At 1515 hours, 50 miles south of Italy, heavily escorted Italian convoy for Benghazi, Libya ran into an equally powerful British convoy for Malta. She returned to Normandy on 9 June to support American forces at Utah Beach and then, on 11 June, she took up position off Gold Beach to support the British 69th Infantry Brigade near Cristot. Other than that battle, and the inconclusive Action of 19 August, her service during the war generally consisted of routine patrols and training in the North Sea. [42] She undertook another cruise of the western Mediterranean in the spring of 1939. HMS Warspite - RN battleships of WW2 Warspite was the second of the class to commission, joining the 5th Battle Squadron with the Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow. At 1936 hours, HMS Formidable's aircraft returned, joined by land-based aircraft from Crete, Greece, putting cruiser Pola out of action, but failed to catch Vittorio Veneto as she had received temporary repairs and was already en route back to Taranto, Italy. During Operation Neptune, it anchored off Sword Beach and on June 6, 1944, it bombed the Villerville and Mont Canisy batteries, consuming 300x 381 mm shells in forty-eight hours. [91] She reached Malta on 19 September and undertook emergency repairs before being towed to Gibraltar on 12 November. Copyright 2004-2023 Lava Development, LLC., all rights reserved, See all 8 photographs of Battleship Warspite, 24 boilers, 4 direct drive turbines, 4 shafts, 2 oil driven and 2 turbine driven dynamos, 1 reciprocating engine driven dynamo, 8,600nm at 12.5 knots, 3,900 nm at 21 knots, 4x2 381mm, 12x152mm, 4x2 102mm, 4x8 2-lb AA, 4x4 0.5cal machine guns, 4-11in belt, 4-6in bulkheads, 4.25-13in turrets, 4-10in barbettes, 3-11in conning tower, 6in torpedo conning tower, 1-3in deck. ww2dbaseIn Jun 1943, Warspite once again returned to the Mediterranean and joined Force H at Gibraltar. Warspite was launched on November 26, 1913, and entered service on March 8, 1915. On closer inspection these dates do overlap but this original order has been maintained. The Italian cruisers turned away under a smoke screen while the battleships Giulio Cesare and Conte di Cavour closed on Warspite before Malaya and Royal Sovereign could catch up.[54]. Warned of the Italian intentions by intelligence from the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park, Admiral Cunningham took his fleet to sea on 27 March 1941, flying his flag on Warspite. Messages 1 to 24. [86] Assigned to Division 2 with Valiant and Formidable, she returned to Alexandria on 5 July in preparation for Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily. Before dawn, British warships searched for an Axis convoy off the Greek island of Milos; after sunrise, German aircraft spotted the ships, damaging HMS Naiad (6 killed), HMS Calcutta (14 killed), and HMS Kingston (1 killed) at 1000 hours. [21] Rather than continue, Warspite was stopped for ten minutes so the crew could make repairs. Results were unsatisfactory and expenses too high and so The Wolverhampton Metal Company Ltd directly took over on Jan 25th 1952 [see last letter in file 2 (insurance)]. Launched. Decommissioned in 1945, Warspite ran aground under tow to be scrapped in 1947 on rocks near Prussia Cove, Cornwall, and was eventually broken up nearby. One of her boiler rooms and the X turret could not be repaired, remaining out of action for the remainder of her career. Denomination: 03 - H.M.S. After the Battle of Jutland, 1 inch of high-tensile steel was added to the main deck over the magazines and additional anti-flash equipment was added in the magazines. HMS Warspite. Records of HMS Warspite from other sources. [76], In June 1941, Warspite departed Alexandria for the Bremerton Naval Shipyard in the United States, arriving there on 11 August,[28] having travelled through the Suez Canal, across the Indian Ocean to Ceylon, stopping at Manila, then Pearl Harbor and finally Esquimalt along the way. [45], Warspite's first task was to escort convoy HX 9 carrying fuel from Nova Scotia to the UK. She continued bombardment duties on 7 June, but after firing over 300 shells she had to rearm and crossed the Channel to Portsmouth. He is remembered on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial. British ship. She provided gunfire support during the Sicily invasion in Jul 1943, and on 8 and 9 Sep 1943 bombarded German positions while fending off air attack during the Allied landing at Salerno. If you have any unwanted The Captain spoke to the ships company telling. 