress and responsible for the conservation of deterioration. protecting against its impact. HMS Victory for a little more than a year. To many people standing on STABILISATION & In all of this work, one is reminded the Museum’s doorstep and looking UNDERSTANDING that looking after any historic craft – across the arena towards the ship, From the perspective of the project whether a small steam pinnace or a it will appear as though little has team, on 1st April 2012 the mission first-rate line of battle ship – is never changed – the top-hamper is struck statement ran very simply ‘Fix the cheap. Some £170,000 has been Top: A sad looking Victory as far as the lower masts, the ship’s ship’! A thorough understanding of expended caulking the ; with her topmasts struck futtocks are exposed upon the what was wrong with Victory did not £50,000 painting and making good Inset: Laser scanned 3D model starboard , and yards, topmasts exist. If one does not know what’s the , fore, main and mizzen Right: The difficult task of striking down the topmasts and assorted rigging is stacked wrong, it then becomes very difficult masts; £60,000 has been expended wherever space can be found in 18 to say what ‘fixing’ Victory looks like, in painting the ship’s wetted surface – Store of the Naval Base. What, then, how long it might take and, that area of the historically below have the project team been doing for importantly, how much it might cost. water – and some £27,000 was the past twelve months? Questioning, What we could say was rain water consumed in re-preserving the understanding and planning. was entering the structure through painted surfaces of the poop, upper both the upper decks and the hull, and beak decks. In the first year of On assuming custodianship of the and that Victory’s structure was the project, £800,000 has been spent largest surviving naval artefact from moving; for thirty years the ship has on the ship. the age of , the Museum’s stated fallen in on herself at 3mm – 4mm per goal was to place conservation at year; she’s bulging at the at Alongside the efforts to stabilise the heart of the approach to Victory. a similar rate; latest indications are Victory has been the work to improve The first stages of the project are to that she is moving backwards in our understanding of her fabric; it is stabilise the artefact, and then dock, away from her bowsprit; and often claimed that Victory is a rare understand it. With these steps in some readings suggest that she may survivor from the Georgian navy or a mind, the past twelve months have be very slowly rotating along her unique relic of Nelson’s line of battle,

Scuttlebutt | | Scuttlebutt 12 Spring Edition Spring Edition 13 both of which are true, but not representative of the full picture. These three pieces of work represent HMS Victory was constructed significant investments for the NMRN, between 1759 and 1765 at a cost of CONSERVING totalling some £600,000. The current £63,000. Between 1765 and the plan allows for these three documents to ship’s participation in the Battle of be delivered by October of this year, Trafalgar, a further £207,000 was which will then see attention directed to spent on repairs to the ship – taking VICTORY preparing a plan for the conservation rotten pieces of the ship away, and project which answers the key questions: replacing them. Hand in hand with conservation – to do as much as REPORT ON REPAIR What does ‘fixing’ Victory entail? How that process came modifications to necessary, but as little as possible; PRIORITIES much will it cost? How long will it take? the ship’s layout and appearance as we are not restoring Victory for sea, Will use the findings of the structural With a completed plan it is hoped that dictated by the requirements of the we are ensuring her survival as an stability report to examine options large scale conservation work can begin service. By the time Victory was 100 historical artefact for this and future relating to the repair and in the second quarter of 2014. years old some £330,000 had been generations. strengthening of deteriorated or spent on her maintenance, more than poorly connected elements of In the meantime the Victory project is five times the original cost of her STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS structure and the comparative engaged in some smaller-scale projects construction. Over the following 150 In simple terms, Victory is a structure benefits of different repair methods. designed to assist in understanding the years, millions of pounds have been doing something for which she was ship. Notable amongst these is a survey spent on the ship’s maintenance, and not designed: the ship sits in a dry- REPORT ON HULL of the shipwrights’ marks known as ‘race later restoration & conservation. dock whilst she was designed to be SUPPORT SYSTEM marks’. These marks provide information Today we are custodians of a 250- afloat. Complicating this picture is PROPOSALS on the dates at which pieces were year old ship that is an amalgam of the ship’s long history of repair. The Will examine the effects of different incorporated into the ship. A recent the original eighteenth century design, structural analysis is predicated upon support systems on the ship and survey has recorded almost 600 visible 50 years of seagoing maintenance a programme of laser scanning, and output design loads for design of the marks throughout the ship’s structure; we and repair, a century of support in the will deliver the following information: recommended support system. await with interest the final written report. dockyard and 90 years of restoration 3D Structural Solid Models for Ultimately the structural analysis Other work will focus on the analysis of in dry dock. The challenge now is to Analysis and for Reference reports and models will allow us to historic paint samples recovered from understand what this means in terms The structural solid model will allow plan the necessary work to Victory Victory – these will assist in improving the of the ship’s structure. NMRN to develop an information whilst minimising the risk of damage accuracy of the ship’s display, but also system for Victory which assists in to the ship’s structure. When add to our understanding of the history A three-stranded approach has been recording the structure, modifications, combined with an improved of the ship’s repairs. taken to understanding the ship as an conservation treatments and understanding of Victory’s material artefact and planning her conservation. condition reports. history, NMRN will be in a position to Alongside these practical measures, we In summary, we have undertaken a make informed and appropriate will also be looking at ways to improve shipwrights’ survey of the ship, 3D STRUCTURAL decisions on the repair methodology public access to and understanding of commissioned a full structural analysis WIREFRAME MODEL whilst staying true to the maxim of the ship’s conservation process. With and will develop a conservation The wireframe model will be the ‘as much as necessary, but as little the topmasts struck and hull planking management plan for Victory. primary means of assessing structural as possible.’ removed some visitors may feel integrity within the ship’s structure. disappointed; we must accentuate the THE SHIPWRIGHTS’ It will be delivered in an industry- PREPARATION OF A positives – never before has a visitor had SURVEY standard format that can be CONSERVATION the opportunity to see the process of This survey was the first piece of manipulated and interrogated. MANAGEMENT PLAN conserving a ship like Victory on so large work to be undertaken in the attempt The final strand of the approach is a scale. The challenge is to ensure that to assess Victory’s material state. SET OF 2D GENERAL the preparation of a conservation our visitors are as excited by that Each and every accessible plank, ARRANGEMENT management plan (CMP)for HMS prospect as we are. knee, and futtock has been DRAWINGS Victory. In very simple terms, the inspected and reported upon. The At present there is not a complete set CMP is a document that improves The years that follow will prove to be assessment has focussed upon the of accurate drawings for Victory – our understanding of Victory’s important ones for Victory, but without condition of the piece – if it is rotten – another key requirement for recording significance and contains policies to doubt the success of the conservation and the state of the fixings – whether the ship’s structure. help protect that importance. It is a work will be decided by the two years present, if so in what quantities and strategic document that will guide our spent stabilising, understanding condition. This piece of work alone REPORT ON STRUCTURAL approach to Victory’s conservation. and planning. gives us enough information to STABILITY replace all the defective elements of Will assess the structural stability of Andrew Baines the ship, but to do so would miss the the ship in its current form. Top: 3D Structural modelling fundamental approach of Middle: Caulking the forecastle Bottom: Working with traditional oakum & pitch

Scuttlebutt | | Scuttlebutt 14 Spring Edition Spring Edition 15 Main picture: HMS Queen Elizabeth, flagship of the Commander-in-Chief Atlantic Fleet steams past HM King onboard HM Yacht Victoria & Albert at a fleet review off 4th July 1922 Inset picture: A storm tossed bravely escorting a North Atlantic in 1941 during the

Because he had seen active service Turner was chosen to illustrate for and had developed an easy familiarity Churchill Cigar Boxes and was with ships and the sea and had been commissioned also by some of the successfully drawing and painting major shipping lines: his paintings of them for many years, he was the big Cunarders of the 1940 and employed as a war artist by the 50s especially are well known as THE PAINTINGS OF Admiralty in WW2. He was therefore posters. To all these and his other CHARLES EDDOWES TURNER (1883-1965) eagerly courted by the Illustrated works he brought an air of authority, London News and the Sphere for of an artist who knew his subject well whom, with Admiralty approval, he and who had a style that conveyed produced, during those war years, drama - yet was anchored to realism. many single and double page spreads His work was considered “closely of current naval actions and activities. observed, highly detailed”. The 3 paintings reproduced here are part CHARLES The editors had their stories well and of Captain Rick Cosby’s collection, strikingly illustrated, the Admiralty www.martimeprints.com which offers must have been pleased that the prints of some 200 similar images depictions were accurate; and for sale. Turner himself acquired an enviable reputation as an artist and illustrator in For those who prefer original works of whom official confidence was placed. art, try www.maritimeoriginals.com: EDDOWES His paintings were consequently both collections are continuously much sought after when the originals expanding. (which had appeared in the Rick is at [email protected] magazines) began to appear in the and on 01935 389927. years following the war. Although he TURNER painted very successfully in oil, Rick Cosby

lthough he is perhaps best known for these, A his iconic “The Sinking of BISMARCK” (1941), “The sinking of SCHARNHORST” (1943) and “HMS VANGUARD being Towed out of Portsmouth” (1960) are very highly regarded and, together with others of his, are in the possession of the NMM and the IWM.

monochrome gouache and pencil and grey wash appear to have been his favourite mediums and these well suited magazines publishing in wartime where colour was not only a relatively new process but almost certainly prohibitively demanding of C E Turner was a painter and illustrator of the same generation as Wilkinson, scarce resources. Dawson, Cull, McDowell and Langmaid. Widely described and written up as “a captain in the Fleet Air Arm”, I have concluded that he was, in fact, a flier with the RNAS () in WW1 who may have then transferred to the The other two pictures. A name in the news at present: HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH speeds past RFC in 1918 where he attained the rank of Captain. No matter – what is clear is HM The King at a Review of the Atlantic Fleet off Torbay, 1922; and appropriately for the 70th anniversary celebrations marking the Battle of the Atlantic to be held later this year, “a Corvette that he was at the top of his game when it came to his art! He exhibited at the guards a North Atlantic Convoy” (still showing the censor’s approving signature dated 25 June RA and in Manchester and and for many years lived at Looe in . 1941). Both images courtesy Maritime Prints, © C E Turner; the 1922 Review by kind permission of Captain N P Wright CVO RN.

Scuttlebutt | | Scuttlebutt 16 Spring Edition Spring Edition 17 The World’s last surviving Dreadnought The World’s last surviving USS Texas - Her massive 14 inch guns Dreadnought USS Texas demonstrates the awesome power that made all Naval ships before the Dreadnaought, obsolete at a stroke

COMING OF THE GREAT WAR John Roberts, from the Museum of Naval Firepower, starts our new series commemorating the Great War

Orion Class in line ahead ver the next few years there will be More detailed information will be readily available from: a whole host of events, activities, “In 1909 the Admiralty The led First World War Centenary lectures, programmes, presentations Partnership Programme – the network of international estimated that and publications to commemorate the O organisations that are coordinating plans to mark the centenary of the Great War, the “War to end all Centenary – which now has over 800 members. This means would reach the most Wars” 1914 - 1918. that information about the interesting and varied events favourable ratio of naval In the spring next year the museum will open its happening all over the world throughout 2014-2018 can be strength by the autumn of major exhibition ‘Hear My Story’, telling the communicated to as wide an audience as possible. Hopefully, you will have the opportunity to attend one of these wherever 1914. Furthermore with the stories of the men and women who have made the Royal Navy’s history over the last century. you live. Please keep an eye on www.1914.org where further completion of the widening ‘Scuttlebutt’ intends to produce a commentary information will be communicated about these plans in on the key naval events of a hundred years ago due course. of the by that and to publicise the main activities of naval If you work for a not-for-profit organisation that is planning time, it was considered the interest. Any of our readers who are aware of any something for the Centenary, please go to the website such activities are invited to provide details to www.1914.org/partners/ for more information on the most probable date for the the Museum or to the editor of ‘Scuttlebutt’ so benefits of becoming a member and how you can join outbreak of war” that they can be included in forthcoming editions the Partnership. of the magazine.

Scuttlebutt | | Scuttlebutt 18 Spring Edition Spring Edition 19 COMING OF THE GREAT WAR BRIEF TIMELINE OF THE STORY SO FAR The HMS Indefatigable 1897 – 1913 “The creation of the German Navy was one of the main causes of the Great War” 1897: Jun – The great Diamond Jubilee Fleet Review of 1903: Fisher Selbourne Scheme to improve officer training at Spithead (173 of the Royal Navy). - introduced. Admiral Tirpitz, appointed Secretary of State for the , presents a memorandum to the Kaiser defining 1904: Feb – Russo Japanese War. Britain and sign the purpose of the new Imperial German Navy to rival Great ‘Entente Cordial’ Britain, the principal enemy. Oct – Admiral Jacky Fisher appointed First Sea Lord 1898: ‘The Challenge!’ – Germany enacted Launch of Dec – Channel Fleet re-styled the first of a series of Naval Laws HMS King George V the Atlantic Fleet and the (Novellas) planning the building of a fleet at Portsmouth 1912 Home Fleet became the new more powerful than the Royal Navy in Channel Fleet with twelve home waters, authorising eight battleships, battleships (four coming from twelve large and thirty light . At the the Mediterranean Fleet). time Britain was facing political isolation in . The ‘Fashoda’ Crisis and imperial 1905: German strategy rivalry between Britain and France in Africa determined by ‘Schlieffen Plan’ brought the two countries close to war. to defeat France first by attacking through Belgium 1899: Oct – in South then switch to eastern front to Secret experiments in predictive fire control conducted. 1910: Fisher relieved by Admiral Arthur Wilson as First Sea Africa forced increases in defence defeat Russia. Feb – Dreadnought launched by Edward VII at Portsmouth Lord. The German military threat became a major election expenditure with resources being switched May – Russian Second Pacific Oct – Dreadnought commissioned issue. to the Army. Naval Brigades landed with defeated by Admiral Apr – Launch of Britain’s biggest ever battleship so far, aptly guns from armoured cruisers. Togo at 1907: Home Fleet reformed under Vice Admiral Francis named HMS Colossus First Hague Peace Conference. May – Design of Dreadnought Bridgeman [Naval : £40.42m] approved Failure of Second Hague Peace Conference 1900: 1st Jan – the Kaiser proclaims Aug – Review of the Fleet by Jul – of first German Dreadnought, Nassau, laid down. 1911: formed “As my grandfather did for the army, Edward VII at Spithead Germany ordered three more and work Jun - King George V Coronation Fleet Review so I will do for my navy” Oct – Dreadnought laid down commenced to widen the to take Dreadnoughts Jul - Agadir Crisis Naval Brigades in action in the Boer War in Portsmouth. British rapprochement with Russia Oct – Churchill appointed First Lord of the Admiralty and in the in . [Naval Estimates: £31.25 m] [Naval Estimates: £44.39 m] France and Russia building powerful heavy 1906: Liberal Government, armoured cruisers – Britain forced to opposed to heavy expenditure 1908: ‘German naval scare’ – expanded German industrial 1912: Apr - France & Britain coordinate naval strategy respond to maintain her policy of on naval construction elected. capacity accelerated German armament production and naval whereby France covers the Mediterranean and Britain guards “Fleet size equal to the next two powers construction. German supplementary naval law authorised the the Channel. plus a margin” building of four Dreadnoughts that year plus four in 1909 and The Admiralty authorised the building of a fast squadron of ’s technical innovations HMS Iron Duke, flagship of the Grand Fleet, more in subsequent years. five powerful battleships armed with 15-inch guns (The Queen revolutionised naval gunnery and fire in the Aug - Battlecruiser HMS Indomitable achieves steamship Elizabeth class with the lead ship being built in Portsmouth). control to extend engagement range speed record of 26 knots Sept – British capital ships withdrawn from the Mediterranean at sea. Bosnian-Herzegovian crisis. and replaced by French battleships from the Atlantic First Lord of the Admiralty (Reginald McKenna) warned the Oct – Outbreak of First Balkan War 1901: Jan – Queen Victoria died at Cabinet that six more Dreadnoughts would need to be Oct – HMS Iron Duke largest & most powerful battleship at Osborne House, authorised to match German construction plans. the time launched at Portsmouth Admiral Jackie Fisher appointed [Naval Estimates: £32.18 m] [Naval Estimates: £45.075 m] Second Sea Lord The first Royal Navy submarine, 1909: the Admiralty estimated that Germany would reach the 1913: Mar - Churchill presents naval estimates to Parliament Holland 1, launched. most favourable ratio of naval strength in the autumn of 1914. for five battleships and twenty-four cruisers and . Furthermore with the completion of the Kiel Canal at the same Britain increased recruiting for her Navy by 146,000 & 1902: Anglo – Japanese treaty reduces time, it was considered the most probable date for the Germany increased recruiting for her Army by 210,000 need for British naval strength to be outbreak of war. Jun – Outbreak of Second Balkan War deployed to the . Jun – Review of Atlantic Fleet and Home Fleet Aug – Edward VII Coronation Fleet Review “We want eight and we won’t wait!” - Declaration of London Home Fleet first formed as Home [Naval Estimates: £35.73 m] Squadron.

