World War II Album: The War in View #25: Naval Power

The Royal Navy heavy cruisers HMS Dorsetshire and HMS Cornwall under heavy air attack by Japanese carrier aircraft on 5 April 1942. The photo was taken from a Japanese aircraft.

HMS Belfast, Edinburgh class light cruiser.

HMS Campbeltown being converted for the raid on Saint Nazaire harbor. There are twin lines of armor plate down each side of the ship and the Oerlikon mountings. Two of her funnels have been removed, with the remaining two cut at an angle.

HMS Campbeltown after the raid.

Close up of HMS Campbeltown after the raid. Note the shell damage in the hull and upper works and the German personnel on board the vessel.

The Normandie Dock months after the raid. The wreck of HMS Campbeltown can be seen inside the dry dock.

Town class destroyer HMS Broadway (H90). Originally commissioned as Clemson class USS Hunt (DD-194) and transferred to Britain in 1940.

2nd Submarine Squadron, Gibraltar.

The British subs at Malta. Even in the island’s blackest days subs still sailed from Malta to attack the enemy’s North Africa supply lines.

British ferry ships were devised by the British War Department to carry special gear so that locomotives and rolling stock could be quickly linked up with a nearby railway system. Cherbourg, 1944.

Fairmile D motor torpedo boat.

Cargo ship SS Agnete Maersk. Agnete Maersk was launched by Yarrow & Co. Shipbuilders Ltd. in Scotland in 1921. The merchant weighed 2,104 GRT, was 286 feet (87.17 meters) long, powered by a 208 nhp three-cylinder triple expansion engine (one screw), and could make 9 knots. The vessel's first owner was the Danish company Nord-Psterso, based in Copenhagen. Under the name "SS Aabenraa", the ship was operated until 1924. A. P. Moller, also based in Copenhagen, then acquired the vessel and renamed it "Agnete Maersk". The merchant remained in service until it was taken by the British for convoy duty on February 11th, 1941. While part of Convoy OG 56 ("OG" standing for "Outbound to Gibraltar"--usually forming off the west coast of France), Agnete Maersk was torpedoed and sunk by Italian Marcello-class submarine Veniero (1938) on March 24th, 1941. There were no survivors. I believe the vessel was operated by a crew of 28 and was likely captained by Rasmus Peter Henry Parkholm at the time.

QF 2-pdr Mark VIII "multiple pom-pom" AA gun(s?). Development of the multiple pom-pom began in the early-1920s, based on the earlier single-barreled Mark II "pom-pom." The weapon was designed to fulfill a requirement for a multi-barreled AA weapon that could effectively engage aircraft at a close range. The weapon entered service in 1930. The multiple pom-pom came in many different arrangements. There were single-barrel versions, quad versions, etc. This particular mount appears to have seven or eight barrels. The pom-pom cannon was widely used by Allied naval forces, often mounted on corvettes, destroyers, aircraft carriers, and many other vessels.

HMS Olympus (N-35) in Grand Harbour, Malta, in December 1941.

HMS Egret (L75) in 1942, with four twin 4-inch mountings. HMS Egret was a sloop of the British Royal Navy, the lead ship of her class. She was built by J. Samuel White at Cowes, Isle of Wight and was launched on 31 May 1938. Egret was the first ship ever to be sunk by a guided missile. The Germans had used the Henschel Hs 293 glider bomb for the first time on 25 August 1943 against the 40th Support Group in the Bay of Biscay. Landguard was slightly damaged by a near miss. Bideford was hit and damaged, with one sailor killed, though more serious damage was avoided because the bomb's explosive charge did not fully detonate.

HMS Mermaid underway in 1944. HMS Mermaid was a Modified Black Swan-class sloop of the Royal Navy. Mermaid saw service as a convoy escort during the Second World War, taking part in the sinking of two German submarines while escorting Arctic convoys to and from the Soviet Union. Mermaid, built by William Denny and Brothers, Dumbarton, Scotland, was laid down on 8 September 1942, launched on 11 November 1943, and completed 12 May 1944.

