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thomo
Barlick Born Old Salt
2021 Posts
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 Posted -
03/06/2007
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11:46
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In this field, America comes out tops and in that country there are over 200 preserved vessels of all kinds. Our country on the other hand developed a "We wont be needing this again" attitude after several wars that were going to be the last! I once saw a film of perfectly good aeroplanes being bulldozed off the back of an Aircraft Carrier, no good asking for our pots and pans back then.
Of all the British Battleships that saw WW1, only one specimen survives, and although she a British built "Majestic" class ship, she belongs to the Japanese. The pre- Dreadnought "Mikasa" built by Vickers and launched 08. 11. 1900. She is now at Yokosuka as a memorial ship having served as Admiral Togo's Flagship at the battle of Tsushima in 1905. Built at Barrow in Furness at a cost of £880,000 with a displacement of 15,000 tons, OA length 132m & beam of 23.2m, her power was provided HP Triple Expansion engines developing 15,000 HP from coal fired boilers. The Americans also have a WW1 first generation Dreadnought, "USS Texas" preserved at San Jacinto, Texas, She is a New York Class ship built in 1912 and is 573' long and 27,000 tons. she was powered by Verticle Triple Expansion engines developing 28,100 HP. Her main armament being 10 x 14" guns in five turrets.
The largest surviving group of vessels of a single class are the American "Iowa" class Battleships "USS Iowa" is currently at the Naval College at Rhode Island, "USS New Jersey" is at New Jersey, "USS Missouri" is at Pearl Harbour and "USS Wisconsin" at Norfolk Virginia. Design characteristics are: 45,000 tons displacement, 887' OA Length, 108' 2" Beam, powered by steam turbines at 212,000 HP their main armament being 9 x 16" guns in three triple turrets. Also preserved is the "USS North Carolina" class name Battleship at Wilmington, North Carolina, The South Dakota Class Battleship "Massachusetts" is at Fall River Mass. and another ship of this class "USS Alabama" is at Mobile. At 35,000 tons she appeared in the 1992 film "Under Siege" with Steven Segal in her guise as USS Missouri. During this bit of research I came across another "FilmStar" another preserved ship. "USS Salem" a "Des Moine" class Heavy Cruiser, she was the one that posed rather badly as "The Graf Spee" in the film "Battle of the River Plate" and is now a Museum ship at Quincey, Mass, where she was built. So there we are, nine Battleships to date and all but one of them in America.
thomo
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thomo
Barlick Born Old Salt
2021 Posts
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Posted - 21/11/2009 : 15:16
HMS Belfast, London UK.
The "Belfast" is a Town Class Cruiser built at Harland and Wolffs yard at Belfast. Her keel was laid on the 10th of December 1936 and she was slipped into the water on the 17th of March 1938. Her length is 613.5' and 69' in the beam, she displaces 11,553 tons. Steam was supplied to her four Parsons single reduction geared turbines by four Admiralty 3 drum boilers all developing 80,000 SHP and giving her a speed of 32 knots. The engines commonly consisted of three turbines each, one main turbine, one cruising turbine and one astern turbine. My old ship HMS Blake had a similar machinery arrangement and at 32 knots the machinery spaces became very interesting places to be!!!. "Belfast" saw action against two of the enemy heavies,namely Scharnhorst and Tirpitz. Now owned by the Imperial War Museum she resides in the River Thames.
thomo  |
thomo
Barlick Born Old Salt
2021 Posts
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Posted - 21/11/2009 : 16:41
HMS Caroline, Belfast.
This girl is a C, class Light Cruiser of WW1 vintage. Built at Cammel Lairds Yard Birkenhead she was laid down on the 28th of January 1914 and first got her bottom wet on the 29th of September 1914 when her 420' length and 41.5' beam was pushed into the water by her 4,783 tons of weight. Later she was propelled through the water by her 4 shaft Parsons steam turbines providing 40,000 Shaft horsepower. at the good speed of 28.5 knots all connected., her Battle Honours are Jutland 1916 and is the last ship of that engagement still afloat. She still serves today as the Headquarters Training Ship for the Royal Naval Reserve at Belfast.
thomo |
thomo
Barlick Born Old Salt
2021 Posts
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Posted - 21/11/2009 : 17:34
HMS Warrior, Portsmouth, UK.
This one is from the same stable as my Fathers ship in WW1 being The Thames Ironworks at Blackwall. She is the Royal Navy's first iron hulled armour plated Warship. Laid down on the 25. 05. 1859 and launched on the 29. 12. 1860 she is 418' long with a beam of 58' and weighs 9,358 tons, the cost to the Nation was £170,000, Her power unit is a Penn Jet-Condensing Horizontal-Trunk single expansion steam engine, she is also a "Full Rigged Ship". Her speed under sail being 13 knots and 14.5 under steam. She has survived two other ships of the same name these being a WW1 Cruiser and a WW2 Aircraft Carrier. I built a narrowboat called Warrior and would like to know where it is as I am still owed £600. This Warrior sits proudly in Portsmouth harbour close by the Main Gate at the Dockyard. Very handy for the ships Anson and Leopard, Pubs!
thomo |
thomo
Barlick Born Old Salt
2021 Posts
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Posted - 21/11/2009 : 17:50
HMS M33, Portsmouth,UK.
