Jump to content

Breaking battleships 1949


rog8811

Recommended Posts

I would guess that the picture from the paper is from the same series, though the text seems to say it was taken later.

battleships02.jpg

The picture above shows all the empty secondary armament mounts, shame the negative was damaged.

Some fantastic pictures on this site. ww1 four stacker at Milford Haven.

http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/wpw006994?search=shipbreaking&ref=0

Edited by rog8811
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Heartbreaking ........as simple as that..........once proud capital ships of our history... lamped up as if they meant absolutely nothing to this countries heritage.........

yeah yeah ......... I know the economic necessities of the time..........still heartbreaking though.:embarrassed:

I wish just one .ONE....of our beautiful proper battleships from that era has been preserved to go aboard and look around today....

Edited by RattlesnakeBob
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks like that's where she's steaming out of.

 

I've skippered a dive boat through that entrance 100s of times during 25 years of skuba diving there, used to be allowed to moor & dive off the old fort years ago but H&S banned that..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Apparently (I had a good wander around their yard when there on business) ,, Thos. W Ward Ltd Shipbreaking operations @ Inverkeithing - they had very early "green" credentials for re-cycling as much as possible by craning off & sale. Only what was real scrap went to the melt , then probably stock for more modern ships

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Apparently (I had a good wander around their yard when there on business) ,, Thos. W Ward Ltd Shipbreaking operations @ Inverkeithing - they had very early "green" credentials for re-cycling as much as possible by craning off & sale. Only what was real scrap went to the melt , then probably stock for more modern ships

 

Thos W Ward also broke many other fine civilian ships during their years....one of which (I think?) was the SS Mauretania? There was a Bar for many years in Bristol that went under that name and many of the fine detailings and fittings such as plaster and timber cornices and beautiful panelling and also a huge 'skylight' from one of the Ballrooms on her had all been used to decorate the Pub ....guess these came from Wards indirectly?

....Also Wards main office in Sheffield was decorated in the same manner with exquisite panelling and alabaster busts and ceiling moldings etc from many of the ships....I was told when Wards finally disappeared into RTZ (Rio Tinto Zinc Ltd) that the offices were stripped and modernised and all of these beautiful architectural effects were supposedly 'lost'...:-)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gunnery was ship re-cycled more than you would ever imagine, or used as a shore gun , alternative was storage until !

 

Indeed - HMS Vanguard, the UK's last battleship, used the WWI turrets from HMS Courageous and HMS Glorious.

 

Andy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Indeed - HMS Vanguard, the UK's last battleship, used the WWI turrets from HMS Courageous and HMS Glorious.

 

Andy

 

It's actually even more interesting than that, and the story is complicated by the fact that the gun records from Priddy's Hard show 184 15" guns were manufactured and that the Navy had approx 170 in a pool that was rotated amongst ships. This was necessary since each gun had a barrel life of around 200 shots, and so were replaced fairly regularly when the ships were in service.

 

Although the main turrets and mounts on VANGUARD did indeed come from COURAGEOUS and GLORIOUS, only one gun did so and that came via WARSPITE. Two of the turrets were in fact the spare mounts freed up when RENOWN and REPULSE were downgunned from 8-gun battlecruisers (as orignally laid down) to 6-gun battlecruisers (as built). These, together with two other 15" mounts were then used on COURAGEOUS and GLORIOUS before subsequently being installed on VANGUARD.

 

The eights guns (as opposed to the turrets and mounts) landed from COURAGEOUS and GLORIOUS went to MALAYA, RENOWN, ROBERTS and WARSPITE.

 

The guns mounted on VANGUARD came from QUEEN ELIZABETH (2), RAMILLIES (2), ROYAL SOVEREIGN (1), RESOLUTION (1), EREBUS (1), and WARPSITE (1), the latter being the only gun on VANGUARD to have also been on COURAGEOUS or GLORIOUS.

 

A follow-on from this is that whilst the old adage that "VANGUARD never fired her guns in anger" may be true, it is certainly not true to say that "VANGUARD's guns were never fired in anger" since they certainly were - just not on VANGUARD.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...