The wartime HMS Mermaid, Black Swan program.

HMS Rochester in 1945. HMS Rochester (L50) was a Shoreham-class sloop of the Royal Navy. She served during the Second World War and was a successful anti-submarine warfare vessel, being credited with the destruction of five U-boats.

British Fairmile B motor launch.

British cruiser HMS Penelope.

Destroyer HMS Glowworm burning as seen from the Admiral Hipper, during the action on 8 April 1940.

HMS Glowworm burning as seen from Admiral Hipper.

View through Hipper's range finder showing survivors on the hull of HMS Glowworm before she sank.

Painting of Glowworm moving to ram the Admiral Hipper.

Destroyer HMS Glowworm as seen from the Admiral Hipper.

HMS Glowworm recoiling from German heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper after ramming her off Norway in April 1940.

Oil-soaked crew members of the destroyer HMS Glowworm, just sunk by the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper, wallow on a nearly swamped lifeboat while being hoisted aboard by the raider’s crew. The Glowworm was caught alone off the Norwegian coast by the Hipper and four destroyers on 8 April 1942.

A group of “little ships” on their way up the Thames River for minor repairs after the evacuation of Dunkirk was over. May 1940.

The sinking of the Prince of Wales and Repulse as seen from a Japanese bomber.

This Royal Marine supply party in the HMS Illustrious is passing ammunition up to the 4.5-inch guns in the mounting above. The white hoods and gloves, always worn in action, protected them against burns.

Flower class corvette HMS Lotus. Note the "acoustic hammer" fitted to the bow for exploding mines at a safe distance using sound waves.

HMS Tally Ho was launched in 1943 and successfully sank scores of Japanese enemy warships.

HMS Tally Ho’s crest. ‘Celeriter in hostem’ was the sub's motto, which translates as ‘Swiftly among the foe.’

A motor launch boat still smoldering in the Loire Estuary after the Saint Nazaire raid.

British submarines Taku (foreground) and Unison in Malta Harbour in 1943.

HMS Barham.

The battleships HMS Valiant, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Barham steam in line, 1941. Valiant is nearest the camera.

HMS Broadway, a destroyer built as the USS Hunt in 1918. Broadway was one of the fifty American destroyers loaned to Britain in September 1940. On 26 January 1940, USS Hunt once again was taken out of mothballs and brought to life by a fresh crew as the Navy needed ships for the new neutrality patrol in the initial stages of World War II. Shipping for the Caribbean, she escorted the USS Searaven (SS-196), a Sargo-class submarine, from the Canal Zone to Florida then performed training tasks in the Chesapeake. Hunt got underway from Newport 3 October 1940 and reached Halifax, Nova Scotia two days later, where she took on 103 British sailors and, three days after that, she decommissioned from the U.S. Navy, was struck from the Naval List, and taken up by the Royal Navy as the Town-class destroyer HMS Broadway (H80) as part of the infamous “Destroyers for Bases Agreement” between the two countries. As noted by Lt Cdr Geoffrey B Mason’s service histories, “Broadway” had not previously been used for any RN ship but did represent both a city in the UK and one in the U.S. Changes to her by the Brits included removal of mainmast and shortening of the foremast, trimming the after funnels, and replacing the 3in and 4in guns mounted aft with a 12pdr British HA gun in X position. The aft torpedo tubes were also jettisoned and the U.S. style depth charges were replaced with British ones.

The huge ‘Magic Eye’ on the bows of the HMS Broadway as she leaves on another trip. HMS Broadway also picked up an “Evil Eye” or “Magic Eye” on her bow, painted by her crew to ward off bad spirits. Joining 11th Escort Group, she had an eventful career in the Atlantic, joining in no less than 29 convoys between and 10 December 1940 and 21 June 1943– just 18 months! During this time, she directly helped shorten the war on 9 May 1941 when assisting the destroyer HMS Bulldog and corvette HMS Aubretia, she captured German submarine U-110 between Iceland and Greenland. The Type IXB U-boat provided several secret cipher documents to the British as part of Operation Primrose and was one of the biggest intel coups of the war, helping to break the German Enigma codes.

