HMS VALIANT is in the background. Author McDonald, I.H., Captain, RAN (Ret) Subjects Biographies and personal histories, WWII operations Tags. The tragedy recently inspired composer Sally Beamish to write the Sea Psalm.There is a much larger image of the sister ship to HMS Duchess, HMS Daring, at Naval History net. HMS Barham – On 25 November 1941, in the eastern Mediterranean north of Sidi Barrani, Barham capsized, exploded and sank two and a half minutes after being hit by three torpedoes fired by the German submarine U-331. Blyth, Reginald Edward - Lieutenant. HMS Barham – Survivors Account Of Sinking. The footage is at the end of this post. HMS Barham was at the time engaged in an operation to engage potential enemy convoys, together with the other two battleships of the Mediterranean Fleet, HMS Queen Elizabeth (flag) and HMS Valiant, escorted by nine destroyers. AE1 – The Ship without a Name, Musical Composition by Lieutenant Matthew Klohs RAN. List of shipwrecks: 2 November 1941 Ship Country Description Balilla Italy World War II: The cargo ship (2,469 GRT, 1920) was shelled and torpedoed in the Mediterranean Sea north west of Trapani, Sicily) by ORP Sokół ( Polish Navy), shelled and sunk later in the day by HMS Utmost ( Royal There were no casualties and 25 survivors. Late in the afternoon of November 24, 1941 WARSPITE, (C. in C.), BARHAM and VALIANT and a screen of nine destroyers sailed from Alexandria to provide heavy gun cover for the Cruisers. The loss of HMS Barham contributed to the very high number of losses at sea suffered by the Royal Navy in the period of Operation CRUSADER, about which I have written at this link. Joined East Med. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. (Casualty List - note on casualties) The list of men lost is, First time unlucky – the loss of Iride 22 August 1940, Loss of Wing Commander F.A. The start date is universally agreed to be 17 November 1941, while the end date is 15 January for the British (thus excluding the Axis counter-offensive of late January), while it is 6 February for the Axis, including the counteroffensive. Barham was a British battleship, and part of the Meditteranean Fleet. U.331 was under the command of Freiherr Diedrich von Tiesenhausen who was a lieutenant of 26 years of age. HMS Fiji (58) British light cruiser. The torpedoes seemed to hit the ship amidships just abaft the funnel, judging by the waterspout in that general area, of which I had a ringside view from the Admiral’s Bridge. ABDIEL At 15.45 hours on 28 Dec 1939, HMS Barham (04) (Capt H.T.C. Pridham-Wippell), and Squadron Signal Officer of the 1st Battle Squadron. The interrogation report following the sinking of U-331 in late 1942 give further detail of the sinking of HMS Barham at this link. HMS Barham (04) was a Queen Elizabeth-class battleship launched in 1914 and sunk by a U-boat in 1941. She was sunk during the Second World War on 25 November 1941 by the German submarine U-331. It is just over 49 years since H.M.S. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. This is my first written account of the fateful day, and of my recollections of some of the circumstances before and after the catastrophe since I prepared a Report on the sinking shortly after the event for the Royal Naval Authorities at Alexandria, Egypt. Cartmell, Colin. P.W and staff moved to MALAYA and QUEEN ELIZABETH, and Rear Admiral B.S. Enlarge image. June 11, 1991. The HMS Royal Oak, a Royal Sovereign class dreadnought, the HMS Prince of Wales, a King George V class and the HMS Barham, a Queen Elizabeth class, which was a modernized warship from World War One. All electric motors had stopped, all power had gone ‘off the Board’, there was an ominous creaking of Bridge work and Rigging, the ship was ‘dead’ and it was clear to all of us that it was every man for himself while the going was good. HMS Barham at Valetta in August 1936. It proves that mediums really can communicate with the dead, state others. Once the news had come through around 1630 hours that Force K out of Malta had sunk these, the battleships turned for Alexandria. Ship sinking, Survivor, HMS Barham. The list of men lost is at this link. Earlier in the day there had been a couple of Air Raid warnings, and reports of enemy aircraft ‘Shadowers’, but nothing of particular consequence. HMS Barham was a Queen Elizabeth-class battleship of the Royal Navy named after Admiral Charles Middleton, 1st Baron Barham, built at the John Brown shipyards in Clydebank, Scotland, and launched in 1914. On 25 November 1941 one of the heaviest losses of life, and the only loss of a Royal Navy battleship to a submarine at sea, occurred off Bardia, when HMS Barham was torpedoed at extremely short range by U-331, and sank within four minutes. HMS Barham – Survivors Account Of Sinking. Busuttil, Emmanuel. HMS Barham Survivors Association. I assumed that this had happened because the submarine Captain had fired all his bow tubes at once, and had not compensated quickly enough with seawater to keep the conning tower below the surface. She was the flagship of the 1st Battle Squadron and of the Second in Command of the Mediterranean Fleet, 1941. HMS Barham crashed into HMS Duchess, cutting her in half. Once the news had come through around 1630 hours that Force K Out of Malta had these. Temporarily from P-W who became Vice Admiral Sir H.D 21 Monks Way Hill Hants... Without a Name, Musical Composition by lieutenant Matthew Klohs RAN Stratton Brown HMS. 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