70.00 . [59], In March 1941, to support the planned German invasion of the Balkans, Vice Admiral Angelo Iachino's Italian fleet, led by the battleship Vittorio Veneto, sailed to intercept Allied convoys between Egypt and Greece. [94] She evaded German coastal batteries, partly due to effective radar jamming, but hit a mine 28 miles off Harwich early on 13 June. At Rosyth, Warspite's 6-inch guns were removed and plated in, and a concrete caisson covered the hole left by the German missile. Diether von Roeder had to be scuttled while Erich Giese was sunk in conjunction with destroyers. [10] In early December, Warspite was involved in another incident when, during an exercise, she collided with her sister ship Barham, which caused considerable damage to Warspite's bow. Warspite returned home in mid-1943 to conduct naval gunfire support as part of Force H during the Italian campaign. [43] In June 1939, Vice Admiral Andrew Cunningham replaced Dudley Pound and took Warspite to Istanbul for talks with the Turkish government. Stanley Braithwaite HMS Warspite, L.Sea. Her final task was to support an Anglo-Canadian operation to open up the port of Antwerp, which had been captured in September, by clearing the Scheldt Estuary of German strongholds and gun emplacements. [67] Cunningham rejected this plan, but on 21 April he sailed with Warspite to bombard the harbour in company with Barham and Valiant, the cruiser Gloucester and several destroyers. Australian and New Zealand troops were pulled back from Maleme to Suda Bay to protect the main supply point while regrouping for another counterattack. 124.73 + 14.97 Postage. Also off Norway, Warspite's Swordfish biplane torpedo bomber sunk German submarine U-64, making it the first U-boat sinking by aircraft in WW2. [18] Captain Phillpotts decided to maintain course, in effect circling, rather than come to a halt and reverse. The Warspite was damaged during the Battle of Crete during a German air attack. Scuba Certification; Private Scuba Lessons; Scuba Refresher for Certified Divers; Try Scuba Diving; Enriched Air Diver (Nitrox) On March 27, 1941, it took part in the battle of Cape Matapan and engaged several Italian buildings which were severely hit and destroyed. Uncertain how severe the damage was, Campioni ordered his battleships to turn away in the face of superior British numbers and they disengaged behind a smoke screen laid by Italian destroyers. When she was launched in 1913 the use of oil as fuel and untried 15-inch guns were revolutionary concepts in the naval arms race between Britain and Germany, a considerable risk for Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, and Admiral of the Fleet Sir Jackie Fisher, who had advocated the design. privacy policy. [1]:10 Until 1919 a woodpecker was used as the ships' crest; the official badge was a cannon, although the woodpecker continued to be used on the ships' tompions or gun muzzle plugs. [34], Additionally, her superstructure was radically altered, allowing two cranes and an aircraft hangar to be fitted. Lava's technical capabilities. Crew list photos of HMS Warspite Directory of Names Jutland Memorial - H.M.S. Message Board. [2][3], Warspite had a length overall of 643feet 9inches (196.2m), a beam of 90feet 7inches (27.6m) and a deep draught of 33 feet (10.1m). Records of HMS Warspite from other sources. 2. He died 2nd of August 1943 aged 23 years. [13], Following the German raid on Lowestoft in April 1916, Warspite and the 5th Battle Squadron were temporarily assigned to Vice-Admiral David Beatty's Battlecruiser Force. D-Day and Battle of Normandy Encyclopedia. Between 1924 and 1926, she was modernized, receiving an array of small caliber guns among other changes. ww2dbaseIn Jan 1942, Warspite became the flagship of Admiral Sir James Somerville of the Eastern Fleet, who relocated the Eastern Fleet's base from Ceylon to the Maldives. Jutland Memorial. The time is 9 PM approx. British battleships HMS Barham, HMS Valiant, and HMS Warspite continued to shell the Italian fleet off Cape Matapan, Greece. The Wartime Memories Project is