HMSWarspite
Member
Kind of thought that was what you were thinking. But K22 did end up on the bottom - just got raised again!
Quiet here...
- Thread starter HMSWarspite
- Start date
Firestorm
Member
Actually K13 was sunk in fatal accident during sea trials in early 1917. She was salvaged and recommissioned as K22. At the May Island icident when Inflexible hit her the ballast tanks were wrecked but she only sank by the bow until only her conning tower showed.
Bullethead
Storm Eagle Studios
I"ve actually seen and touched one of the X-craft subs sunk in the Tirpitz attack. She's been raised and is now on display at what is primarily an airplane museum at what was once RAF Hendon (or something starting with an H, famous from the BoB), NNE of London. They've got a chunk of Tirpitz's main belt there, too. But anyway, I forget which sub it was, but IIRC she's got a 10cm bullet hole clear through. So I figure that's as confirmed as can be, unless it was a shore battery that got her.
OTOH, maybe I'm confusing the cause of this sinking with that of the IJN midget recently found off Pearl Harbor. It's been a long time since I went to that museum and I've killed quite a few brain cells in the meantime. Maybe something else killed this X sub. Any of our Brit readers know better?
Picky, picky
.Oh well, I'll have to wait I guess
.
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Fairweather
Member
HMS Agincourt
Tag, you're it.
Fairweather
Member
Ok,
1) What ship was nick-named "pepperpot".
2) Which ship had a total combat life of exactly 7 minutes (at Guadalcanal).
Whether those questions are stupidly hard or ridiculously easy, I don't know.
1) What ship was nick-named "pepperpot".
2) Which ship had a total combat life of exactly 7 minutes (at Guadalcanal).
Whether those questions are stupidly hard or ridiculously easy, I don't know.
Bullethead
Storm Eagle Studios
IIRC, this was an old Brit C-class cruiser in the Med in WW2, which got shot up so badly so many times running back and forth to Malta that she was more holes than sheet metal. Coventry comes to mind, but I can't the the proof now.
USS Barton
Bullethead
Storm Eagle Studios
Correction, the "pepperpot" cruiser was HMS Penelope. I had the circumstances right though .
.Fairweather
Member
Well done on both counts. Your turn.
Bullethead
Storm Eagle Studios
Both questions were hard, BTW, I just happened to have come across the answers recently.
OK, I'm kickin' it old school
.This question has to do with the very last time a Royal Navy battleship designed and built with a sailing rig actually moved under sail alone, no fires lit. What ship was this and what was the date? For extra credit, give the location and the ship's captain at the time. If you're really into this, describe the weather conditions, too. And for bonus points, describe the several unique features of this ship aloft and alow
.Firestorm
Member
I think the ship was the HMS Temeraire on October 3, 1890 at Suda Bay in Crete I don't know who the captain was though.
Bullethead
Storm Eagle Studios
Correct on all counts! Well done. I was hoping that would stump people for at least a day--it took me longer than that to think of the question
Amazing that it was at such a late date that this happened, eh?
You got the official question and one of the bonus points, so it's your turn. But while you press on with new business, I hope others feel free to keep trying for the bonus questions. The ship herself and her skipper are 2 of my favorites from the era. Plus the conditions made the whole operation especially difficult, but Temeraire carried it off without a hitch, putting the exclamation point at the end of the age of sail.
Firestorm
Member
I remembered reading about it in To Rule the Waves: How the British Navy Shaped the Modern World. But I had to go back and look it up in that book but it didn't say who the captain was.Correct on all counts! Well done. I was hoping that would stump people for at least a day--it took me longer than that to think of the question
Amazing that it was at such a late date that this happened, eh?
You got the official question and one of the bonus points, so it's your turn. But while you press on with new business, I hope others feel free to keep trying for the bonus questions. The ship herself and her skipper are 2 of my favorites from the era. Plus the conditions made the whole operation especially difficult, but Temeraire carried it off without a hitch, putting the exclamation point at the end of the age of sail.
Anyway on with my question. It could be tricky, it could be easy, it also coould be a matter of opinion. What is the last class of ships to be classified as Battlecruisers?
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http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/hms_temeraire_1876.htm
The lower left picture shows Temeraire underr sail in Suda Bay
The lower left picture shows Temeraire underr sail in Suda Bay
Hinchinbrooke
Member
According to Oscar Parkes, Capt. Gerard Noel commanded Temeraire during her epic sail (fourteen tacks, apparently).
Firestorm
Member
Very good. Your turn Hood.
Bullethead
Storm Eagle Studios
Right you are in both respets!
I got my info from The Black Battlefleet, by Admiral G.A. Ballard. He grew up as a middie and junior officer in the ironclads and started WW1 as the CinC of the East Coast Patrols. He ended up being the boss at Malta and played a big part in finally getting convoys going in the Med.
As it happens, Ballard was aboard Temeraire in 1890 and during her final beat into Suda Bay (which took 5 hours), he was officer of the watch twice. A copy of that page of the ship's log is in the book above, and you can see his initials in the margin. 14 tacks indeed. The wind was dead foul and the channel is very narrow--absolutely no margin for error in the whole process. It was called "Sailing to Meet the Fleet" because the rest of the Med Squadron had gone on ahead under steam and had anchored long before.
All this is more impressive to me becauseTemeraire had some unique rigging features. She was brig-rigged, the biggest brig ever built, to minimize interference with her guns. To get enough sail area to move a battleship, therefore, all her sails were friggin' huge, which made them very difficult to manhandle around. Her lower and topsail yards were the longest ever in RN service, and her foresail was the single largest sail ever made for an RN vessel--it weighed over two tons.
She was also the only ship ever fitted with Moncrieff disappearing barbette guns. These mountings were designed for forts but they worked quite well at sea, being noted for their accuracy during the bombardment of Alexandria. However, they were very heavy for the amount of firepower provided and thus weren't used again.
Hinchinbrooke
Member
Parkes gives a brief summary of the event and the conditions....... unfortunately, he gets the date wrong. I can't imagine having to deal with the sails and rigging. Nightmarish. Quite the ship though. Ironically for the black battlefleet, Temeraire was painted white for a time.