Scuttlebutt | | Scuttlebutt 20 Spring Edition Spring Edition 21 COMING OF THE GREAT WAR

HMS Dreadnought THE BACKGROUND “The creation of the German Navy was one of the main causes of the Great War”

The tumultuous first decade of the twentieth century, leading up to the Great War, was dominated by the Anglo-G erman Naval Arms race with the frantic Dreadnought building programmes of the two rival super powers. That era saw the culmination of the the biggest empire in history, known as ‘the empire on which the sun never set’ and at that time governing over a quarter of the world. Thanks to the ‘Pax Britannica’ the previous century had been a period of relative world peace, prosperity and stability. It was also a great era of Briti sh seapower with the Royal Navy unchallenged as the dominant navy, policing the world’s oceans. The Royal Navy supported and defended the empire and was maintained at a size greater than the next two navies, those of France and Russia, combined, plus a margin. It was a period when the British were intensely proud of their empire and navy and took a great interest, in all matters pertaining to the Royal Navy. In 1898 Fred T Jane published the very first edition of ‘Jane’s Fighting Ships’, it was to become the classic reference work on the world’s navies providing specifications and technical details of all the world’s fighting ships. It was fascinating reading for many people of the time and copies were readily available in most public libraries. Even the German Kaiser studied it in great detail as, incidentally, did Hitler many years later. In fact battleships fascinated both the Kaiser and Hitler and, as well as visiting them whenever there was an opportunity, they made designs of their own. Certainly today that classic, international, HMS Bellerophon SMS Konig reference book appears on the bridge of virtually all warships.

At the opening of the twentieth century Britain and Germany enjoyed close, friendly relations, with Victoria’s grandson, the Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, having been made an admiral of the fleet in the Royal Navy, an honour of which he was immensely proud. Britain, with the biggest navy in the world, and Germany, with the biggest army in the world, were no threat to each other. Germany, with only a very small coastal defence navy, HMS King George V could not cross the North Sea to invade Britain whilst Britain, with only a small standing army, could not challenge the mighty army of Germany. It was said that if the British did try to land an army the local German police force would be sent to arrest it. That all changed when the Kaiser, having got rid of Bismarck, the iron HMS Ajax chancellor, dreamed of colonies and a great . But he realised that a powerful navy was an Guns of HMS essential prerequisite to overseas possessions, trade and empire building. Queen Elizabeth In 1887, the year before he became the Kaiser, Wilhelm sailed to attend his grandmother’s Golden Jubilee celebrations and on passage to he met a thirty eight year old German naval officer, Alfred Tirpitz. Tirpitz HMS Conqueror impressed Wilhelm and following a meeting several years later, at which Tirpitz advocated building battleships, the then Kaiser Wilhelm II realised he had found the right man to create the powerful navy he needed. Tirpitz was appointed to Berlin and tasked with drawing up plans to build a High Fleet. Promoted Captain, Tirpitz became Chief of the German Naval Staff in 1895 and at the end of the year he presented his plans to the HMS Revenge Kaiser. Two years later he briefed the Kaiser that the principal enemy was England and that the main area of conflict would be the North Sea. It was always Tirpitz’ intention to concentrate the activities of the German Navy in a powerful battle fleet, in the North Sea and the Baltic, he had said “…Germany must have a battle-fleet so strong that even for the strongest sea power (Britain) a war would involve such dangers as to imperil its position in the world…”. Tirpitz required every possible to serve in the Imperial , to face the mighty British Fleet across the North Sea. He was not in favour of sending warships overseas where they would not only be denuding the High seas Fleet of vital cruisers but where they would be operating in oceans SMS Grosser Kurfurst where Germany had very few bases and lacked the necessary facilities to support such distant ships. Within a short space of time Germany enacted several naval laws and started to launch warships of all sizes, which The Grand Fleet alarmed the British despite the huge superiority of the Royal Navy. The aim was to complete two squadrons of eight German battleships by 1905 but by that time the whole scene was to change.

Launch of HMS Dreadnought (keel laid at Portsmouth on 2nd October 1905) Despite the ambitious German naval building plans their growing navy was greatly outnumbered by the massive size of the British Fleet but then in 1906 a momentous event occurred which was to completely change the situation. On 9 February of that year King Edward VII went down to Portsmouth Dockyard and spent the night onboard the Victoria and Albert. The next day, in the pouring rain, dressed as an admiral of the fleet, he launched HMS Dreadnought, a revolutionary, new, fast, all big gun, battleship, which was to transform naval warfare. Admiral Jacky Fisher, the brilliant, dynamic, First Sea Lord, of the day was credited with her conception. Jane’s Fighting Ships, in 1905 described the Dreadnought as “…an all-big-gun ship with 12-inch guns,

Scuttlebutt | | Scuttlebutt 22 Spring Edition Spring Edition 23 COMING OF THE GREAT WAR

powered by turbines, which gave her a speed of 21 knots. Given her speed, gun power, speed of their construction in four modern German shipyards. In 1905 Lord Cawdor, range and the smashing effect of the concentrated force of heavy projectiles she should the First Lord of the Admiralty, issued a memorandum, established a building easily be equal to any two or three of most of the ships afloat…” programme of four Dreadnoughts a year, which would be required to maintain the necessary strength of the British Fleet. In 1906 the newly elected Liberal A naval writer at the time wrote of the launch “…the eyes of the world were on HMS government wished to increase the welfare budget and reduce spending on Dreadnought…it was the most deadly fighting machine ever launched in the history of the armaments, by cutting one Dreadnought from each of the 1906 & 1907 programmes world…”. She was revolutionary for several reasons, first she was powered by steam and two from the 1908 programme. The result was that by 1908 Britain had eight turbines instead of the usual reciprocating engines, which made her much faster and more Dreadnought battleships built, building and authorised (plus four ) reliable at sea. She could attain speeds up to twenty-three knots. She was heavily armoured whereas Germany had seven battleships (plus three battlecruisers) built, building and with eleven inch belt armour, but the biggest innovation was the inclusion of ten big 12-inch ordered. It was in that year, that Britain became seriously alarmed by the speed of the guns instead of the usual mix of four big guns and many other different size guns. The main German battleship construction programme with their ability to construct guns for armament of big guns was arranged in twin turrets to provide a broadside of eight guns on four and possibly more Dreadnoughts a year. At that rate the Admiralty estimated either side. These guns fired 850lb shells out to a range of 21,000 yards. that Germany would reach the most favourable ratio of naval strength in the autumn In 1905 Britain had been privileged in having several observers onboard Admiral Togo’s fleet of 1914 (Britain would have twenty-two battleships and ten battlecruisers, whilst at the Battle of Tsushima when the Japanese fleet destroyed the Imperial Russian fleet in Germany would have sixteen battleships and six battlecruisers). Furthermore with the the strait of Tsushima. At that time fleets closed to nearly point-blank range and opened fire completion of the widening of the Kiel Canal at the same time, it was considered the with all their different calibre guns, locally controlled. This made accurate fire difficult, but most probable date for the outbreak of war from the naval point of view. Once the detailed analysis of the battle indicated that by just using guns of the same calibre, centrally Kaiser Wilhelm 11 HM George V public became aware of the situation they began to agitate for more British controlled to fire , the fall of shot, the splashes, could be observed, relative to the battleships. Whipped up by the press the public demanded eight new battleships to target. If the splashes were in front or behind the target the guns could be elevated or maintain sufficient superiority of battleship numbers over the German High Seas depressed, and if the splashes were ahead or astern, guns could be trained to bear HMS Benbow Fleet. The slogan of ‘We want eight and we won’t wait’ was taken up and eventually accordingly, until the target was straddled and then broadsides could be fired. So as a result the Liberal government gave way and authorised an accelerated building programme. by using just big guns in unison the range could be greatly extended with some accuracy. This was the theory behind Dreadnought’s, centrally controlled, all big gun concept. Bigger Guns & Better Ships At that stage British and German Dreadnoughts were both being armed with 12-inch At a stroke Dreadnought made all other battleships built and building obsolete, it also meant guns but the next British Dreadnoughts (the four Orion class) were to be armed with of course, that, the existing battle fleet of the Royal Navy was also made obsolete. Tirpitz bigger 13.5-inch guns (firing 1,250shells out to a range of 24,000 yards) and they and the Kaiser realised that with all existing fleets obsolete this now gave Germany the were called super-Dreadnoughts, but the size of their guns was kept secret and the chance to start afresh, on level terms, and build a new fleet of modern Dreadnought type Germans continued with 12-inch guns. The follow on classes, the four King George V battleships to rival the Royal Navy and thus began the intense Anglo-German naval race class and the four Iron Duke class, ordered in the subsequent years, were also to be that was to culminate in the First World War. armed with the 13.5-inch guns, all the while the Germans continued with 12-inch guns. By 1911 Britain now had twenty-two Dreadnoughts built and building and was The Battlecruiser Concept ordering three or four battleships and one battlecruiser a year to maintain the Whilst the Dreadnought battleship was an undoubted success and formed the backbone of acceptable margin over the expanding German High Seas Fleet in the forthcoming the British and German fleets another type of was being developed at the same clash, which, by that time Britain was certain would happen. Throughout the Navy the time, which was to prove controversial. Admiral Jacky Fisher conceived the idea of a opinion had grown strongly that Germany’s huge naval effort could only end in war completely different type of warship, which was to become known as the battlecruiser. The between England and Germany. In October of that year Churchill was appointed First first battlecruiser was HMS Invincible completed just over a year later than Dreadnought in Lord of the Admiralty and being newly arrived at the Admiralty it was fully expected March 1908. This new warship was in fact an evolution of the armoured cruiser or protected that he would merely rubber stamp the next order for four more Dreadnoughts for cruiser, but it was similar to the Dreadnought battleship in size and with a similar all big gun the 1912 programme armed with 13.5-inch guns even though such big guns were armament, though faster. The extra speed was achieved by sacrificing armour, but this made unproven and not yet at sea. Churchill, however, was desperate to increase the size it more vulnerable to heavy calibre battleship guns. Fisher claimed that with her superior of their main armament even further, this time to huge 15-inch calibre guns, speed the battlecruiser could catch any other ship and destroy it but at the same time was considerably more powerful than any other naval guns in existence at that time (the fast enough to escape any battleship. Fisher planned to use the battlecruiser to hunt and US and Japanese were trying enormous 14-inch calibre guns). The new 15-inch gun catch enemy raiding cruisers and commerce destroyers, overseas. He was so confident of was essentially an increased 13.5-inch Mk V but it was not known whether it would his idea that he ordered the first three battlecruisers (Invincible class), at the same time. This work at such extreme pressures, the increase of 1.5 inches in calibre increased the idea rather contrasted with Tirpitz intention, at the time not to deploy raiding cruisers, lacking weight of shell by over 50% to 1,920lbs. There was an enormous risk in fitting new, the port facilities overseas to support them and so to some extent negating the rationale for untried, unproven guns, nevertheless Churchill took a bold gamble and ordered forty battlecruisers. The main problem was that because the battlecruisers looked like 15-inch guns. A top-secret programme was conducted at the Elswick foundry on the Dreadnoughts in shape and size, and carried the same big guns the battlecruisers operated new 15-inch gun; the experiments were nicknamed the “hush and push” trials. Those with the Dreadnought battle fleet. trials, described officially as “14-inch gun trials” were an outstanding success and the BL 15-inch/42 calibres Mk I gun was to become the standard battleship gun in the The Naval Scare of 1909 Royal Navy. The new battleships of the 1912 programme were the Queen Elizabeth Main armament big guns were highly complex weapons to design and manufacture, so the class, with the first being built in Portsmouth, and they were to be among the finest time needed for their production was usually the main determinant for the overall length of ships ever built for the Royal Navy. The following year, 1913 Churchill presented his time required for the building and completion of a new battleship or battlecruiser. The estimates to Parliament for yet a further class of ships, the Royal Sovereign class, provision of main armament was therefore vital in a naval armament race. Britain had a head again to be armed with 15-inch guns. These battleships were built just in time to play start by building the first Dreadnought swiftly, using guns prepared for another class of older important roles in the First World War, but that will be covered in subsequent editions battleships. But the German Navy was very soon building Dreadnoughts and increasing the of ‘Scuttlebutt’.

Scuttlebutt | | Scuttlebutt 24 Spring Edition Spring Edition 25 COMING OF THE GREAT WAR

ANGLO – GERMAN NAVAL RACE UP TO 1913 (DREADNOUGHTS COMPLETED) The inclusion of battlecruisers in the Dreadnought arms race was highly controversial as for the most part the British battlecruisers lacked the armour to stand up to large calibre guns, whereas the German battlecruisers were almost as heavily armoured as the earlier British Dreadnought battleships. Nevertheless both are listed below to fully illustrate the race. YEAR BRITISH GERMAN Battleships Battlecruisers (Total) ** Battleships Battlecruisers (Total) Next Auction 1st May 2013 1906 Dreadnought* 25 Blythe Road, London, W14 0PD (G = 10 x 12 in) (A = 11 in/8 in) (1) 1907

1908 Invincible Indomitable Inflexible (G = 8 x 12 in) (A = 6 in/7 in) (1 + 3) 1909 Bellerophon* Westfalen (Bluecher)*** Temeraire Nassau (G = 12 x 8.2 in) Superb (G = 12 x 11 in) (A = 6 in /6 in) (G = 10 x 12 in) (A = 11 in/11 in) (A = 11 in/8 in) (4 + 3) ½ ½ (2 + 1) 1910 St Vincent* Posen Von der Tann Collingwood Rheinland (G = 8 x 11 in) Vanguard (G = 12 x 11 in) (A = 9 in/9 in) (G = 10 x 12 in) (A = 11 in/11 in) ½ (A = 10 in/11 in) (7 + 3) ½ ½ (4 + 2) 1911 Neptune* Indefatigable Thuringen Moltke Colossus (G = 8 x 12 in) Helgoland (G = 10 x 11 in) Hercules (A = 6 in/7 in) Ostfriesland (A = 11 in/10 in) (G = 10 x 12 in) (G = 12 x 12 in) (A = 11 in/11 in) (10 + 4) (A = 11 in/12 in) (7 + 3) ¾ 1912 Orion* **** Oldenburg***** Goeben Monarch Lion Kaiser (G = 10 x 11 in) Thunderer Princess Royal Friedrich der Grosse (A = 11 in/10 in) Conqueror (G = 8 x 13.5 in) (G = 10 x 12 in) (G = 10 x 13.5 in) (A = 9 in/9 in) (A = 13 in/11 in) (A = 12 in/11 in) ¾ ¾ King George V* (15 + 7) (10 + 4) 1913 Centurion Australia**** Kaiserin Seydlitz Ajax Queen Mary Prinz Regent Luitpold (G = 10 x 11 in) A rare fifteen-star flag used by Captain Thomas Brown in his lake actions the Anglo-American (Audacious)****** (G = 8 x 13.5 in) Koenig Albert (A = 11 in/8 in) - 61 x 36 in. (155 x 91.5 cm.), (G = 10 x 13.5 in) (A = 9 in/9 in) (G = 10 x 12 in) together with an oil on canvas oval portrait of Thomas Brown in the uniform of (A = 12 in/11 in) (18 + 9) (A = 13 in/11 in) (13 + 5) Lieutenant of the U.S. Navy, c.1807, unsigned - 12 x 19½ in. (30.5 x 24 cm.) ¾ ¾ £18,000-25,000 *Built in Portsmouth Dockyard ** (Battleships + battlecruisers) *** Though longer and faster than Westfalen she was under armed **** Built as Indefatigable class ships ***** Built as Helgoland class ship ****** Sunk the following year

