The War in View #18

Ambrosini SAI.403 Dardo.

 

Ambrosini SAI.403 Dardo.

 

Ambrosini SAI.207.

 

Ambrosini SAI.403 Dardo.

 

Ambrosini SAI.7.

 

Ambrosini SAI.107.

 

SAI.7.

 

SAI.7 trainer.

 

SAI.107.

 

Ambrosini SAI.207.

 

Polish ORP Burza, 1934.

 

Polish ORP Krakowiak, L115, Royal Navy Hunt II class destroyer.

 

Polish ORP Krakowiak, L115, Royal Navy Hunt II class destroyer.

 

Polish ORP Dragon, 1944.

 

Polish ORP Orzeł under construction at the Dutch shipyard De Schelde in Vlissingen.

 

Polish ORP Grom at speed trials.

 

Polish ORP Grom at speed trials.

 

Polish ORP Dragon, 1944.

 

Soviet battleship Arkhangelsk (ex-HMS Royal Sovereign, Revenge-class), 1944.

 

Soviet battleship Arkhangelsk (ex-HMS Royal Sovereign, Revenge-class), 1944.

 

Soviet battleship Arkhangelsk (ex-HMS Royal Sovereign, the Revenge-class), 1944.

 

Soviet S-type submarine "S-51", serie IXbis.

 

The Russian battleship Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya (earlier Gangut).

 

Soviet Admiral Nakhimov-class light cruiser Chervona Ukraina, Black Sea Fleet, pre-war.

 

Soviet Admiral Nakhimov-class light cruiser Chervona Ukraina, Black Sea Fleet, pre-war.

 

Soviet Admiral Nakhimov-class light cruiser Chervona Ukraina, Black Sea Fleet, pre-war.

 

Soviet M-class submarine Malyutka VI serie.

 

Soviet submarine AG-26 later A-4.

 

Soviet battleship Pietropavlovsk.

 

HMS Nelson was the first of two ships in a class that was redesigned to comply with the Washington Naval Treaties. Among their nicknames was “the cherry tree class,” because they were “chopped down” by Washington.

 

A British ship in 1943 lays mines protecting approaches to Great Britain.

 

HMS Rodney in 1937.

 

HMS Rodney in 1930.

 

HMS Rodney.

 

HMS Revenge, the R-class battleship, 1941.

 

HMS Revenge, the R-class battleship, 1942.

 

HMS Amphion launch, 1934.

 

HMS Amphion.

 

December 15, 1938 HMS Amphion arriving at Portsmouth, England to pay off.

 

December 15, 1938 HMS Amphion arriving at Portsmouth, England to pay off.

 

HMS Hood.

 

HMS Illustrious.

 

HMS Danae, Royal Navy D-class light cruiser, 1937. Later she became the Polish ORP Conrad.

 

HMS Danae, Royal Navy D-class light cruiser, 1943. HMS Danae was leased by the Polish Navy and serviced as Polish ORP Conrad.

 

Allied Merchant Navy poster.

 

British Merchant Navy poster.

 

British Merchant Navy poster.

 

British Merchant Navy poster.

 

British Merchant Navy poster.

 

British Merchant Navy poster.

 

British Merchant Navy poster.

 

British Merchant Navy poster.

 

British Atlantic and Arctic Convoys stamp sheet.

 

HMS Exeter 1939.

 

HMS Exeter under air attack on February 15, 1942.

 

The dramatic and tragic scene as the Cunard White Star liner Lancastria was sunk on August 3, 1940. The Lancastria was evacuating British nationals and troops from France, and had boarded as many as possible for the short trip – an estimated 4,000 to 9,000 passengers were aboard. A German Junkers 88 aircraft bombed the ship shortly after it departed, and it sank within twenty minutes. While 2,477 were rescued, an estimated 4,000 others perished by bomb blasts, strafing, drowning, or choking in oil-fouled water. Photo taken from one of the rescue boats as the liner heels over, as men swarm down her sides and swim for safety to the rescue ships. Note the large number of bobbing heads in the water.

 

View of crew members supervising the loading of 21-inch torpedoes from the deck of submarine depot ship HMS Forth (A187) of the Royal Navy on to a T-class submarine HMS Truant (N68) of the 3rd Flotilla or Squadron docked alongside at anchor in Holy Loch, June 1943.

 

HMS Illustrious sits in dry dock in Australia while her center propeller shaft is repaired. The Sydney, Australia dry dock or, as it was known, the Captain Cook Graving Dock, was a massive repair facility: 1,139 feet 5 inches (347.29 meters) long, 147 feet 7.5 inches (45 meters) wide and with 45 feet (13.72 meters) draught of water. The dock was not yet finished when Illustrious showed up limping into Sydney harbor. The construction was sufficiently advanced however to allow the emergency docking of HMS Illustrious on 2 March 1945, three weeks before the official opening ceremony.