HMS Broadway also helped chalk up a second German torpedo slinger when on 12 May 1943 she joined frigate HMS Lagan and aircraft from escort carrier HMS Biter in destroying U-89 off the Azores.

Sub Lieut Roy A. Gentles, RCNVR, officer on loan to the Royal Navy, who was the first lieutenant on board HMS Broadway in the successful anti-u-boat action in the North Atlantic.

The destroyer HMS Broadway off the East coast of Scotland April 1944 after becoming an Air Target Ship. Hunt/Broadway, showing her age, was relegated to training duties by 1944 in Scotland, where she was a target ship for non-destructive bombing and practice strafing runs by new pilots. For this much of her armament to include her radar, anti-submarine mortar, torpedo tubes, and HF D/F outfit was removed. She did get one last hurrah in at the end of the war, sailing for Norwegian waters where she performed occupation duties that included taking charge of several surrendered German U-boats in Narvik and Tromso as part of Operation Deadlight. Hunt/Broadway, who served more in the Royal Navy than she ever did in the naval service of her homeland, was paid off 9 August 1945 and placed in an unmaintained reserve status. She was eventually sold to BISCO on 18th February 1947 for demolition by Metal Industries and towed to the breaker’s yard in Charlestown near Rosyth in 1948.

A boat load of Royal Engineers leaves HMS Cairo on board a Motor Fishing Vessel to land at Narvik in Norway, June 1940.

HMS Duke of York in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945, the day the Japanese surrender was signed on USS Missouri BB-63. The Ensigns of all Allied nations were flown for a ceremonial “Sunset.” Note the two Quad QF 2-pounder/ 40mm “Pom-Pom” gun mounts and five smart Royal Marine buglers (center) ready to sound Sunset. Nimitz called upon Adm. Sir Bruce Fraser aboard HMS Duke of York on the eve of the Japanese surrender ceremony. Nimitz noted that the visit was “partly on official business, partly because I like him, and mostly to get a scotch and soda before dinner because our ships are dry.”

HMS Euryalus on the Whang-Poo River, Shanghi, China, date unknown.

HMS Glowworm.

HMS Hermione, named after Hermione, the daughter of Menelaus and Helen in Greek mythology. As such, she was the Royal Navy’s third ship to carry that moniker, the first a Napoleonic war 32-gun frigate, and the second being a World War I-era Astraea-class protected cruiser, both with somewhat unlucky histories. The frigate’s crew had mutinied and surrendered to the Spanish while the old cruiser had grounded herself at least twice and was too obsolete to take an active part in the Great War.

The Town class cruiser HMS Edinburgh, along with the Dido-class sisters HMS Hermione (center), and HMS Euryalus, steaming in line abreast whilst they escort a convoy as part of Operation Halberd, at the time the largest resupply effort to Malta, to which the entire Italian navy sortied to attempt to stop. These runs carried fighters to Malta, oil and supplies to Montgomery’s troops fighting Rommel in North Africa, and other valuable commodities. As such, Hermione shot down attacking dive bombers, endured endless hours on alert for U-boats and fast attack craft, and had her ‘turn in the barrel’ everyday for over a year running this gauntlet.

The Hermione's good luck charm “Convoy“, Hermione‘s ship’s cat, sleeps in his own hammock whilst members of the crew look on.