G = size of main armament guns John Roberts A = thickness of belt armour/turret armour ‘Explosion’ Museum of Naval Firepower

Scuttlebutt | | Scuttlebutt 26 Spring Edition Spring Edition 27 199’s HOTCHKISS GUN hilst the Museum’s steam pinnace, ‘199’, is launches so that they could be used as harbour defence being completely refitted in the Maritime vessels. They were also fitted in the famous small 199’s Hotchkiss gun in ‘Explosion’s’ workshops The gleaming 3 pdr Hotchkiss mounted onboard 199 W Heritage workshop at Gosport, her main HM Ships Mimi and Toutou which fought on Lake Tanganyika armament, the QF 3 pdr (47 mm) Hotchkiss Mk I gun is being in 1915. They could as well be landed with shore parties in refurbished in the workshops at ‘Explosion’ the museum of support of operations onshore. naval firepower at Priddy’s Hard also at Gosport. ‘Explosion’ museum has very recently refurbished one of the Royal Navy The first Hotchkiss naval guns ordered for the Royal Navy Museum’s 40mm Bofors guns and in fact the Bofors gun can were the QF 6 pounders, ordered in June 1884. The naval QF be clearly seen in the background in the photographs of 3 pounders (French M 1885 guns, basically a scaled down 199’s Hotchkiss gun in the workshop. Steam pinnace 199 version of the 6 pounder) were ordered from Hotchkiss the was built in 1911 as a , considered to be one of following year and were later manufactured under licence at two built for the Orion class Dreadnought battleship, HMS Woolwich. The first Mk I QF 3 pounders were ordered in Monarch, completed in March 1912. 199 would have been 1886 and well over 3,000 were manufactured. The 3 pounder powerfully armed with a QF 3 pdr Hotchkiss and a Maxim Hotchkiss was widely used in all types of ships until machine gun. The present 199 Hotchkiss Mk I gun was one eventually replaced by the Vickers (Mk I) 3 pounder, an of the earliest guns produced, being built in 1887, and bears improved but very similar gun to the Hotchkiss. an 1898 proof plate. In the 1950s the Royal Navy adapted obsolete QF Hotchkiss The QF (Quick Firing) 3 pounder Hotchkiss guns were Mk I 3 pounder guns as portable saluting guns for ceremonial The museum’s 40 mm Bofors gun at ‘Explosion’ important naval guns, which were used extensively by the occasions. The guns are easily bolted to the when Royal Navy during both World Wars. 2,950 guns were built for required and were used onboard HMS Invincible to fire a the Royal Navy and some are actually still in use to this day as twenty-one gun salute to HM The Queen at the Fleet Review saluting guns. The original Hotchkiss gun was designed by in July 2005. Earlier this year, in February, the Royal Navy the American engineer, Benjamin Hotchkiss, who set up an fired a twenty-one gun salute at Fort Blockhouse with QF 3 arms company near Paris in the late nineteenth century (the pdr Hotchkiss saluting guns to mark the 60th Anniversary of company also produced famous cars). The first guns, being the accession to the throne by HM Queen Elizabeth. relatively light and portable, were mounted on wheels and used as land guns. The QF naval guns first entered service in ‘Explosion’ museum has a number of Hotchkiss and Maxim 1885. They were medium light guns, mostly 3 and 6 guns in the museum collection both on display in the main pounders, designed to provide close defence for big ships, galleries and in the reserve collection (see photographs). mostly against fast and attack craft and act generally The museum also holds one portable Hotchkiss naval saluting as guard boats. The guns were refined and modified with gun in the collection, which is fired from time to time. experience and large quantities were manufactured. As they were light and fairly robust they were very versatile and could John Roberts The gun gallery at ‘Explosion’ museum be fitted on all sorts of ships, including merchant ships, trawlers and . They were widely mounted on

Scuttlebutt | | Scuttlebutt 28 Spring Edition Spring Edition 29 From Russia Raising to with love Distinction Cruiser Aurora

Open Morning Sat 21 Sept 2013 Admissions Deadline

rying to keep up with the current Bond film PR is shown. Possibly the Russian government had concerns about the Wed 15 Jan 2014 explosion, but on a budget from a different planet, effect of firing the gun again! I have travelled far in search of this story. I was Queen Victoria School in T recently in St Petersburg in Russia (formerly In 1922, Aurora was returned to service as a . During Dunblane is a co-educational Petrograd and then Leningrad). One of the interesting sights there is the Second World War, the guns were taken from the ship and used boarding school for children of the famous cruiser Aurora, a survivor of the Imperial Russian Navy of in the land defence of Leningrad. The ship herself was docked in Armed Forces personnel who are the Czars, which was built between 1897 and 1900 by the “New Oranienbaum port, and was repeatedly shelled and bombed. On 30 Admiralty” in St. Petersburg and joined Russia’s Baltic fleet in 1903. September 1941 she was damaged and sunk in the harbour. After Scottish, have served in The ship is 418 feet in length, 55 foot beam and displaces 7,600 extensive repairs in 1945 - 1947, Aurora was permanently anchored or are part of a Scottish regiment. tons. A top speed of 20 knots, she had a range of 4,500 nautical on the Neva in St Petersburg as a monument to the Great October miles at 10 knots. Socialist Revolution and in 1957 became a museum-ship. The QVS experience encourages and develops well-rounded, She has three shafts each with a triple expansion reciprocating From 1984 to 1987 the cruiser was once again placed in her confident individuals in an steam engine. There were 24 coal-fired Belleville boilers. Total power construction , the Admiralty , for capital restoration. was 11,610 hp. Her armament varied during her career but in 1917 During the overhaul, due to deterioration, the ship’s hull below the environment of stability she had 14 x 6 inch guns, 4 x 3 inch AA and three torpedo tubes. waterline was replaced with a new welded hull according to the and continuity. original drawings. The cut off lower hull section was towed into the During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05, the cruiser took part in , to the unfinished base at Ruchi, and sunk near the The main entry point is into the Battle of Tsusima. Amongst the ship’s exhibits visitors can see a shore. The restoration revealed that some of the ship parts, including Primary 7 and all places are fully portrait of the ship’s captain, who was killed during the battle. The the armour plates, were originally made in England, which put in funded for tuition and boarding crew used part of the Aurora’s penetrated armour to Captain doubt the previously maintained image of the cruiser as a marvel of by the Ministry of Defence. Yegoryev’s photograph. authentic Russian naval engineering! Families are welcome to find out In 1917, as the main training ship of the Baltic fleet, the Aurora took In 1927, Aurora was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for her an active part in the Revolution. On the night of October 25/26 1917, revolutionary merits and on 1968 the Order of the October more by contacting Admissions she fired a blank shot at the Winter Palace, then the residence of the Revolution. The latter features the image of the cruiser herself. She on +44 (0) 131 310 2927 Provisional Government, giving the signal to the rebellious workers, is now maintained by cadets from the nearby Nakhimov Navy School. to arrange a visit. soldiers and sailors of the city to storm the palace. That moment triggered a dramatic episode in Russia’s history and was the start of Clearly visible on her starboard side is a steam pinnace estimated at Queen Victoria School over 70 years of Communist leadership. The ship featured in the film 35 to 40 foot long. “Nicholas and ” which tells the story of the last Russian Dunblane Perthshire monarch, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, and his wife, Tsarina Alexandra, Martin Marks OBE FK15 0JY although Aurora was filmed in the dark and only a flashing Aldis light www.qvs.org.uk Scuttlebutt | 30 Spring Edition machinery bedplates etc have had primer and undercoat. All our paint is sponsored by International. Work on caulking the deck seams with sealant kindly donated Aquaseal is well underway. The light box on top of 199AT THE MARITIME OPEN WORKSHOP BY MARTINDAY MARKS the after cabin has been disassembled, cleaned back to bare wood and the clear-on-black, glass lettering updated to “The National Museum of the Royal Navy”. STEAM PINNACE 199 The engineers have reinstalled the first piece of pipe work and ancillary PROGRESS UPDATE equipment in the engine room - the feed water manifold. This will assist The volunteers have now logged over 5,000 hours with main engine alignment work. A new cutlass rubber bearing has of work on 199 to date during the refit. This has not fitted to the A-bracket which supports the shaft and propeller outboard. been without some difficulty and unpredicted work. On the main engine, a slide valve has been ground in to eliminate the The hull survey failed to identify the poor state of the alarming knock previously experienced. Several instances of incorrect Progress with boiler room bearer installation hog (the continuation of the keel aft) and parts of material in the machinery systems have been identified and replaced the hull around the aft cockpit. and a number of excessive bearing clearances rectified.

Previous repairs using brass screws had caused Our recruiting policy for new volunteers has delivered some interesting significant damage to the planking in this area and useful new members. Trevor Gibson is a retired house building requiring some 400 of them to be replaced with carpenter who has easily switched his considerable skills to that of a copper clenches. A large section of the outer teak on maritime shipwright and is doing fine work on the after cockpit deck and the hull port aft has had to be replaced as well as a seating. Ray Windsor, a retired pathology lab technician (not much call for large section of the hog itself. The inner oak cladding that on 199 hopefully but he’s good with a deck sealant gun!) has joined has been strengthened with layers of strip wood and us “on ” from the Victory crew which seems to have been paid several frames doubled up or replaced. off or cast adrift? Steve Palmer is a recently retired RN Petty Officer Several layers of primer & undercoat on the hull (Seaman) who is qualified in safety equipment inspection and Another concern has been the delivery of the new maintenance and has Royal barge crew experience from HMY Britannia. boiler tubes which have been running late. They were He is going to formalise our life jacket maintenance system. We have delivered from Germany to the UK for bending and also recruited two unemployed volunteers and one who is disabled. For expected by 15th Feb. The last feedback was that the latter we have agreed and established a safe working envelope. the supplier was still seeking a better deal from a 199 were delighted by the recent very generous donation of bender! When they do arrive it will allow the £2,500 from The Princess Anne Charities Trust as well as £250 from engineers to start on with the hard work of fitting Norman Barton, a former naval architect at J S White’s of over new 860 tubes. The ends of each tube have to where 199 was built. Norman visited 199 in 2011 but is sadly now in be expanded into the steam drum at the top and one a nursing home. of the water (or mud) drums at the bottom. A special breed of slim engineer is needed to access the The volunteers are now looking forward to the project’s next major event steam drum to do this work. The water drums have which is the re-launch of 199.to which the readers of Scuttlebutt will access plates or hand-hole doors along its length. be invited. Caroline Dineage MP with volunteer Martin Marks OBE, in 199’s period costume. The new Sponsor-a-Boiler-Tube initiative is covered Martin Marks Plenty of tubing to go round, demonstrated by George Webb in more detail elsewhere. (see below) 199 volunteers held an Open Day at The Maritime Workshop on Saturday nd Behind all these problems and recent media reports 2 Feb. This allowed friends and the public to view progress on 199’s refit. HELP TO SECURE THE FUTURE OF AN The Maritime Workshop in Gosport to watch your tube, or tubes, on 199, the volunteers have been quietly making Amongst visitors were the MP for Gosport, Caroline Dineage, the Mayor of IMPORTANT PART OF OUR NAVAL HERITAGE being fitted. The Maritime Workshop is located at 50 Ferrol Road, Gosport, Councillor Richard Dickson and his deputy, Councillor John Beavis. good progress. Shipwright Steve has been working SPONSOR-A BOILER-TUBE Gosport, PO12 4UG (Telephone 02392 527850). We are there from Representatives of National Historic Ships and The Transport Trust also on side planking replacement and to finish the Monday to Friday between 0800 and 1700. We will acknowledge all Steam Pinnace 199 is beginning the final phase of her major refit and attended. Also present were teams from both BBC Television South and renewal of engine and boiler bearers (or mounting our sponsors by name in the permanent record of the project which conservation project, but we still need additional funds to complete Radio Solent as well as a photographer from The News. The BBC TV team girders). Very substantial box section girders have will show future generations how YOU helped to conserve her to a standard of which we can all be proud. A very tangible and produced a short piece for the South Today programme shown twice the been fitted in both spaces under the machinery but Steam Pinnace 199. visible way that YOU can help is to sponsor the replacement of one following week as well as recording for the boating programme H2O to be extended to the engine room/boiler room bulkhead Please visit the Museum's 'Just Giving' website to sponsor your or more of her boiler tubes. There are 864 tubes to be installed in the shown later in the year. Radio Solent did a live broadcast from 10.00 to where they will be bolted together using flanges on tube. Donations can be made online at: boiler and you can sponsor a new boiler tube for 199 at £10 a tube or 10.45 bringing in more visitors who heard it. Volunteers were on hand to each and through the bulkhead. This is designed to http://www.justgiving.com/Steam-Pinnace-199 £5 for half a tube. The tubes have been procured in overlapping rings strengthen the mid section of the boat and distribute which allows Gift Aid tax rebate as well, or by cheque payable answer questions on 199 and the refit as well as demonstrating the work. - see sample held here by George Webb in his left hand. In his right the machinery load throughout the hull. to: "The Royal Naval Museum Development Fund" via Ivan hand is the remains of an old tube that was cut out. The overlapping Steele, The Maritime Workshop, 50 Ferrol Road, Gosport, The 199 Sponsor-a-Boiler Tube initiative was launched (see separate details Painting on the outside hull is well underway with rings of new tubes are cut up with a "chop saw" to the correct length Hampshire, PO12 4UG . further on) and together with a large second hand book stall emphasising primer coats and undercoat completed. Also a range and with around 860 of them, it isn't going to be a quick job Large cash deposits can be handed in at The Maritime Workshop maritime books and a coffee and cake stall raised nearly £700. As well as sponsoring a tube, you are most welcome to visit of metal fittings - hatches and hatch hinges, any weekday - no questions asked!!