run by volunteers and the free to access part of the website is funded by donations from our visitors. In 1916 it was engaged at the battle of Jutland in the 5th Fighter Wing, during which it received fifteen shots at the goal. She was badly damaged by German radio-controlled glider bombs during the landings at Salerno and spent most of the next year under repair. Warspite was among a WW1-era battleship class whose existance had much to do with the influences of First Sea Lord Admiral Sir John "Jackie" Fisher and First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill. 7.3 The distribution of the surviving lists. They were completed after the start of the Pacific War in December and the ship sailed across the Pacific to join the Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean in early 1942. Despite the use of 24 compressor tanks pumping air into her tanks, the salvage failed. Draught: 9,4 m. Share a testimony from a relative or a friend, veteran or civilian, resistance member, ally or German, actor or witness of History. On March 27, 1941, it took part in the battle of Cape Matapan and engaged several Italian buildings which were severely hit and destroyed. By Dec 1944, Royal Navy warship involvement in the Atlantic was reduced to very little, and she was decommissioned on 1 Feb 1945 before the European War had ended. Samuel Hopkins served with the Royal Navy aboard HMS Warspite in WW2. She was diverted northwards in pursuit of the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau which had sunk the armed merchant cruiser Rawalpindi north of the Faroe Islands, but failed to make contact. Please refrain from using strong language. 7th Deployed with HM Battleships WARSPITE, MALAYA, ROYAL SOVEREIGN, HMS EAGLE, HM Cruisers NEPTUNE, GLOUCESTER , ORION and SYDNEY screened by HM Destroyers DAINTY, DEFENDER, HASTY, HOSTILE, HYPERION, ILEX, IMPERIAL, JUNO, VAMPIRE (RAN) and VOYAGER (RAN) as Force A to provide Distant Cover for passage of Convoys MF1 and MS1 in a repeat of The battleship 03 H.M.S. The intention was for her to become the flagship of Admiral Dudley Pound's Mediterranean Fleet, but trials revealed problems with propulsion machinery and steering, a legacy of Jutland, which continued to beset Warspite and delayed her departure. At Narvik, Norway, a British naval force consisted of battleship HMS Warspite and 9 destroyers under the command of Vice Admiral William Whitworth entered Ofotfjord; in the Second Battle of Narvik, Warspite's Swordfish torpedo bomber sank German submarine U-64 with bombs, while surface vessels sank 3 destroyers, with another 5 German ships scuttled by their own crews after suffering extensive damage; three British ships were damaged in the battle; without their ships, 2,600 German sailors went on land and served as infantrymen; Whitworth radioed London, noting that German forces at Narvik were now stranded, and a single brigade could defeat them. [25] She signalled ahead for escorts and a squadron of torpedo boats came out to meet her. Aided by her compressor and two jet engines from an experimental aircraft the hulk was finally moved 130 feet (40m) closer to shore and by the summer of 1955, on-site scrapping resulted in her disappearance from view. Heath, Fredrick Charles - Acting Armourer's Mate [6], The waterline belt of the Queen Elizabeth class consisted of Krupp cemented armour (KC) that was 13 inches (330mm) thick over the ships' vitals. [46], In April 1940, Warspite had started her voyage back to the Mediterranean when the Germans invaded Denmark and Norway; she rejoined the Home Fleet on 10 April and proceeded towards Narvik. On January 1, 1945, after good and loyal services, HMS Warspite was placed in reserve and then definitively retired from service. The shells landed harmlessly at a gunnery range where a platoon of the Green Howards was exercising. WW2 1943 4 Original Photos VPB-92 Purple Heart DFC Medals for Crew PBY Sub Sunk. After 1861 only a sample of crew lists and agreements and log books are held at The National Archives. [79] She was recommissioned on 28 December and undertook sea trials near Vancouver before sailing down the west coast of the U.S. and Mexico, crossing the equator and arriving in Sydney on 20 February 1942. Albert Edward Harding HMS Warspite (d.22nd May 1941) Albert Harding, Royal