Another survivor of WW1. She is a M29 class Monitor and was built at the yard of Sir Raylton Dixon at Middlesbrough Launched on 22. 05. 1915 she is of length 177' and beam 31' she was powered by a twin prop triple expansion engine of 400 HP. She took her crew of 72 and her armament of two 6" Mk 12 guns, one quick firing 6pdr Hotchkiss and two Maxim machine guns to Galipoli. She is at rest now close by HMS Victory at Portsmouth.
thomo |
thomo
Barlick Born Old Salt
2021 Posts
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Posted - 22/11/2009 : 14:40
HMS Victory, Portsmouth, UK.
Of all the old ships, in all the World, this must surely be the big one, the numero uno, simply the best, and its ours. When in port I used to pass this one every day and never tired of seeing it. Everyone who visited us for holidays asked to visit her, so I have been aboard many times. It is not just the sheer presence of the ship, its the feel and the smell, makes your hair stand on end. Victory also has special significance for me as it was in the Great Cabin that I proposed to the Memsahib whilst visting on holiday in 1994. This had all been pre-arranged with the Navy out of camera with wife presumptive. After asking the big one and presenting No 1 ring, engagement for the use of we were taken to another cabin which doubles as a modern day mess where there was a great bunch of flowers courtesy of the ships company and a liberal amount of liquid refreshment. As Nelson would have said "Went the day well".
The details now. HMS Victory was built in No 2 dock at the Royal Dockard at Chatham. Her keel was laid on the 23rd of July in 1759 and she was launched on the 7th of May 1765. The great ship was first commisioned in 1778. She is a First Rate Ship of the Line and displaces 3,500 tons and is 2,142 tons burthen. Her overall length is 227' and 186' over the gundeck. Her beam is of 51.75' and she has a draught of 28.75'. She is a Full Rigged ship with a sail area of 6,510 sq, yds. which gave her a speed of 8-9 knots, Her ships company averaged 850 Officers and Men.
Armament at Trafalgar. Gundeck, 30 x 2.7 ton long pattern Blomfield 32 pounders. Middle Gundeck, 28 x 2.5 ton long 24 pounders. Upper Gundeck, 30 x 1.7 ton short 12 pounders, Quarter Deck, 12 x 1.7 ton short 12 pounders. Forecastle, 2 x medium 12 pounders and 2 x 68 pounder Carronades (ship smashers). She was not armoured but her Oak hull was two feet thick at the waterline. From waterline to top of mainmast she stands at 205'.
Awards.
1st battle of Ushant 1778
2nd battle of Ushant 1781
Battle of Cape St, Vincent 1796
Battle of Cape Trafalgar 1805.
Over her many years around 80 Admirals have hoisted their flags in Victory several have done so more than once making a total of over 90. Some of the better known ones in chronological order have been. Keppel, Hardy, Kempenfelt, The Earl Howe, The Lord Hood, Viscount Nelson, Saumarez, Jervis and Cochrane, more recent ones include, Sir John Fisher, Sir Terrence Lewin and Sandy Woodward.
HMS Victory sits there proudly today towering above all around her, She is in the company of other parts of the Museum site and very important amongst these is the Shipwrights workshops where they produce new parts for the old ship, Her material upkeep is constant and I have had the pleasure of watching them bending great pieces of timber in the steam press.
Finally, to anyone who has never seen the Victory it iis simply "Well worth the effort".
thomo |
thomo
Barlick Born Old Salt
2021 Posts
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Posted - 22/11/2009 : 16:53
HMS Trincomalee, Hartlepool, UK.
This old Frigate is one of a pair of Leda Class Ships that have survived. She was built at the Wadia shipyard in Bombay and is constructed of Teak due to a shortage of Oak at home. She was launched in 1817 and finally left sevice in 1991, She is 150' long along the gundeck and 40' over the beam, she is a Full Rigged Ship and cost £2.300. She was renamed Foudroyant and became a training ship for Sea Scouts at Falmouth also being used for holiday accomodation. Later she was moved to Portsmouth, I used to see her often as she was moored without her masts oposite the flag tower in the dockyard. She is the oldest Naval ship still afloat and is now preserved at Hartlepool.
Her Sister is HMS Unicorn built at Chatham, She is without masts but survives as a museum ship at Dundee in Scotland.
It was a tradition at the Wadia shipyard to hammer a silver nail into a new ships keel for good luck, It must have worked for Trincomalee.
thomo |
Tizer
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Posted - 21/06/2010 : 09:51
[Click for larger picture]
I hope Thomo won't mind me adding this to his list of existing Royal Navy warships. HMS Gay Archer which I photographed at her current base in Watchet, Somerset, UK, on 17 June2010. Launched in August 1952 and the first in a class of 12 vessels. Restored by Paul Childs and now used in the `corporate entertainment' business from Watchet.
Edited by - Tizer on 21/06/2010 09:52:46
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thomo
Barlick Born Old Salt
2021 Posts
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Posted - 21/06/2010 : 12:39
I dont mind at all Tizer, I will just say that the name predates the misuse of the word gay.
thomo |
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TGTP, Ships, Naval, Steam.