Scuttlebutt | | Scuttlebutt 32 Spring Edition Spring Edition 33 n 1820 the naval He included narratives of shipwrecks as CDs, ( ISBN: 978-1-877217-616), which historian James well and illustrated all three volumes with are available for sale from the shop section Ralfe published the numerous engravings, with some in full of www.genealogy.org.nz these are priced I complete works of colour. The final book was then published at $25 New Zealand dollars plus $6 by Whitmore and Fenn of Charing Cross dollars for post and packing. Having this his ‘Naval Chronology of Great and printed by Harrison of the Strand, work on CD offers various advantages. Britain 1803 – 1816’, which he London. Apart from being compact and taking had compiled, written and up little space the CD greatly simplifies edited using official documents, James Ralfe then went on to compile and searches by using the find tool in the letters, accounts and records edit ‘The Naval Biography of Great Britain’ Adobe Acrobat Reader browser. of the period. in four volumes; this covered the memoirs of naval officers during the reign of The New Zealand Society of Genealogists He had originally written and published the George III with thirty biographies in each has many collections of records that Naval Chronology in a series of twelve volume. Again he wrote and published the need to be transcribed, updated and parts, starting in 1818 with the first seven biographies in a series of parts during the indexed to make them more accessible parts and completing the following year 1820s before publishing the complete four to researchers and naval historians. with the final five parts. The complete work volumes in 1829. A number of projects are on-going and was in three combined volumes, each more volunteers are needed to help with including four original parts, covering some The complete Naval Chronology contains a these projects. Anybody who would like 969 pages and included an Appendix and prodigious amount of information of the to help or find out more about being a an index. Volume I covered the years 1803 period and provides an essential tool for project indexer is invited to contact the – 06, Volume II 1807 -09 and Volume III naval researchers and historians. The New Society by emailing: 1810 – 16. Initially when he started his Zealand Society of Genealogists took on [email protected] or naval chronology he intended to simply the project of preparing and scanning the write to The New Zealand Society of continue the work of Captain Isaac entire Chronology and this was completed Genealogists, PO Box 14036, Panmure, Schomberg and his history of the Royal with the help of volunteers from the 1741, New Zealand. Navy but Ralfe went on to produce a very Society, directed by Peter Bloomfield. much more detailed history of the period. The society has now prepared copies on John Roberts

Ralfe described the completed work as an historical account of Naval and Maritime events from the commencement of the war in 1803 to the end of the year 1816, including particulars of the most important courts-martial, Votes of Parliament, lists of Flag Officers in commission and of promotions for each year, the whole forming a complete naval history of the period. It also included memoirs of the most distinguished Naval Officers as well as official letters of every action which has occurred during the .

Scuttlebutt | | Scuttlebutt 34 Spring Edition Spring Edition 35 The Association of Royal Navy Officers

Open to commissioned officers of the RN, RM, QARNNS, WRNS and their MUSEUM & FRIENDS EVENTS APRIL - SEPTEMBER Reserves

FRIEND’S ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING MUSEUM EVENTS Join Today - visit www.arno.org.uk THURSDAY 9 May www.arno.org.uk The Friends AGM will be held in the Museum, in the MUSEUM RESEARCH SEMINARS: WEDNESDAY 8 MAY, 1730-1830 Princess Royal Gallery at 1730, and will be followed by a or call 020 7402 5231 ‘The Life of Your Fleet’: Volunteers and the Royal Navy reception in HMS Victory. during the Great War with France, 1793 – 1815 [Dr Jeremiah Dancy, Lady Margret Hall, Oxford] New members enter free FRIEND’S EVENTS WEDNESDAY 12 JUN, 1730-1830 THURSDAY 25 APRIL draw to win an Amazon ‘Fisher’s Battlecruisers: Trans-Atlantic Liner Killers or Morning visit to the Diving Museum in Gosport. After lunch Global Power Projection Centrepieces?’ Kindle in a nearby restaurant we will visit the Hovercraft Museum in [Cdr Angus Ross RN (Ret), US Naval War College] Lee-on-the-Solent.

TUESDAY 14 MAY, 7.00pm MUSEUM CONFERENCES 25, 26, 27 JULY Presentation in the Princess Royal Gallery on the Vector ‘Naval Ports Towns Project Conference’ Aerospace Ltd servicing facility at Fleetlands by Trevor Pritchard, Director of Business Development. (in partnership with the University of Portsmouth). This conference will explore the relationship between the Royal THURSDAY 20 JUNE Navy, its dockyards and the towns and communities that surround them. It will bring together naval, cultural, social, Afternoon visit by coach to Old Alresford House near local and urban historians to explore the impact the Royal Winchester, once the home of Admiral Lord Rodney. Talk on Navy has had at a local and regional level and how these Rodney, followed by a presentation on and tour of the communities in turn influenced the Navy and its people. extensive recently restored and re-planted grade 2 listed gardens. The impressive Rodney memorial is nearby. 6 & 7 SEPTEMBER WEDNESDAY/THURSDAY 11 & 12 SEPTEMBER ‘Recruiting the Royal Navy: Press gangs, conscripts and professionals’ Visit by coach to the National Memorial Arboretum in . Staffordshire. This will include an overnight hotel stay, with a This conference will explore how the Royal Navy recruited visit to Lichfield for the cathedral and a full day’s programme and retained its personnel from the age of sail to the at the Memorial. modern Navy. It will showcase the latest social and cultural histories of the Navy’s personnel, how they were recruited For full details of the above events and booking forms please and how they lived during their service in the Navy. contact David Baynes, RNM Friends Events Organiser at 17, St. Thomas’s Street, Old Portsmouth, PO1 2EZ or (email your details [email protected]). If you have any queries call 02392 831 461.

Scuttlebutt | WITH OVER 6,000 MEMBERS - HOME FOR NAVAL OFFICERS OF ALL AGES AND BACKGROUNDS| Scuttlebutt 36 Spring Edition Spring Edition 37 INSPIRED ART! WORKSHOPS FOR ADULTS SATURDAY 20 APRIL, 10.30am - 1.30pm ‘Felting’ Learn how to make felt and then investigate sailor handicrafts from our collection as inspiration for creating a unique purse with a vintage naval button. Cost £15 - including materials and refreshments. Booking essential, contact 02392 727595 or email [email protected] for further information. MUSEUM & FRIENDS EVENTS MONDAY 8 JULY, 11am - 4pm APRIL - SEPTEMBER Inspirational artefacts – Artist’s Day Calling all artists! This is your chance to access our artefacts SPECIAL LECTURE and collections not on public display as a source of WEDNESDAY 10 JULY inspiration for your work. Starting with a tour of the Museum First Sea Lord’s Lecture on Naval History & Strategy: Stores in the morning, we will then leave the rest of the day Law & War for the Defence of Trade. for you to sketch, paint or photograph. Museum staff will be Professor Nicholas Rodger, All Souls College, Oxford. on hand to answer any questions. Cost £5. Booking Attendance is by ticket only, contact Nash essential, contact 02392 727595 or email [email protected] [email protected] for further information. Please bring all your own equipment with you. Seminars and conferences will take place in the Princess Royal Gallery, NMRN Portsmouth and are free of charge. MONDAY 23 SEPTEMBER, For further information or to attend these events contact 1.30pm - 4.30pm NEW! Dr Duncan Redford ([email protected]) or write Make a Mend craft afternoon to The National Museum of the Royal Navy, HM Naval Base Following on from the naval tradition of ‘Make a Mend’, join (PP66), Portsmouth, Hampshire PO1 3NH us this autumn for FREE beginner craft sessions in the Victory Learning Centre. Each session lasts 3 hours and by TEA EVENTS the end of it you will have learnt the basics and created a TUESDAY 14 MAY, 2.30pm small sample of new craft to take home! Free, booking Afternoon tea with the Royal Navy essential. When you book we will give you a list of materials onboard HMS Victory to bring on the day or provide you with a starter kit for £5. Take tea with the Commanding Officer of HMS Victory, see Please contact 02392 727595 or email his ‘Captain’s Choice’ of artefacts and put questions to him [email protected] for details. and his crew about their role on board and life in the modern Navy? Then join us ‘behind the scenes’ for this truly unique POPULAR FAMILY EVENTS occasion in the Senior Rates Mess (formerly the Officers WEDNESDAY 3 APRIL, Mess). Cost £25 - including afternoon tea and a ship visit. 11am - 1pm & 2pm - 4pm Booking essential, contact 02392 727595 or email Pirate Encounters [email protected] for details. See a real Jolly Roger and make your very own pirate treasure. Free, drop-in, no ticket required, all ages welcome. TUESDAY 11 JUNE, 10 SEPTEMBER, 2pm – 4pm Naval Tea Club THURSDAY 4 APRIL & THURSDAY 11 APRIL, Join us for this popular social event for seniors. During 11am - 1pm & 2pm - 4pm the afternoon there will be tea, chat and reminiscence Join Nelson’s Navy with a different theme, artefacts and archives each time. Find out what life was like on board for the crew of HMS No knowledge of naval history is needed, just curiosity, Victory with our amazing discovery box and free activities. and a willingness to meet others and take part in Then test your knowledge on the life of Nelson with our lively conversation. Nelson QI! Free with valid ticket. Drop-in, all ages welcome. Free event but booking needed, contact 02392 727595 or email [email protected] for details.

Scuttlebutt | | Scuttlebutt 38 Spring Edition Spring Edition 39 EVERY WEDNESDAY THROUGHOUT THE SUMMER HOLIDAYS ‘Wednesdays @ the Museum’ Pop along to the Museum every Wednesday throughout the summer holidays for our free family workshops. Activities are drop-in, suitable for all ages and take place in the Victory Gallery.

WEDNESDAY 31 JULY 11am - 1pm & 2pm - 4pm Lego Ship Builders WORLD SHIP SOCIETY ANNUAL MUSEUM & FRIENDS EVENTS Take part in this fun family workshop and have a go at NAVAL MEETING APRIL - SEPTEMBER building a Lego ship. SATURDAY 1 JUNE 2013 Free, drop-in, no ticket required, all ages welcome. WEDNESDAY 10 APRIL ‘Friends’ (and other readers of ‘Scuttlebutt’) with an interest in 11am - 1pm & 2pm - 4pm WEDNESDAY 7 AUGUST 20th Century naval history may Treasure Island 11am - 1pm & 2pm - 4pm wish to attend the 35th Annual Hats Off Discover treasures from the museum collection and design Naval Meeting of the World Ship Make a Naval hat and practice your salute. Find out more your own Treasure Island map to take home. Free, drop-in, Society, to be held in Bristol on no ticket required, all ages welcome. about how the Navy dresses. Saturday 1st June. The programme Free, drop-in, no ticket required, all ages welcome. will include the following talks: SUMMER HALF-TERM PROGRAMME WEDNESDAY 14 AUGUST WEDNESDAY 29 MAY D. K. Brown Lecture: COMBINED MARITIME ART 11am - 1pm & 2pm - 4pm 11am - 1pm & 2pm - 4pm ‘Last of the Line’ – German Pre- A, B, Sea! Animal Magic Dreadnought battleships of the GALLERY & NAVAL BOOK SHOP Discover the Navy’s alphabet and signal flags with our flag Meet Tiggy the Jack Russell our Family mascot and find out ‘Braunschweig’ and ‘Deutschland’ at Victory Gate, opened by the Second Sea Lord, waving and pom pom semaphore workshop. Make your about the role of animals on board a ship. Then make your classes (Dr Aidan Dodson) Vice Admiral David Steele CBE own flags and pompoms to take home with you. own animal mask to take home. Free, drop-in, no ticket The new maritime art and naval book venture at Victory gate, publicized in the Free, drop-in, no ticket required, all ages welcome. required, all ages welcome. Diving the wrecks of AUDACIOUS previous edition of ‘Scuttlebutt’, has now been established and was opened and JUSTICIA (Dr Chris Simons) WEDNESDAY 21 AUGUST by Vice Admiral David Steele CBE, the Second Sea Lord. This new venture THURSDAY 30 MAY aims to provide a combined, exclusive Maritime Art Gallery and an extensive 11am - 1pm & 2pm - 4pm 11am - 1pm & 2pm - 4pm The Royal Navy’s Last 6-inch Guns Naval Book Shop, set up in the old Portsmouth Tourist Information Centre on Edible Medals Spirits of the Sea - Myths and Legends (the rapid-fire twin 6-inch Mk 26 the Hard. Ideally situated just outside the naval base this new Gallery Shop is Design, decorate and then eat your very own medal. Come to HMS Victory to find out more about the mountings of the ‘Tiger’-class handy for the hundreds of visitors to the many attractions of the historic Free, drop-in, no ticket required, all ages welcome. superstitious sailors who sailed the seas with tales of flying cruisers) (Lt Cdr Ben Newton) Dockyard. The venture has been set up jointly by Julia Pankhurst with ships, mermaids, witches and sea monsters. Create your maritime art work from her former gallery and Mike Critchley, the well-known WEDNESDAY 28 AUGUST very own sea monster or mermaid to take home with you. The Loss of HMS HAVOCK, 6th and popular naval book and magazine publisher from Cornwall where he 11am - 1pm & 2pm - 4pm Free with valid ticket. Drop-in, all ages welcome. (Dr Richard Osborne) founded his naval book business ‘Maritime Books’ Waves of Fun (http://www.navybooks.com/). SUMMER HOLIDAYS Learn how to make an ocean in a bottle and take it home U-Boats and the ‘Thin Grey Line’ with you! Free, drop-in, no ticket required, all ages welcome. EVERY FRIDAY IN AUGUST 11am - 12.30pm (German and British Submarine Mike Critchley, a former naval officer was educated at Portsmouth Grammar Telescope Tales Operations between 1st September School and has, for a long time, been keen to set up a naval bookshop in the EVERY THURSDAY IN AUGUST Join us this summer to explore the world under the sea. 1939 – 9th April 1940) (Geirr Haarr) Portsmouth area. He has the widest range of naval books in print in the HMS Victory Family activities Under 5’s can take part in craft, dressing up and story time available including second hand and classic naval history Find out about life on board HMS Victory by identifying the every Friday throughout August. Activities are drop-in and For further details and to purchase books. Many of the books will be heavily discounted in an effort to compete mystery sounds, smells and objects in our family challenge. take place in ‘The Cabin’ Family Area in the Victory Gallery tickets contact: with the on-line book sellers. Activities are available between 11am to 1pm and 2pm to from 11am to 12.30pm on the following dates: Dr Richard Osborne (01275-852183 / 4pm. Free with valid ticket. Drop-in, all ages welcome. Free sessions for the under 5s and accompanying adults [email protected]) It is early days and it was certainly brave to set up this new venture in the on the dates listed. No ticket required. or depths of winter but at least the Gallery Book Shop will be well established Mark Brady (02392-379278 / by the time the weather improves and the visitors and holiday makers start to [email protected]) flock to Portsmouth and Southsea for their holidays.

Scuttlebutt | | Scuttlebutt 40 Spring Edition Spring Edition 41 Sea Harrier being prepared for launch HMS Invincible HMS Hermes

In the previous edition of Scuttlebutt John Coker gave Throughout the 1970s & 1980s the WE177A carriers. The wartime ships included Type 42 an overview of the rationale and development of the Nuclear armed warships were designated as destroyers, Type 22 and the Leanders. TACTICAL WE177A nuclear bomb as well as providing a description either ‘peacetime’ or ‘wartime’, the former In time of war other ships, lacking suitable of the type deployed by the Royal Navy as both a tactical having deep (below the waterline) magazines magazines or handling equipment but with a strike weapon and nuclear depth bomb. In this next part for the stowage of the nuclear bombs, whereas suitable , could have been used by NUCLEAR he covers the in-service aspects of the weapon from the latter’s magazines were above the nuclear-armed during transit or stockpile to preparations for use. Although it was waterline, normally at the flight-deck level. The dispersal. Royal Fleet (RFAs) Government policy to neither confirm nor deny the WEAPONS peacetime ships included the carriers Eagle, Regent, Resource, Fort Austin and Fort Grange presence of nuclear weapons on board Her Majesty’s Ark Royal, and Hermes, the cruisers Tiger and had nuclear containment facilities for the Ships, some light has been shed on the controversial Blake and the new CVS, Invincible class dedicated storage of WE177A. in the Royal Navy deployment of nuclear weapons at the time of Operation Corporate and the Falklands Conflict.