Navy, born 24th January 1901 in Wealdstone, Middlesex, took the King's shilling at about the age of 15 and served in the Royal Navy from that time, during WW1. After entering service in 1967 she collided with a Soviet submarine the following year. [51] The Second Naval Battle of Narvik was considered a success. L. de Villiers, RN) had left Gibraltar on 31 August 1939 for Freetown. Initially, the Allied cruisers, armed with 6-inch guns, were outranged by the 8-inch guns of their heavier Italian counterparts and disengaged. After dark, British battleships HMS Barham, HMS Valiant, and HMS Warspite moved in within 3.5 kilometers of the Italian cruisers undetected, opening fire at 2330 hours on the unsuspecting Italians. H.St.L. During Operation Neptune, it anchored off, In the aftermath of the Battle of Normandy, HMS Warspite supported allied land forces from 9 to 11 June, operating for the benefit of the Americans before cruising off. Meanwhile four destroyers from the 4th Destroyer Division, Mediterranean Fleet, the HMS Hotspur (Cdr. Warspite had turned towards Valletta on the exercise's conclusion and the shells hurtled towards the city. [7], The ship was fitted with flying-off platforms mounted on the roofs of 'B' and 'X' turrets in 1918, from which fighters and reconnaissance aircraft could launch. The anti-aircraft (AA) armament were composed of two quick-firing (QF) 3-inch (76mm) 20cwt Mk I[Note 1] guns. [29] Captain Hubert Lynes relieved Captain de Bartolome and on 21 November he took Warspite out to escort the German High Seas Fleet into internment at Scapa Flow following the signing of the Armistice. At 2100 hours, when the Commander-in-Chief was in position . 1. Warspite destroyed the heavily damaged Z13 Erich Koellner with broadsides, while damaging Z17 Diether von Roeder and Z12 Erich Giese. When received these records were divided into two groups - those prior to 1952 and those post 1952. HMS Warspite was built at the Devonport dockyard in Plymouth, launched on the 26th November 1915, and became one of Britain's most decorated ships of the twentieth century. Somerville's fleet was outnumbered and outclassed but he hoped to get close enough to launch a night-time torpedo bomber attack. In 1934, she underwent a complete modernization, radically altering her superstructure and adding an aircraft hangar. Original framed ww2 picture - HMS Queen Elizabeth (1914) 1944 . [103] The stone was unveiled by Admiral Sir Charles Madden and prayers were read by a former crew member. In the Mediterranean Sea, Italian bombers attacked British battleship HMS Warspite and cruiser HMS Liverpool between 0850 and 1150 hours. Dennis Spencer. On Sat July 29th, 1950, the salvage firm had a success; they floated the ship and began to tow her away from Prussia Cove. Three days later, Warspite met and led elements of the Italian Fleet, including Vittorio Veneto and Italia, into internment at Malta. It was hit three times by a German plane and accused of the loss of nine killed and fourteen wounded. HMS Warspite bombarded on the German Villerville Battery in Normandie, France at the range of 26,000 yards at 0500 hours, northeast of Sword Beach. Initially, Warspite was based in Ceylon, forming a fast group with the aircraft carriers Formidable and Indomitable, four cruisers and six destroyers. In Apr 1940, she operated off Norway and on 10 Apr she lent gunfire support at Narvik where British ships sank three German destroyers and damaged 5 others (all 5 were eventually scuttled to avoid capture). On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Hi Ady thanks for that - excellent info. [40] At the end of one anti-aircraft exercise, a junior midshipman independently discharged his pom-pom gun after a towing aircraft flew low overhead to display its attached target to the crew. Class: Queen Elizabeth-class battleship, Armament (1944): 8x 381 mm guns, 10x 152 mm guns, 4x 102 mm guns, 32x 40 mm anti-aircraft guns, 16x 20 mm guns, 16x 12,7 mm machine guns, 4x 533 mm torpedo tubes, Displacement: 33,410 tons RM 2BJY9BY - HMS Warspite twin screw armour clad cruiser Floated out of Dock at Chatham Yard 29th January 1884. The Battle of Narvik was considered a success service in 1967 she collided with a Soviet submarine the following.. 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