 

The aircraft carrier HMS Hermes was the first warship built designed and built as an aircraft carrier. The order was placed for her construction in April 1917 and she was laid down the following January and launched in September 1919. Delays in construction meant that Hermes was not commissioned until 1924, allowing the Japanese to commission the first aircraft carrier Hōshō on 22 December 1922.

 

HMS Hermes.

 

HMS Hermes.

 

HMS Hermes.

 

HMS Hermes.

 

Hermes under attack by Japanese aircraft. After joining the Eastern Fleet at Ceylon, Hermes was berthed in Trincomalee on 8 April 1942 when a warning of an Indian Ocean raid by the Japanese fleet was received, and she sailed that day for the Maldives with no aircraft on board. On 9 April a Japanese scout plane spotted her near Batticaloa, and she was attacked by several dozen dive bombers shortly afterwards. With no air cover, the carrier was quickly sunk by the Japanese airc

 

King George V Class battleship.

 

HM Motor Gun Boat 53, 1941.

 

HMS Saumarez.

 

HMS Argus, 1940-41.

 

HMS Hermes, August 1938.

 

HMS Eagle, c. 1930s.

 

A Firefly from HMS Indefatigable passes over HMS Indomitable which has a range of Hellcats and Avengers ready for launching strikes against Sumatran oil refineries.

 

HMS Indomitable and HMS Eagle sailing behind HMS Victorious, August 1942.

 

HMS Indomitable and HMS Eagle in a photo taken from HMS Victorious during Operation Pedestal 10-15 August 1942.

 

Officers on the bridge of a British destroyer, escorting a large convoy of ships keep a sharp look out for attacking enemy submarines during the Battle of the Atlantic. October 1941.

 

Commander Cross, Staff Officer Convoys, (left) discussing a special convoy movement map with Captain Lake, RN, Duty Officer in the Operations Room at Derby House, Liverpool. This is one of the scenes for an Anglo-American official film covering the battle of the Atlantic right up to D-Day. 26-27 September 1944.

 

A Hawker Sea Hurricane Mk IA on the catapult of a CAM [Catapult Armed Merchant] Ship at Greenock.

 

A Huff Duff set fitted to HMS Belfast. These sets were common pieces of equipment by the spring of 1943.

 

The distinctive HF/DF "birdcage" aerial can be seen at the masthead of HMS Kite.

 

Sinking of the British ship Kemmendine, 13 July 1940.

 

The experimental Thornycroft long-range depth charge thrower, 27 July 1941.

 

A Mk VII depth charge being loaded onto a Mk IV depth charge thrower on board Flower class corvette HMS Dianthus.

 

Hedgehog, a 24 barreled anti-submarine mortar mounted on the forecastle of HMS Westcott.

 

Depth charges detonate astern of the sloop HMS Starling. She participated in the sinking of 14 U-boats throughout the war.

 

This merchant ship was not lucky enough to detect the icy menace and rammed an ice flow head-on. With gaping holes in her bow and tons of ocean inside her, the ship managed to limp into port, however, where U.S. shipyards did a superhuman job during the war in repairing damaged ships like this. These "ships that didn't sink" were of incalculable value in helping move overseas the tremendous numbers of men and tons of stores called for.

 

Allied convoy.

 

Allied convoy crossing the North Atlantic in 1942.

 

Badge of the British Merchant Navy as inscribed on the grave of late A.V. Frain of SS St. Vincent de Paul, at Stanley Military Cemetery, Hong Kong.

 

British Merchant Navy badge.

 

British Merchant Navy lapel pin badge.

 

British Merchant Navy On War Service silver lapel badge.

 

British Merchant Navy blazer badge.

 

Second World War poster highlighting wartime dangers that the Merchant Navy faced.

 

A British sailor at the wheel of one of the merchant ships during an enemy attack on a Malta bound convoy that got through.

 

20mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft gunners on board a merchant ship between a lull in enemy attacks on a Malta bound convoy that got through. Other ships can be seen in the distance.

 

The mate of the tanker MV Empire Unity John Waters, who is responsible to the captain for the working of the ship, taking a compass reading whilst the ship was in convoy.

 

The boatswain and his mate splicing ropes on board the merchantman MV Empire Unity whilst she was in convoy.

 

The second officer of MV Empire Unity "shooting the sun" or taking a sun sight with the sextant whilst she was in convoy.

 

Men sponging out the gun after firing on the merchant ship MV Empire Unity whilst she was in convoy.

 

On board the merchant ship Cape Hawke her skipper Captain D N Taylor checks the course and speed with the man at the wheel.

 

An impromptu sing song in the dog watches on board the merchant ship MV Empire Unity. One man is playing an accordion whilst another plays what appears to be a mandolin.