Launch of nuclear capable FAA S.2 Buccaneer and FRS Mk 1 SHAR strike aircraft (Explosion Museum)

Scuttlebutt | | Scuttlebutt 42 Spring Edition Spring Edition 43 TACTICAL NUCLEAR FROM RING SIGHTS WEAPONS WORLD LEADERS IN THE DESIGN AND MANUFACTURE in the Royal Navy OF UNIT POWER SIGHTS FOR THE MILITARY THE RING SIGHT LC-40-100-NVG-RN-DTC FOR CANNONS & MACHINE GUNS A unit power, solid glass, reflex collimator sight designed for heavier direct fire small arms or cannons. ɀ Easy surveillance and target acquisition engagement. ɀ Solid glass optic which is maintenance free and cannot mist up. ɀ The graticule pattern is seen at infinity against the target to allow the firer’s eye position A WE 177A nuclear bomb mounted on the starboard pylon of an FRS Mk 1 Sea Harrier(Explosion Museum) to move freely within wide enough limits to make tracking and shooting easy. ɀ The unit also offers daylight and night vision goggle modes. n RN use the weapon was known as the Lynx. By fitting additional equipment these aircraft could ɀ The LC-40-100 can be fitted with interchangeable filters for use in bright sun, laser ‘600lb bomb/store’ (though its weight be reconfigured to carry and release of the weapon. The protection etc. was nearer to 640lb) or as the ‘special Buccaneer could carry one or two nuclear bombs in tandem I weapon/store’ and not as WE177A. Though on the rotating bomb-bay door following the installation of MAJOR ADVANTAGES OVER ‘RED DOT’ SIGHTS the bomb had been out-loaded to Eagle and Blake dedicated carriers, each carrier incorporating an Ejector by early 1970 the existing release procedures only Release Unit (ERU). The Sea Vixen was cleared and used If air targets are to be covered its use in the strike mode by fixed-wing during the trials period as was the Scimitar but neither engaged, the graticule aircraft. Use in the tactical mode as a Nuclear Depth saw service with the weapon. On the Sea Harrier FRS1 has radial lines to assist the bomb could be carried on a dedicated carrier on the Bomb (NDB) required the development of new the gunner in choosing a starboard inner pylon. In multi-seat aircraft the weapon procedures, not brought into force until after the suitable point of aim as release functions were controlled by different crew 1970 General Election. Under these new procedures shown in the diagram. members, on the Buccaneer a weapon Role Panel was Operational bombs were to be held in deep storage Graticule patterns can be provided to suit the anticipated installed at the observer’s position with Fuze Control Unit during peacetime, with the weapons being transferred engagements and the ballistics of individual guns. The (FCU) and Lock/Unlock Switches, though actual bomb to ready-use wartime stowage on selected ships early elevation and lead available on the graticule plate are release was by the pilot. For single-seat aircraft two-man more than adequate for the ranges and crossing speeds in time of tension. This would also permit the loading control was by ship to aircraft procedures and in both multi that can be used by the gunner. As the graticule plate is of an Operational round on to an aircraft but not the and single-seat aircraft certain switches were wire-locked built in production, the pattern must be agreed to order. arming of the weapon (with the Strike Enabling Facility in position, the wire-locks being broken when approaching (SEF) key) or allow the aircraft, with the weapon the target. loaded, to take-off. The issue of the SEF key and Ring Sights Defence Group has been established since 1976 and now, in a permission for the aircraft to take-off needed specific, Unlike Red Beard, the WE 177A was out-loaded as a brand new purpose built complex in Rye, East Sussex, a highly motivated authenticated, political authority and control. For complete weapon, and did not require assembly onboard and experienced team continue to challenge the barriers of technology to the actual release of an NDB, the Officer in Tactical or ‘last-minute-loading’ of its fissile core. RN 600lb create even better designs and results for every area of the military. Command of the operation would retain final authority Operational rounds were originally painted in anti-flash for use following the receipt of authenticated white and later in deep bronze green, with radioactive (two For further information on the LC-40-100, please email or ’phone for a leaflet. political authority. inch wide orange band) and high explosive (one inch yellow band) markings on the nose, these bands being hidden by a Ring Sights Defence Group Ltd Nuclear capable aircraft included the Buccaneer, Sea removable cover until take-off to disguise the presence and Harrier and the rotary-wing Wessex, Sea King, Wasp and Harbour Road, Rye, East Sussex TN31 7TE number of ‘live’ rounds deployed on a ship +44 (0)8700 422260 | [email protected] | www.ringsights.com Scuttlebutt | | Scuttlebutt 44 Spring Edition Spring Edition 45 TACTICAL NUCLEAR WEAPONS Operational round, but carried a in the Royal Navy prominent “TRAINING” stencil. Simulation circuitry enabled the Training round to respond correctly to all aircraft control switching.

Movements, stowage and handling of the bombs were subject to strict safety rules, ensuring that they presented no greater hazard than conventional weapons. RN Operational rounds in their Transit Containers were supplied initially by and returned to ROF Burghfield. Later, as a result of a common stockpile agreement with the (RAF), RN Operational rounds were held at RAF Honington A Lynx weapon load showing a WE 177A nuclear depth bomb in the foreground with Surveillance rounds being held at (Explosion Museum) RAF Waddington. The rounds were Operational weapons were assembled at Royal Ordnance normally supplied configured for fast jet release but with a Factory (ROF) Burghfield, with the Atomic Weapons conversion kit to enable on-board ship conversion for rotary Research Establishment (AWRE) Aldermaston being wing aircraft in the NDB role. responsible for the provision of the associated components that made up the warhead assembly. These rounds were During the early years RN ‘special’ weapons were regularly recalled to ROF Burghfield for examination and transported by RN Special Weapon Convoys as a low profile replacement of ‘lifed’ items. This also enabled AWRE activity. The load carriers in the convoy were improvised from Aldermaston to the warhead and associated Bedford 5 ton trucks. The open trucks were fitted with side- components to assess through-life issues requiring mounted removable steel plates intended to provide corrective action. ROF Burghfield later became the Atomic protection against small-arms fire, considered the most likely Weapons Establishment (AWE) Burghfield and AWRE Irish Republican Army (IRA) threat. Transit Containers could Aldermaston became AWE Aldermaston. be slid on and off using rails fitted to the load carrier, bridge rails enabled the containers to be transferred from one Surveillance and Training rounds were also embarked; the carrier backed up to another in the event of a mechanical former being similar to the Operational round except the failure. In the case of a fire the container could be pulled off warhead did not contain any radioactive or high explosive the carrier onto the road using the rails as skids to move it material. On the Surveillance rounds the orange band on the away from the endangered vehicle. nose was only one inch wide, and had “SURVEILLANCE” stencilled on either side. Surveillance rounds followed the An RN Special Weapon Convoy was typically comprised of a same service life as an operational round, but could, in vehicle with MoD Police (MDP) personnel, a Fire Tender, at addition, also be flown for specified periods. They were least two Bedford trucks with drag-on drag-off subject to periodic recall as part of a Royal Aircraft arrangements (one weapon per truck and one empty truck) Establishment (RAE) Farnborough surveillance programme. and a vehicle with more MDP and fitter to deal with any Additional trials and tests included the simulated lay-down mechanical emergencies. The Fire Tender was a modified of an Arming Unit with an explosively driven high-g impact. Dennis Fire Tender with additional stowage for Nuclear, One of the trials involved an accelerated life test of a Chemical and Biological (NBC) gear, an increased capacity retarding parachute pack which had been stored at an water tank and repainted in RN livery. A remote Royal elevated temperature. The pack was installed in a round that Marine (RM) escort in Land Rovers accompanied some was dropped successfully from an aircraft at the West distance behind. This low-key approach changed when the Freugh range. Unfortunately the trial was ruined when the RAF Armament Support Unit (RAFASUPU) took over the recovery officer drove over one of the parachutes to reach role with their ‘shock and awe’ RAF Special Weapon the weapon and had to admit that his dog had ‘savaged’ Convoys with their large and heavy Trucks Cargo Heavy another. The Training round was externally a replica of the Duty (TCHD), breakdown lorry, fire engine, ambulance plus

Scuttlebutt | | Scuttlebutt 46 Spring Edition Spring Edition 47 TACTICAL NUCLEAR WEAPONS in the Royal Navy

WE 177A emergency transfer trials at RNAD Gosport (Explosion Museum) RN load carrier with WE 177A transit container (Explosion Museum) WE 177A being manoeuvred on a handling trolley (Explosion Museum) motor cycle escort/outriders and a remote RM escort. the delivery and store removal was undertaken under cover For delivery in the NDB role the drogue parachute was January near RNAD Dean Hill when an RAF TCHD carrying Various safe havens were nominated on convoy routes to to maintain security over the exact number of rounds deployed by the static line attached to a hard point on the two bombs skidded on ice and rolled onto its side, with a be used for overnight staging in the event of delays or involved. For disembarkation of rounds the procedure was aircraft, the first timer initiating the explosive ejection of the second load carrier also skidding and coming to rest partly accidents. Royal Naval Armament Depot (RNAD) Dean Hill, reversed, with empty Transit Containers being provided, the nose cone. When the bomb entered the water the sensor off the road. ‘No containerised weapons were damaged and near Salisbury, was licensed to Operational rounds, stores loaded into containers, transit by water to Bedenham detected salt water, initiating the separation of the parachute only minor damage...caused to the first load carrier’. always in their containers and in a dedicated underground Pier and the containers lifted onto the Load Carriers for rigging lines and closing the second safety break. The tail secure stowage, for up to 28 days. The rounds were return to the stockpile. flooded and the bomb sank with the first hydrostat closing Incidents were defined as unplanned occurrences which did offloaded in their containers and stowed in the specially at a depth which prevented the fireball broaching not constitute an accident ‘but which needed to be reported configured magazine and guarded by the RM detachment Once authenticated political authorisation had been given the surface. in the interest of safety’ or were ‘likely to attract the supported by RNAD Dean Hill’s own armed Ministry of to deploy a , preparations included attention of the public or the media’. ‘Damage to some Defence Police (MDP) and Police Dog Units. reconfiguration of the aircraft, the loading of the weapon, In February 2005 the MoD published details of British nuclear containers during transfer’ at sea during 1982 is the briefing of the aircrew and the issue of the SEF key, nuclear weapon accidents and incidents. This information listed in Section 2 of the report covering ‘additional The embarkation routine for the store was normally setting the GCU switches and the SEF set to ‘enable’. was taken from Sir Ronald Oxburgh’s 1992 report of United incidents’. This refers to the at-sea transfers that took place alongside in the main base port and at the weekend, usually Approaching the target preparations for bomb release would Kingdom Nuclear Weapon Safety Since 1960. The first during Operation Corporate, see below, the summary noting on a Saturday morning. For Portsmouth based ships RNAD have been undertaken including the FCU Selector Switch section covered accidents which had been defined as that ‘there was no damage to any nuclear weapons’. Gosport was notified in to ensure the timely being set to the required fuzing mode and the lock-wire on ‘unplanned occurrences involving the destruction of, or A further incident is listed for August 1988 off transfer of SEF keys and Weapon Log Books. The rounds the BRSL removed with the BRSL Switch set to ‘unlock’. At damage, or suspected damage to, a nuclear weapon which with a ‘minor collision of a non-UK vessel with a moored UK in their Transit Containers would be collected by RN release the bomb was in either automatic or manual mode. had resulted in actual or potential hazard to life or property, vessel which was carrying nuclear weapons’. No further Special Weapon Convoy and routed to RNAD Dean Hill for If the mission was cancelled, the FCU Selector Switch could or which might have impaired nuclear safety’. There were details are given as to the type of weapon except that overnight staging before being taken to Bedenham, on the be used to return the weapon to the ‘safe’ condition. two categories, the first, where no release of radioactive ‘there was no damage to any nuclear weapon’. Gosport side of , for the containers to material had occurred, the second where a release of be craned at Bedenham Pier directly from the Load Carriers The initial actions in the lay-down water mode, for use in radioactive material had been detected, or where the Despite it being HMG policy to ‘refuse to either confirm or onto a Naval Armament Lighter. A tug would then take the strikes against surface ships, were similar to lay-down land. possibility of a release could not be excluded. It was noted deny the presence or absence of nuclear weapons in any lighter to the designated ship with an MDP presence on the On hitting the water sensors detected salt water initiating that there had never been a Category 2 accident involving a particular place at any particular time’ an indication has tug and lighter and with an RM escort in Rigid Raiders. A the separation of the parachute rigging lines. The tail of the British nuclear weapon. Nuclear bombs had been involved in since been given of the disposition of nuclear weapons in Special Weapons Team from RNAD Gosport provided the bomb flooded and it sank at 20-25ft/sec. A second timer two accidents, one off in February 1974 when two Mk the Task Group at the commencement of the Falklands necessary handling gear and special tools and was available armed, and, after a delay, initiated the firing pulse at a depth 44 torpedoes had been dropped ‘a few inches’ onto a 600lb Campaign in 1982. This information was in a document to assist ship’s staff in moving and handling the containers which depended on the time spent in the ballistic phase. bomb causing ‘no damage to the weapon itself’ apart from released later by the MoD as a ‘response to public interest and their contents. Additional containers were included in ‘some superficial scratching’. The other accident occurred in in the carriage of nuclear weapons by the Task Group in the

Scuttlebutt | | Scuttlebutt 48 Spring Edition Spring Edition 49 SEAFARER BOOKS TACTICAL Storytellers of the sea NUCLEAR WEAPONS in the Royal Navy TITANIC A fresh look at the evidence by a former Chief Inspector of Marine Accidents JOHN LANG

“Among the plethora of books A WE 177A tactical nuclear bomb (training round) on display at Explosion museum(Explosion Museum) lg^iiZcVWdjii]Zadhhd[GBH Falklands Campaign’. Although this gave an indication of the RN Operational and Surveillance rounds were returned Titanic, none has come from the disposition of Operational, Surveillance and Training rounds to RAF Honington and RAF Waddington respectively. amongst the ships that made up the Task Force it did not RN Training rounds were returned to RNAD Gosport and hand of so distinguished an author. state the number of Operational rounds involved but did then sent to RAF Honington, with RN Practice round being Rear Admiral John Lang began note that Hermes and Invincible carried ‘approximately dismantled at RNAD Gosport. his sea-going career as a cadet 40% and 25% respectively of our entire stockpile of NDBs’. Initially conceived by the Naval Staff as a Red Beard in the cargo ships of the P&O, Nuclear weapons were embarked on various ships initially replacement for use by naval strike aircraft, WE 177 had, commanded submarines and a deployed on Operation Corporate and various options were by the time of its withdrawal, been regarded primarily as an I l l u s t r a t e d hardback [g^\ViZ^ci]ZGdnVaCVknVcYlZci considered for removing them to minimise the chances of a anti-submarine weapon for release by rotary-wing aircraft. Price: £21.95 dcid]ZVYi]ZJ@\dkZgcbZci¼hBVg^cZ nuclear weapon accident, to minimise any delay in the Force Its usefulness in that role would have been questionable in + £2.27 p&p arriving in area and ensure that there would be no breaching terms of political acceptability, operational and safety 6XX^YZci>ckZhi^\Vi^dc7gVcX]#I]^hejih]^b^ci]Zeg^bZ of Britain’s obligations under the Treaty of Tlateloco (Latin limitations in comparison to deployment by Ikara. A former edh^i^dcidZmVb^cZi]ZgZXdgYd[i]ZTitanicl^i]V[dgZch^XZnZ!id^ciZgegZi America Nuclear Weapon Free Zone). The decision was Wasp pilot remarked that ‘rather than feeling that if you i]ZZk^YZcXZl^i]VhZVbVc¼hZmeZg^ZcXZ!VcYidYgVlXdcXajh^dch[gdb taken to transfer the bombs from the destroyers and frigates made a mistake with a conventional weapon you killed to the larger ships with deep magazines, Hermes and yourself, with the nuclear device you felt you would take l]^X]Zbdi^dc^hVWhZci#=^\]angZXdbbZcYZY#º Invincible and return all nuclear bombs to Britain in RFA out the fleet’. – Captain Richard Woodman vessels when possible. This involved a complex series of movements by jackstay transfers during which seven Transit In April 1995 the Conservative Government announced the Containers received external damage but with no damage withdrawal of all Types of WE177 from service by the end “ John Lang brings to this compelling story a fairness and objectivity to any contents. The report noted that the nuclear weapons of 1998 and in June, with a change of Government, the that were lacking in the aftermath of the sinking, and he casts a fresh, initially carried by Sheffield and Coventry had been removed withdrawal date was brought forward as an indication of seamanlike eye over the events of April 1912” before they were sunk. the new Government’s ‘commitment to reducing the world’s nuclear stockpile’. The last WE177s were convoyed from – Michael Grey MBE, Former Editor of Lloyds List The WE 177 was fully reviewed during its service life and a RAF Marham on 22nd April 1998, ending the deployment replacement considered. However the improvements were of Britain’s final and longest-lived free-fall nuclear bomb, insufficient to justify a new project although some updated leaving the RAF with no formal nuclear strike capability. “ Head and shoulders above the vast majority of the many titles published subsystems were introduced including an improved AWE Burghfield announced that the last WE177 had been to coincide with Titanic’s centenary” fuze that was more resistant to counter-measures. broken down on 21st August 1998. – Nautilus Telegraph

Following the end of the in 1991 and in response John Coker researches and documents the unique to the US-Soviet arms talks in the autumn of that year, there collection of nuclear weapons, strategic missiles and tactical “ By far the clearest and most coherent picture ever published of what was a relaxation in Britain’s nuclear posture. In October the bombs at ‘Explosion!’ museum www.explosion.org.uk. After must have happened on Titanic’s bridge, crow’s nest, and boat deck” Government announced that the RN ‘will no longer carry over twenty three years in the Royal Navy he continued nuclear weapons on our ships’, (not including the Polaris to work for the Government on the Navy’s strategic – VA, USA Force). In June 1992 it was announced that all naval tactical weapon systems. weapons had been removed from surface ships and aircraft, SEAFARER BOOKS that the mission would be eliminated and that the ‘weapons John Coker An imprint of Rowman & Littlefield, Publishers, Inc. previously earmarked for the role will be destroyed’. &%'GZYlVaYGdVY™GZcYaZh]Vb™Hj[[da`>E&''I:™ຜ%&(.))'%,-.™[Vm%&(.))+&(&) lll#hZV[VgZgWdd`h#Xdb™^c[[email protected] Mail order: C7C>ciZgcVi^dcVa™&%I]dgcWjgnGdVY™Eanbdji]EA+,EE Scuttlebutt | | Scuttlebutt 50 Spring Edition ຜ%&,*''%'(%&™[email protected] Spring Edition 51 Continuing the series by David Pulvertaft describing figureheads that have been added to the Portsmouth Collection since his book, The Warship The Warship Figureheads of Portsmouth, was published in 2009 or where extra material has come to light on those figureheads described FIGUREHEADS in the book. The most recent addition to the collection HMS GLEANER – 1838-1849 of Portsmouth (WOODEN PADDLE GUN VESSEL 371 BM, 120 FT)

HMS GLEANER – 1838-1849 in practice the treatment has not (WOODEN PADDLE GUN provided a long-term solution. A recent specialist survey of the carving VESSEL 371 BM, 120 FT) suggests that there is rotten wood inside the fibreglass but further The Figurehead - The most recent exploration will be necessary to addition to the figurehead collection discover its extent and what remedial is one that has stood since the late action is recommended. 1970s in Fort Blockhouse, Gosport – formerly HMS Dolphin - but more The Ship - When the figurehead was recently an MoD establishment rather first installed near the Wardroom of than a Naval one. With the figurehead HMS Dolphin, it had at its foot a “at risk” from the elements and, with plaque that gave a summary of the Fort Blockhouse having lost its Naval ship’s history: Built in Chatham in connection, a rescue plan was timely! 1833 of 351 tons and 50 HP as a Post Office steam packet named Over the years there has been some GULNARE. On transfer to the debate about the figurehead’s identity Admiralty on 29 June 1837 she was as, before being moved to Gosport in converted to a wooden paddle gun about 1976, she was in the collection vessel, HMS GLEANER with 3 x HMS Ganges - the boys’ training 18pounder guns. She was broken establishment at Shotley, Suffolk. up at in August 1849. There were two female busts in the of HMS Cleopatra being additionally Nelson Hall there, one from HMS endorsed “from Chatham”. Secondly, What happened to the figurehead Gleaner, the other from HMS when the HMS Cleopatra figurehead when the ship was broken up at Cleopatra. As will be seen from her was described in the 1911 Admiralty Deptford is not clear but the 1911 photograph, the figurehead of HMS Catalogue of Pictures, Presentation Admiralty Catalogue records that Gleaner is wearing a form of Plate, Figureheads, Models and the figurehead of HMS Gleaner was headdress and some observers felt Trophies at Chatham, it was said to at the Royal Naval Store Depot, that she looked more like the historic be 3ft 9ins tall – consistent with that West Docks and therefore quite Queen of than the other bust already in the NMRN collection and close to Deptford. As there is no which is carved in a modern style with significantly smaller than the Gleaner description or illustration in the 1911 her left breast exposed. The debate figurehead. catalogue, this evidence is a bit thin has continued since the figureheads and it would be wonderful if any were moved to the Portsmouth area At some stage – probably in the reader was able to confirm that it but the records from HMS Ganges 1950s or 1960s – the figurehead was, indeed, this figurehead that was are unambiguous. Firstly, when was given a coating of fibreglass; a at the West India Docks a little over photographs of the individual treatment that was popular at the 100 years ago. figureheads were forwarded to time for figureheads that were on C-in-C The as part of the 1949 display out of doors. The intention David Pulvertaft muster of relics, the name of each was that the wood would be was written on the reverse, with that protected from the elements but

Scuttlebutt | | Scuttlebutt 52 Spring Edition Spring Edition 53 than a ‘Frigate’, despite having Acre (1840) her chief value in been designed to carry 32pdrs the Syrian Campaign – during on her Main Deck. (Others of which success depended her type, meanwhile, never had largely upon the expeditious provision for a Main Deck movement of soldiers and their battery yet were rated ‘Second equipment – was as what Class Paddle Frigates’ – but amounted to an Armed the wooden-hulled paddle- Transport, in which role she Lithograph of HMS Gorgon in the Hamoaze. Waterline view of John Glossop’s model of HMS Gorgon, in the Naval Museum warship was very much a could comfortably transitional type, so we accommodate a battalion probably shouldn’t worry too and its equipment. THE MUSEUM’S MODELS much about terminological inconsistencies.) After her first commission HMS GORGON (1837) (Mediterranean, 1839-42) Continuing our series on interesting models in the museum’s extensive collection The model is of a graceful- GORGON spent two three- y main period of naval-historical interest being remained a threat in the Mediterranean, let alone further looking two-masted paddle- year periods in South ‘The Era of the Great War’ – between the afield. At the same time innovative naval officers – most steamer, driving purposefully American waters; during which ‘Crimean’ War and the Battle of Matapan – notably Lord Cochrane, who when he led the fledgling through the sea under steam- she ran aground but was able M power alone. Her armament to use her engine to haul I hadn’t paid much attention to ‘paddle-warships’ before (1827-28) during the Greek War of I assisted in the presentation of research by the late Independence had two armed paddle-steamers under appears fairly sparse, but herself off, and was at least Commander Alan Norris RN concerning the career of his command – advocated the employment of ‘steamers’ unlike ships of Nelson’s time Top down view of Glossop’s model of HMS Gorgon twice heavily engaged by Lieutenant Charles Austen – a young officer who, until his as warships. she was primarily intended to fight at long range, using Argentine shore-batteries during a conflict over navigation tragic death when a ship’s boat capsized in surf off the the heavy guns pivoted on the centreline forward and aft. rights along the Rio Parana. From the late-1840s, by which Levant Coast, was for two years (1840-42) First Lieutenant The first steam warships built for the Royal Navy were HM Otherwise she just carries four large(ish) – time the Admiralty had decided to build screw-steamers, of the ‘2nd Class Steam Vessel’ (later ‘2nd Class Paddle Ships COLUMBIA (ordered 1824, commissioned 1829) and two 68pdr and two 42pdr – to deal with small vessels in GORGON was employed for some time as a troopship – Sloop’) HMS HECATE, which served in the Eastern DEE (ordered 1827, commissioned 1832). Both were built coastal waters. but during and after the Russian War she was once again Mediterranean in the immediate aftermath of the Syrian by , and designed to carry 18pdr cannon in commission as a sloop on foreign service. (Though the Campaign of 1840. During my own research I came to (emphatically not a weapon for ‘auxiliaries’); but they were In one respect GORGON may be thought of as a proto- future undoubtedly belonged to iron screw-steamers, it had appreciate the contemporary virtues of these early steam- underpowered, and in other respects not wholly satisfactory. battlecruiser – a fast, seaworthy warship, with a few heavy been found that for wooden ships ‘paddle’ was in some warships, and the significance of the museum’s fine model Nonetheless the Admiralty persevered, and in January 1831 guns, whose captain would (at least in coastal waters and respects preferable to ‘propeller’.) Her final commission of HMS GORGON. ordered from the Royal Dockyards four Steam Vessels of calm weather) be able, by virtue of his ship’s engines, to was for three years (1861-63) on the Cape of Good Hope around 1000 tons with Maudsley 220hp side- fight at the range he chose. Her first captain thought Station – during which she proved good for the long The late David (‘D.K.’) Brown wrote that GORGON, launched lever engines. These would be among the largest and most GORGON could engage and disable a 74-gun sailing- voyages out from the UK and back again, prolonged anti- at in 1837, was ‘the first true fighting powerful steamships yet built, and especially notable for battleship, and that two such steamers could sink a ‘74’. slaving patrols off Mozambique and Zanzibar, and the steamship’. A statement he then qualified – emphasizing being armed with one or two 10-inch shell-firing guns on Others were more cautious, pointing out that GORGON’s general business of patrolling the seas off Africa between that by 1837 nearly 30 steamers had been built for the pivoted carriages – weapons firing a much heavier projectile main armament barely outranged a battleship’s long-barrel the Cape and Somaliland. Royal Navy alone, and that senior officers had than the then-standard 32pdr, and with somewhat longer 32pdrs by a thousand yards, and if the battleship could acknowledged their value both as auxiliaries (notably for range. They entered service between late-1832 and April close the range then the steamer would be overwhelmed. An admirable ship, therefore, which gave some 25 years towing sailing-ships when required, and as packet-boats) 1834, and were the subject of many favourable reports. As things happened paddle-warships were never really put good service at a time when the Royal Navy faced little real and as warships (notably in coastal waters). But he probably As a result an order was placed in July 1834 for a vessel to that test, and most of the fighting they ever did was prospect of action between fleets – or even between wished to stress that the Admiralty’s decision to order of similar type but some 50% larger, with more powerful against shore-batteries. (In which circumstances, individual warships of significant size – but had continual GORGON indicated a commitment to continue developing engines of improved design, and sufficient coal-bunkers for incidentally, they proved more resilient than some had employment for sloops and gunboats. And while GORGON and procuring ocean-going Steam Warships – not sailing- an endurance of some 2500 nautical miles. This ship – expected, because it was found that even if one paddle- herself is long-gone our museum retains an admirable warships with auxiliary steam-engines, but ships intended to HMS GORGON, completed in August 1838 – was the wheel were completely destroyed in action a paddle- model of her, made by first-class professional model- make passage and fight under steam-power even if they prototype for 26 wooden paddle-steamships commissioned steamer could still manoeuvre using the other). And for the makers. Once again I’ll express the hope that a model not retained to extend their range and endurance. over the next 10 years or so. Royal Navy at least the principal attributes of GORGON and currently in the museum’s galleries will one day be on her ilk (apart from their engines) were their strong hulls, display to the public again, with accompanying information By the end of the Napoleonic Wars it had been The museum’s model of GORGON, by the well-known firm spacious and uncluttered Main Deck and Upper Deck, and concerning its significance within the history of the demonstrated that the propulsion of ships by steam-engines of John Glossop (Model makers), represents the ship as generous reserve of buoyancy – the latter offsetting the fact Royal Navy. was practical, and throughout the 1820s the Admiralty had first commissioned (1838). The only significant error is in the that the efficiency of paddles was significantly reduced if procured steam-ships. Initially as auxiliaries, but even so captioning – GORGON was completed as a ‘First-Class they were immersed to either more or less than the optimum Mark Brady they were almost always armed – not least because Steam Vessel’ and later re-rated a ‘Paddle Sloop’, rather extent. Though GORGON took part in the Bombardment of

Scuttlebutt | | Scuttlebutt 54 Spring Edition Spring Edition 55 HMS POSEIDON CPO Willis, on his return from China, FILMING THE SEARCH FOR A LOST BRITISH SUBMARINE standing next to his wife

Film Director Arthur Jones spent four years working on a new documentary about the Because of their unique experience, the Poseidon five had It was from this island that HMS Poseidon set out on the hunt for HMS Poseidon, a Royal Navy submarine lost off the coast of China in 1931. gone on to play a role in the development of hyperbaric morning of June 9, 1931, to practise torpedo drills. And it was medicine. Since they had all been exposed to rapid here that Steven headed in January 2009, to see if any He explains the story behind the project. decompression during their ascent to the surface following records of the submarine remained. By the time we went to hours at depth, the data they provided helped push forward , Steven had made a discovery that redefined the f someone had told me at the time of the Beijing Though largely forgotten now, HMS Poseidon had hit the our understanding of what happens to the human body project, and threw the submarine back into the headlines. Olympics in 2008 that we were going to spend the headlines in the days after its sinking. Submarine accidents underwater, and in particular decompression sickness For close to 80 years, it had been assumed that Poseidon lay next four years working on a documentary about a were not uncommon at the time, but there was something (also known as the bends). undisturbed at the bottom of the Bohai Sea – classified as a I lost British submarine, I would have been surprised. particular about the Poseidon tragedy that propelled it not just war grave. When I first moved out to , China, I spent five years into the British papers, but also onto the front page of the New Steven discovered that HMS Poseidon had been built in working as a journalist. I covered the arts, film, sport and York Times. Alongside the 21 deaths that resulted from the Barrow-in-Furness as one of the new ‘P’ class submarines. But in the course of his investigation, digging through Chinese human interest stories. Matters maritime and military were not collision with a Chinese steamer, five of Poseidon’s crew briefly There were six of them, all completed in 1929. Four of them language maritime publications, Steven had come across a on my radar. became household names. Trapped in the forward torpedo sailed from Portsmouth to the Far East in late 1930. Their reference to the salvage of the submarine. It was a huge compartment 40 metres underwater, eight men had waited for destination was the China Station, formed to protect British shock. Steven had talked to Royal Navy historians and expert Towards the end of 2008, I received a call from an old friend, close to three hours in the freezing cold and pitch dark, until interests around the Chinese coast, with bases in , wreck divers and no one had even hinted at the possibility of Steven Schwankert. Steven is an American journalist and attempting an escape led by a brave Petty Officer, Patrick Hong Kong and Weihai. the submarine not being there. Though the reasons for the author, based up the coast from me in Beijing. I’ve known him Willis, who remained calm throughout and helped save all but salvage quickly became apparent, after years of living and since the late 1990s. Steven also worked as a scuba three of them. Together they first flooded the compartment, to Weihai was the natural summer base for the Royal Navy, away working in China, we knew that getting the authorities to instructor. When time allowed, he would take his students on equalise pressure with the outside water, then donned Davis from the tropical heat of the south. HMS Poseidon’s crew publicly confirm it would be very difficult. For Steven’s project, open water diving trips or to Chinese lakes, where they dived Submerged Escape Apparatuses (DSEA), fitted with leather spent their time there practising dives and torpedo attacks. By and the film, it meant we had to redefine what we were doing. flooded Ming Dynasty cities and submerged sections of the aprons to slow ascent – before opening the hatch and heading the end of 1930, Britain had pulled out of mainland Weihai – If the wreck wasn’t there, then this wasn’t a film about diving. Great Wall. Steven told me excitedly that he was working on a for the surface. They were the first people ever to make it out returning it to Chinese control – and maintained a presence First was the issue of the Liu Gong Island cemetery. We were new diving project that he thought I might be interested in alive from a sunken submarine using a proto-scuba device. only on Liugong Dao, a small island a mile or so off the coast. determined to locate the original site of the British burial documenting. He had come across references to a British DSEAs had been tested previously only at much shallower The island was home to extravagant colonial villas. There was ground. It was particularly significant to our work because we submarine, HMS Poseidon, that records indicated had sunk depths, and never in a real life situation. a cemetery reserved for British graves – over three decades, knew that the only two bodies recovered from the Poseidon near the city of Weihai following a collision in June, 1931. dozens of sailors, plus the occasional wife, had died in were buried there. Albert Winter was one of the 30 men who Weihai is only an hour’s flight away from Beijing. accidents, of illness and of old age. had jumped clear of the submarine before it sank, but sadly he

Scuttlebutt | | Scuttlebutt 56 Spring Edition Spring Edition 57 swallowed oil that had leaked onto the HMS POSEIDON hadn’t gone public yet, though a few surface and died soon afterwards. days later it did. A reporter from the Arthur Lovack was one of the eight men Daily Telegraph had joined us for the trip trapped in the forward torpedo room and his first article about the submarine with Patrick Willis. He made it out of the and its curious history caused a splash. room, but had expired – most likely of Questions about the salvage were asked the bends – by the time they reached in Parliament. The Foreign Office made the surface. an official enquiry to the Chinese government. And suddenly we had our Very few maps of the island from the Headstones of Winter and Lovak, confirmation. To everyone’s surprise, period still remain, and we only had a the only bodies recovered China admitted to the salvage. Our little few photos of the funeral to go on. Davis Submerged Escape Apparatus in story had taken on a life of its own. These showed the two memorial the Submarine Museum And the course of the project was set, headstones, one each for Winter and as we scrabbled for what information Lovack, listing also the 18 missing remained, trekked to obscure naval British sailors, most of whom had museums, archives and forgotten perished in the aft end of the submarine, graves. possibly from inhaling chlorine gas emitted by the batteries, flooded Four years on, the film is complete. At with seawater. our lowest points, when it seemed we were on the wildest of goose chases, In some of the funeral photographs, we the sea gods sent remarkable finds our could see the mountainous skyline of way: previously unseen archive footage the mainland in the background. That (even a feature film from 1931 based on gave us a rough area to head to. But it the Poseidon incident), vital documents wasn’t until we were on the island itself, hidden away in old suitcases and, most standing in front of a ten foot stone wall exciting of all, people. Just last month – behind which was a suspiciously empty after years of looking for him – we finally field, that we were able to identify the met the son of CPO Willis. His memories exact spot. No headstones remained, of his father, who died young in 1953, and we spent weeks trying to work out London, where all the official British added crucial details to our work. why. Historians were split over whether records of the accident are stored, first A story that began with a search for a We provide help and support to the serving wounded, injured the destruction had occurred when the to analyse the last moments of the wrecked submarine in the end became a or sick and to the ex-service community with disabilities Japanese invaded (in 1937), or some submarine (Commander Bernard Galpin quest for human stories because it was through a unique programme of entertainment, recreation and leisure activities. 30 years later, during the Cultural was court martialled at the time for first and foremost a story about people. Each year thousands of men and women, including many from Revolution, when Chairman Mao “hazarding his ship”), and later to visit Steven Schwankert's book, the Royal Navy, Royal , Merchant Navy and associated encouraged the erasure of all traces the Royal Navy Submarine Museum in Poseidon: China's Secret Salvage of Reserve services – past and present – benefit from our work. of China’s humiliating colonial past. Gosport, where archivist George Britain's Lost Submarine Older residents of the island indicated Malcolmson was particularly helpful. will be published in late 2 013 the latter. We also met descendants of the original by Hong Kong University Press. Poseidon crew, many of whom had The next mystery was the accident itself. never heard the full story. The Poseidon Project @ All records – including a wonderful diary http://twitter.com/arthurjones from Poseidon’s telegraphist Walter Later we accompanied two family For more information on the film, which is set Jeffery – indicated that June 9, 1931 members – Doreen Ridsdale, daughter for release later this year, please visit: To help us ensure that those who have been aected by conflict was a clear, calm day at sea. HMS of diarist Walter Jeffery, and David Website: are not forgotten, or for further information, please contact: Poseidon and SS Yuta, the Chinese Clarke, grandson of Reginald Clarke, http://poseidonprojectfilm.com The Not Forgotten Association merchant vessel, had spotted each other one of the five torpedo room survivors – Web: www.nfassociation.org Email: [email protected] Facebook: several miles apart and were not on for a memorial trip to Weihai. We took Tel: 0207 730 2400 Charity No. 229666 http://facebook.com/theposeidonfilm collision course. And yet they seemed to them to the cemetery site and then out steer into each other at the last minute. on the water, to lay wreaths. We told Vimeo: From Comradeship To Challenge™ We visited the National Archives in Kew, them about the salvage. The information http://vimeo.com/channels/poseidonproject

Scuttlebutt | | Scuttlebutt 58 Spring Edition Spring Edition 59 BOOK REVIEWS

with some marvellous photos of their early the and Serco Marine days as battlecruisers, including Furious’s Services. The Navy is down to only twenty 18” guns. destroyers and frigates and only four Whilst Parkes’ book is a broad canvas bigger ships. The book then has twenty- covering 90 years of classes and the one pages devoted to naval aircraft and impact of issues such as historical and weapons. It is also depressing to read on geopolitical factors, Burt’s book is an page 112 the names of the twenty-eight extraordinary piece of intricate research well known warships and submarines covering a specific era. A book of this work awaiting disposal. scale and scope doesn’t come cheap at Steve Bush provides a very good, concise £45, but that should not deter anyone from overview of the state of the Royal Navy and buying this stunning book. As I mentioned its auxiliary forces in his introductory last being launched in Feb 1945. After the at the start of this review, it has been briefing. The section on the ‘Ships for the war they continued to perform invaluable described as modern classic and that is future Fleet’ and also the notes on future service in support of the Fleet for several But it was the brilliant opportunist Drake no exaggeration. Definitely a book for the weapons provide useful background to decades before being superseded by the who showed how to loot the Spanish desert island! keep readers up to speed with current more modern destroyers of the Battle and international culture, strategy, discovery and bullion trade. His voyages in the late 1570s PCW-M issues concerning the Royal Navy and Daring classes. HMS Cavalier, completed in technology, and amassed a rich legacy..”. boosted the Royal coffers far more than BRITISH BATTLESHIPS OF WW1 defence. This handbook is probably even November 1944, is the sole survivor of the ‘Dreadnought to Daring’ is, in all respects, any income from taxes or property so it is by RA Burt BRITISH WARSHIPS & AUXILIARIES more useful to serving and retired class and is open to the public at Chatham a remarkable achievement and will not surprising that the Queen legitimized First published in 1986, this is a new 2013/2014 personnel following the apparent demise historic dockyard, having been preserved undoubtedly become a key work of his actions by knighting “her pirate”. edition of a book described by many as by Steve Bush of ‘Royal Navy Matters/Broadsheet’. This thanks to the Heritage Lottery Fund. reference for all serious naval historians. Bicheno’s book really comes into its own modern classic. As someone who was (published by Maritime Books at £8.99) primer on the Royal Navy is excellent value The book is fully illustrated throughout I look forward to spending many more when describing the Armada through a brought up to treat , Oscar Parkes’ seminal (soft back, 112 pages). and strongly recommended. with a hundred and thirty black and white fascinating and enjoyable hours “engrossed series of contemporary charts, pointing out work on British Battleships with due John Roberts photographs and splendid line drawings by in the pages”. that Philip II, with his religious fervour reverence, a rival book was viewed with John Lambert. A high quality book covering John Roberts blinding him to the realities of a better initial scepticism, but I was reassured to ‘C’ CLASS DESTROYERS the stories of a most successful class of equipped English fleet, was always going to see in the Preface a wonderful photo of by Cdr David Hobbs MBE RN destroyers, strongly recommended. ELIZABETH’S SEA DOGS find it difficult to invade – mother nature Oscar Parkes in uniform which was a (published by Maritime Books at £25) John Roberts by Hugh Bicheno just provided some invaluable support with good omen. (hard back, 214 pages). The sub title of “How the English became a storm. Essentially Burt’s book is a history of With a fine cover by Ossie Jones Maritime DREADNOUGHT TO DARING the scourge of the seas” aptly describes A fascinating read with a neat 21st century the British battleship starting with the Books adds yet another important volume (100 Years of Comment, Controversy the story told by Hugh Bicheno, well interpretation of the time; Cadiz is a “private Dreadnought, and including all those that to its library of classic ship classes. David and Debate in the ) known to many for his book on the – public partnership”, Frobisher tried a fought in the First World War. Each class Hobbs has written over twelve books on Edited by Peter Hore Falklands War. Opening by tracing the scam with fool’s gold, and letters of marque is described in meticulous detail covering naval subjects, mostly on , (Published by Seaforth at £35) Elizabethan social and maritime were 16th century venture capitalists. everything from initial design choices as a former naval pilot and curator of the (Hard back, 518 pages) background, Bicheno sets out to balance I enjoyed Bicheno’s contemporary style – through build, machinery, appearance Fleet Air Arm but he served in ‘C’ class Published to celebrate the 100th the actions of the “sea dogs” with modern a new build post Armada Spanish ship is tracing refit and modernisation changes, destroyers and is well qualified to write Anniversary of the professional journal the interpretation. In an era when the described as a lemon, and his views on armour, armament and even camouflage. this book. This account of the ‘C’ class ‘Naval Review’ this is a fine piece of work pardoning of WW1 deserters is being Drake “a bit of a wide boy from whom The details are supported by a fantastic destroyers follows the usual format of and a real tour de force covering the past debated, it is also fashionable to denigrate you wouldn’t want to buy a second hand selection of photos showing refit changes devoting a chapter to each of the thirty-two century of both the NR (the Naval Review) sea captains of the Elizabethan era as galleon”, but I appreciate that these may and ship detail – to give you an example, ships of the ‘Ca’, ‘Ch’, ‘Co’, and ‘Cr’ classes and the RN (Royal Navy). It cannot have little more than pirates, a line rebutted by not suit everyone. However, nobody can the Tiger chapter has 19 photos and of destroyers. But David Hobbs has been at all an easy task to plan, scope and Bicheno who sees them as “the sharp ignore that this was a period of 2 line drawings. considerably enhanced this particular book select material from the many thousands of edged products of a far more abrasive extraordinary adventurism, and this book I particularly enjoyed the class notes that with a splendid, detailed section at the pages contained in the hundreds of age”. provides an incisive and fresh look at the covered incidents such as the loss of the This is the latest edition of Maritime Books beginning dealing with class notes on the editions of the Naval Review over the years The English had seen the success of characters of the Elizabethan era. Vanguard in 1917 with excerpts from the regular authoritative annual of ships, different design features and weapon to provide such an interesting, wide, yet French corsairs of the 15th century, and Highly recommended BOI, and some marvellous quotes from aircraft and support ships of the Royal systems, splendidly illustrated with John comprehensive and balanced coverage of with close links between the West Country Peter Wykeham-Martin Fred Janes’ condemnation of Asquith’s Navy. This handy sized reference book, Lambert’s expert drawings. There is also a such an enormous subject. It was a very and the coast, it is not surprising reluctance to build new ships in 1908. I handsomely illustrated in full colour section on names in the Royal ambitious undertaking and all credit to that the English took a leaf out of the SEAFORTH was also fascinated by the descriptions of throughout, packs in a great deal of the Navy and thirty-four pages of detailed Peter Hore, the editor for achieving such a French book, and with better ships than the WORLD NAVAL REVIEW 2013 the gunfire tests that first the Monarch in basic information needed to keep up with appendix full of technical data and again magnificent result, not forgetting the French, soon showed what a profitable Edited by Conrad Waters, published by 1925, and then in 1931, the size and shape of the present Royal illustrated with John Lambert ship splendid scholarship of the distinguished business it could be. Relations with Seaforth Publishing at £30 were subjected to. With details of the Navy. That said it is a little depressing to profile drawings. band of contributors. The book is most were steadily deteriorating in the 1560’s (Hardcover 192 pages) official findings which amongst other things note that the warship section is only some The ‘C’ class ships were emergency certainly a fine tribute to the Review and of and 70s and Hawkins was the first of This World Naval Review, first published in showed the weakness in armour, these are thirty pages and that includes coastal destroyers designed and built towards the course to the Royal Navy, which as Peter Elizabeth’s sea captains to combine a 2009, goes from strength to strength. As worth a read by themselves. The book ends training craft, survey ships and Royal end of the Second World War with the first Hore says “..has played such a prominent profitable slave trade with a bit of stated in previous reviews in ‘Scuttlebutt’ with the Glorious, Courageous, and Furious Marine craft whilst forty-eight pages cover being ordered in February 1942 and the role at almost every level of British and plundering in the . Seaforth’s World Naval Review is the ideal

Scuttlebutt | | Scuttlebutt 60 Spring Edition Spring Edition 61 companion piece to the standard The Significant Ships section covers the The Roman Navy – Ships, men A HOME ON THE ROLLING MAIN – international reference work Jane’s new French frigate Aquitaine, the US Coast and warfare 350BC-AD 475 A NAVAL MEMOIR 1940-46 Fighting Ships and is considerably cheaper. Guard ‘Legend’ class cutters, the German by Michael Pitassi by A G F Ditcham DSC For the busy person who does not have ‘Braunschweig’ class and the Written by a retired lawyer, this book (self-published by MPG Books Group – time to plough through the mass of data in Indian ‘Shivalik’ Class frigates. The covers every aspect of the Roman Navy – available from the author at Jane’s, and make their own analysis, this Technological Review covers Ballistic appropriately described as the world’s first Coach House, Church Street, fourth edition with its selective, executive Missile Defence and the USN, by Norman naval superpower, a position it held for St Presteigne, Powys, LD8 2BS) style overview, does it for them. The review Friedman, and an overview of world naval nearly 800 years. (349 pages, price £30 plus £6 p&p) is gaining in reputation with an expanding aviation by David Hobbs. Again the book is The Romans are often cited as the source Tony Ditcham was the ‘Number three’ and readership and it is now being co-published laid out to Seaforth’s high standard and of many modern items from bathrooms to Gunnery Control Officer onboard the with the US Naval Institute Press. The 2013 has many data tables and clear summary armour. This book shows that their naval destroyer Scorpion at the Battle of North edition, edited by Conrad Waters and boxes. This review is a must for those influence is equally as far reaching. The Cape, 26th December 1943 and witnessed written by an impressive group of wishing to keep up with world naval affairs. first reports of their naval forces date back the demise of the German battlecruiser international contributors, including Norman John Roberts to 394BC. With crews that included Scharnhorst, in the last major gun battle Friedman and David Hobbs is again divided legionnaires, their military skills enabled the between capital ships within visual range. into World Fleet Reviews, Significant Ships SECRET FLOTLLAS (Volume I) Romans to project power and command Chapter 11 is really gripping stuff. He was and Technological Reviews. Clandestine Sea Operations to Brittany the seas, and we would recognise their in the Director Control Tower and, with a 1940 - 44 commitments of protecting trade routes very clear view at close quarters, actually by Brook Richards, and countering threats. The Romans had TOWN CLASS CRUISERS sketched the battle showing star shell, published by Pen & Sword at £16.99 a fleet organisation stretching from the by Neil McCart (published by Maritime Scharnhorst firing, near misses, gun bursts, (Soft back 372 pages) Baltic to the , with nine fleets Books at £29) (hard back, 334 pages). and Scorpion’s hits on the on the brightly First published in 1996 as single volume each with their own commander who had Neil McCart has produced another fine illuminated, doomed, German ship. His this is a new, completely revised and considerable autonomy, not surprising dozen or so sketches of the battle are edition to enhance Maritime Books Wingfield at War greatly expanded edition published in two given the problems of communications. amongst the many illustrations in this growing library of classic ship classes. by Mervyn Wingfield parts. This first volume covers the Their military might was evident in some rollicking and very readable autobiography. This covers the individual stories of the ten The first book in a series “the British Navy clandestine operations conducted across amazing battles; some 600 ships were lost It is a frank account of “..what happened as Town-class cruisers over the three decades at War and Peace” edited by Peter Hore, the Channel between Britain and France in the Punic wars although storm damage it happened…” with much of the early from 1937 to 1967. These smart, powerful, these previously unpublished memoirs are after the fall of France in 1940, in crucial accounted for some 400. In battle they years based on his ’s Journal, versatile ships were all completed shortly an extraordinary story of a submariner who support of both the SOE (Special had 2 basic tactics – the Dickplous or which incidentally Roskill and Corelli Barnet before the outbreak of the Second World commanded 3 submarines in WW II, sunk Operations Executive) and the SIS (Secret breakthrough and the Periplous or persuaded him to send to Churchill College War and played key roles throughout that a Japanese submarine, had numerous Intelligence Service). This gripping book is encirclement, and with their rams and archives. conflict with three of them (, surfaced gun engagements and was The initial brief overview, by way of more ‘cloak & dagger’ than ‘pen & sword’ boarding techniques they were a Tony Ditcham had trained for the Merchant Manchester and Gloucester) being sunk in awarded the DSO, DSC and bar. It is introduction, sets the scene with useful telling the fascinating story of the secret formidable force. service onboard the Worcester but was the Mediterranean and in Arctic written in a delightfully understated way data tables on Defence Expenditure and activities of small craft and the boats of The author debunks the myth that the crew then “..Saved by the war…” and appointed waters escorting the notorious Russian (“their Lordships were rather pleased about Major Fleet Strengths and points out the the 15th MGB (Motor Gun Boat) Flotilla were slaves. A quinquereme needed some to HMS Warspite in May 1940 as a convoys. The very last of them, HMS this little battle and gave me a bar to my decline in the naval strength of the and Inshore Patrol Flotilla. These boats 250 rowers who were all volunteers. Midshipman RNR, though in fact he joined Belfast is still afloat as a museum ship in DSC”) which conceals an amazing tale of traditional ‘Western’ maritime powers conducted a great many important Crews of this size presented their own Renown and served in her until January the Pool of London. courage in one of the most stressful of compared with that of many of the operations between Britain and the north challenges, not least the half a ton of water 1941. He then served in destroyers, earning These fast (32 knots), handsome ships wartime services. The book also covers developing nations. It contrasts European coast of France, landing and picking up consumed each day by the rowers. The a DSC in Holderness and after serving very with their raked twin funnels and twelve 6- Wingfield’s pre war submarine service on ‘shrinkage’ with the growing numbers of agents and rescuing allied evaders and fleet’s size demanded a degree of mass briefly in Reading he joined Scorpion as inch guns represented the culmination of the China Station, complete with taking his increasingly capable ships deployed by escapees. production techniques – it took less than 2 Gunnery Control Officer. In Scorpion he British cruiser design and fortunately were caddy to sea as Steward. Post war, he emergent powers, not least China As a youngster I had been enthralled by months to build a quinquereme. Navigation saw much action on Russian Convoys, the all completed in time to perform sterling continued to flourish and served with and India. Neville Shute’s ‘Most Secret’ and the was based on pilot books, used a sundial Battle of North Cape and D-Day landings. service throughout the war. Just reading distinction as a staff officer and attaché in The individual Fleet Reviews are divided exploits of the Scarlet Pimpernel and this method for determining latitude and the Finally he is appointed to the brand new the individual stories demonstrates the . He served under Mountbatten in into regional groupings, starting with USN book is just as exciting only here it is not Romans built lighthouses as aids. Battle Class destroyer Finisterre and ends incredible amount of valuable service they the Mediterranean, and admired his and and finishing with romantic fiction but the true story of those This is a fascinating book and virtually an the war. provided, frequently making up for our lack qualities, albeit some of them (Sunday Europe and Russia, the latter section brave and very dangerous operations. Ian encyclopaedia of Roman naval matters With many interesting and amusing of capital ships, tackling enemy battleships morning inspections for example) were a including the United Kingdom. The Royal Fleming, the creator of James Bond, even covering every aspect of life on board a anecdotes this well written book is and often acting as flagships, they certainly trial for all. Navy is covered in a much reduced three makes an appearance in the book. I was Roman ship, and includes many of the profusely illustrated with an amazing provided true value for the British taxpayer. This is a delightful book, originally written and a half page section with half of that amazed at just how many operations had authors own sketch illustrations and number of high quality photographs, maps, Even after the war the surviving cruisers for his family, but thankfully has been made being devoted to illustrations and a table of been carried out and by such a photos. As someone who was useless at sketches and diagrams. It is a great shame continued to play important roles policing public as it is the story of an officer of the principal units (one carrier, nineteen comparatively small band of people on Latin, I took a perverse delight in the that self-publishing is expensive as I am the sea lanes, covering the rundown of generation that forged the success of the escorts, eleven submarines and six both sides of the Channel. various Latin names – my favourite was sure that if this splendid book were to be British colonies, showing the flag and Royal Navy at war and at peace in the amphibious units). The much bigger The late Lieutenant Commander Sir Brook First Lt or gubernator and I could think of published commercially, priced at £9.99p, protecting British interests overseas. 20th century. Russian Fleet is covered in a similar sized Richards DSC* RNVR participated in the many from my career who would suit that paperback it would fly off the shelves. The story of the Sheffield’s thirty years’ Highly recommended. section. Twenty-one pages however are operations and was awarded a DSC for name! With a final section on modelling Nevertheless I most strongly recommended service is almost a book in itself. PCW-M devoted to detailed analysis of the Irish gallantry under fire, so was able to write the based on the author’s own models, this is a As usual the book is fully illustrated this very readable book, covering the action Naval service (‘A Model Constabulary book from first-hand experience. He was complete work in every respect. throughout with some one hundred and packed, busy life of a Royal Naval officer in Navy’) and the Italian Fleet (‘A well- also given free access to official Highly recommended. thirty black and white photographs. A good the Second World War. balanced Force in Time of Crisis’). documents and so was able to produce a PCW-M book covering the hectic life stories of John Roberts convincing, accurate account. some of the Royal Navy’s finest cruisers, John Roberts strongly recommended. John Roberts

Scuttlebutt | | Scuttlebutt 62 Spring Edition Spring Edition 63 Letters to the At the moment I am director of ‘Neptunia’, the magazine of the Dear Editor, Dear Editor, Friends and, incidentally, I have been a member of the Society I read in the latest issue the interesting article about HMS I just wanted to write and congratulate 'The Friends' for SCUTTLEBUTT for Nautical Research for the last twenty years. We would Portchester Castle. It rang a bell (sorry about the pun) so I a superb edition of Scuttlebutt. It was so interesting, welcome the opportunity to include the Royal Naval Museum found my Midshipman’s journal and in it is a sketch (a very particularly the item about the rescue of hostages from Editor and Friends in our Neptunia (we try to include a feature on a bad one...early work!) done in 1952 of docks with Limbang, Sarawak during the 'Confrontasi' with Indonesia. maritime museum in almost each of our quarterly editions) a Flower class corvette side number K49. I remember going I worked in Kuching for two years in the 1980s (in Standard and, naturally we would be very pleased to have the Musée on board this deserted vessel and finding the detritus from Chartered Bank) and was back there on holiday in August We welcome letters to the magazine National de la Marine publicised in Scuttlebutt. the filming of HMS Compass Rose, the star of the film. My this year and had no idea of this fascinating story. I have now so do please write if you have a A few years ago, we tried to establish contact with our memory fails me on the role played by Portchester but I am bought the book from which the extract was taken. point of interest to share. equivalent in , to be told that "Friends of the NMM" reliably informed by she who remembers things that CR was As we would say in Sarawak, Selamat Tahun Bahru. Letters can be emailed to the editor no longer existed. That was most disappointing, as we are sunk and Jack Hawkins etc moved into PC. Of course my Kind regards ([email protected]) convinced that Britain retains a much richer maritime heritage copy of the book has gone adrift. Simon Watson or posted to: than France, sharing experience with a British naval All good wishes to you, The Editor, ‘Scuttlebutt’, organisation could be very interesting and helpful indeed. John Webster c/o The Friends of the National Our Society was founded in 1930, and Neptunia in 1946. Museum of the Last year, we gathered about 1,100 members across France Royal Navy (Portsmouth), (with active sections in Cherbourg, Toulon, Brest, Rochefort; Many letters and emails were received commenting on the new format of HM Naval Base (PP66), Portsmouth PO1 3NH. the Musée de la Marine having established subsidiaries in the Scuttlebutt and rather than reproducing them all in full a selection of some of last three ports). Beyond Neptunia, we have been publishing the main comments is included below: modelist's monographies for the last four decades (half our members are active modelists). We also schedule regular “…Congratulations to you on an amazingly excellent “…Congratulations on your new-look journal. It looks edition of Scuttlebutt that well deserved the BAFAM quite excellent, well set out, interesting articles (as Dear Editor, lectures on maritime matters in Paris (weekly) and in Toulon (monthly). We have (within the museum) our own library of Award...” always); plenty of photos and of course the back page As a fairly new life member, I have obviously only received a maritime books and periodicals. Scuttlebutt might prove to be with Commander Scrivier receiving the BAFM award. I am small number of our magazine, but have been impressed with “…Well done, the whole magazine is superb…” quite a popular read with our members and might add to the sure you will find that all your members will be delighted its content and format with really interesting articles. “…Just received Scuttlebutt. Congratulations on excellent attraction of our library! with the new format…” The "new format" edition has just arrived...super! I see you result. Amazing improvement on what it was during my Best regards “…I think your illustrations are excellent…” have won the 2012 award, so well deserved, and I guess that time with the Friends. Very deserving of the BAFM Patrice Decencière was based on the original smaller size format! I really hope Award…” “…I have just returned to UK and one of the first pieces the two year trial period proves to be affordable in the end, of mail I opened was the latest copy of Scuttlebutt. Dear ‘Scuttlebutt’ readers, “…the change to A4 size is great. It gives the magazine as I am sure all friends will be really impressed with this new Congratulations – it really is a first class publication…” status. I don’t like the painting on the front cover, it is size etc. It is time for a report on the work on the Medway Queen and difficult to get your colours balanced when you choose a “…it is obviously a hit…” I have no naval connections, but for five years served in an it really is "all happening". Installation of the has low sunset, or sunrise, although of course the artist has armoured regiment of the army reserves, some while ago made a dramatic visual change to the ship, visible on the “…the publication has been greatly enjoyed by all taken great pains to get it all technically correct, page 23 now, but have always had a keen interest in all things to do web cam. Much of the other progress is less visible members of the Wardroom and we very much look is a better picture…” with the Senior Service. Also being within reasonable but completion of the boiler room is no less important. forward to the next edition…” travelling distance to Portsmouth is a real bonus. The Medway Queen book is now fully available and has been “…a very professional publication…” “…Well done again on an excellent magazine…” So do keep up the excellent work! favourably received. It is only one of a number of sales “…Congratulations on getting the BAFM Award, I am very Kind regards initiatives that we have planned for 2013. You will certainly get “…Congratulations on a superb new Scuttlebutt. I have impressed. You were short of ink when printing the Robin (membership number 3674) to hear of them in due course because we do still have quite now received my copy and it is very impressive in the letters but they were interesting. Hope for more next a lot of cash to raise to finish the job. new A4 format. Well done to all involved…” As always, any questions to me please on this email address. time…” Dear Editor, “…Scuttlebutt is looking very professional throughout. If you would like a bespoke article on any aspect of out “…an excellent edition with some outstanding articles…” I am the former chairman of "Amis du Musée de la Marine” Thanks !..” project please let me know. (Friends of the Naval Museum in France), my successor and “…I am writing on behalf of my Commanding Officer, Richard Halton “…Just a quick line to say what an excellent edition of present chairman is Hubert Creusat. We are very pleased to who recently received a copy of the ‘Scuttlebutt’ www.medwayqueen.co.uk Scuttlebutt the autumn issue is. It is highly attractive, congratulate you on your attractive and learned publication, magazine. He has asked me to pass on his thanks and See the web site for news and details of the ship. contains most interesting and varied articles and is ‘Scuttlebutt’. appreciation for such a fascinating and well written beautifully illustrated, from local Friends, I have only magazine…” heard praise. So, congratulations to all concerned….” “…Super - excellent illustrations, Thank you very much!..” “…the new size magazine looks far more impressive..”

Scuttlebutt | | Scuttlebutt 64 Spring Edition Spring Edition 65 “WELCOME ABOARD” DO COME & JOIN US! MEMBERSHIP OF THE FRIENDS OF THE ROYAL NAVAL MUSEUM (PORTSMOUTH) & HMS VICTORY

The Friends were formed in 1976 to support the Royal Naval Museum. They play an important part in assisting, promoting and publicising the museum and their primary purpose remains to support both the Museum and HMS Victory financially and in various other ways including work on specific projects, purchasing and collecting important items and artefacts and providing volunteers.

BENEFITS OF MEMBERSHIP In return for their support members of the Friends receive a range of benefits and special privileges, particularly to assist them in using and expanding their knowledge of the Museum, HMS Victory, the Royal Navy and the wider aspects of Britain’s great Maritime Heritage. The many benefits are listed on the Friends website at: http://www.royalnavalmuseum.org/support_friends_join.htm

Do come aboard and join us, you will be most welcome, complete the form below or the online application at: http://www.royalnavalmuseum.org/support_FriendsMembershipform.htm

FRIENDS MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION FORM

I/We wish to join the Friends of the Royal Naval Museum and HMS Victory as: Single Annual Member...... £ 20 or more, annually, or Joint Annual member...... £25 or more, annually Single Life Member ...... £200 or more, or Joint Life Members ...... £275 or more

Full name and title in CAPITALS ……………………………………………………………………………………… Address ………………………………………………………………………………..…… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… Post Code ……………………………………………………………………..……………

Signature: …………………………………………………………………………………

Please enclose a cheque for one year’s subscription, payable to the Friends of the RN Museum and HMS Victory or, preferable, use the Banker’s Order Form below BANKER’S ORDER Name & Address of Donor’s Bank ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… Please pay to the Friends of the RN Museum - (Bank Account No 10049576 - Sort Code: 16 19 28) Royal Bank of Scotland PLC, Fareham Branch, 1-2 Westquay House, 20 West Street, Fareham, Hants. PO16 OLH the sum of ………………..……………. on the……………..…day of ……………………….20……… And annually thereafter on the same day until further notice from my account No: ………………………………………………… Full name and title in CAPITALS: …………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Address: ………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Post Code …………………………………Signature …………………………………………… Date ………………………20……… Please print, sign and return this form to Roger Trise, Executive Secretary, Friends of Royal Naval Museum & HMS Victory, Royal Naval Museum, HM Naval Base (PP66) Portsmouth, Hants PO1 3NH

GIFT AID DECLARATION If you pay tax in the United Kingdom, please complete this Gift Aid Declaration. I declare that all donations made by me to the Friends of the Royal Naval Museum and HMS Victory are to be treated as Gift Aid donations. I confirm that I pay income tax or capital gains tax in the United Kingdom. I will advise you if this ceases to be the case or if I change my name or address.

Signed ………………………………………………………………… Date ………………………20………

Scuttlebutt | | Scuttlebutt 66 Spring Edition Spring Edition 67