On the night of August 2, 1941 Hermione encountered the Italian Adua-class submarine Tembien on the surface preparing to send a brace of torpedoes into the precious carrier HMS Ark Royal. Had the Ark been sunk, British naval power in the Med would have changed for the worse. It was on that evening the daughter of Menelaus sliced the Roman shark in two, sending her to the bottom. For her role in sinking the Italian submarine, the cruiser Hermione was immortalized in wartime martial art, which was soon turned into war propaganda posters. Tragically, the cruiser had already met her own fate before the ink was dry on these posters.

The British Dido-class light cruiser HMS Hermione (Pennant 74) of the Royal Navy slicing through the Italian coastal submarine Tembien like butter on 2 August 1941, west of Malta. The (gouache on board) artwork is entitled, “A British cruiser ramming an Italian submarine” by Marc Stone. This was the basis for the previous photo of a poster.

Assigned to the 15th Cruiser squadron in the eastern Med, HMS Hermione came face to face with a boat who had already tried to sink her once the previous winter. On 16 June 1942, she was sunk after being torpedoed just off Alexandria by the German U-boat U-205 with a loss of some 85 of her crew. Commanded by Kptlt. Franz-Georg Reschke, U-205 herself the subject of a blood vendetta by the Royal Navy, who sent her to the bottom near the coast of Libya 17 February 1943, with the destroyer HMS Paladin finishing her off.

HMS Hood circa 1932 while fitted with an aircraft catapult aft.

Close-up of HMS Hood's armored conning tower & superstructure during her fitting out at Clydebank.

HMS Hood fitting out at Clydebank. Excellent view of the 5.5" (140mm) secondary guns of which she had 12. Note the men in suits posing next to the dockyard workers. The haze above the funnel means that at least some of her boilers are lit.

HMS Hood nearing the final stages of fitting out. Note the 150ft tall Titan Clydebank hammer crane looming in the background. The Titan Crane is one of the last still extant remnants of the John Brown & Co shipyards that built so many magnificent warships.

HMS King George V, flagship of the British Pacific Fleet returns to Sydney. 1945, she was the first battleship to return from Japanese waters since the fall of Japan.

The battleship HMS King George V displays her 10 x 14-inch guns at maximum elevation.

British destroyer HMS Legion.

Queen Elizabeth-class battleship HMS Malaya.

HMS Manchester, circa 1940.

Thomas Ward and Sons Shipbreaking Yard, Inverkeithing, Scotland in 1949. Seen here: HMS Nelson, HMS Rodney and HMS Royal Sovereign meet their end.

HMS Queen Elizabeth in Alexandria harbor surrounded by anti-torpedo nets.

The battlecruiser HMS Renown being overflown by a Fulmar fighter, circa 1940/42.

HMS Renown in Scapa Flow waters, 14 August 1943.

HMS Repulse.

HMS Repulse sailing from Singapore on her last operation. Two days later she was sunk with great loss of life by Japanese aircraft along with HMS Prince of Wales.

HMS Rodney lightens her load sometime in the 1930's.

Italian MTSM (Motoscafo da Turismo Silurante Modificato) on a trailer. The MTSM motor torpedo boat was a series of small motor torpedo boats developed by the Italian Royal Navy during World War II. The vessel was an improved version of its predecessor, the motor torpedo boat MTS. This was achieved through a larger sea-going hull with reinforced keel and a sharper stem. The MTSM were designed to be towed by larger motorboats into the target area. Once there, the MTSM could carry out a torpedo attack on moored or stationary ships. The boat could also be transported by land on trailers. On 29 August 1942, while a flotilla of destroyers was bombarding Axis positions at El Daba, Egypt, MTSM-228, manned by Sub-Lieutenant Pietro Carminatti, and crewman Cesare Sani torpedoed and disabled HMS Eridge. The crippled destroyer was towed to Alexandria by HMS Aldenham, where she was declared a constructive total loss and was used as a base ship for the rest of the war. Eridge was scrapped in 1946.

Italian MT explosive motorboat.

The Italian explosive motorboat MT (Motoscafo da Turismo) also known as barchino (Italian for "little boat") captured by the USS Gleaves on 2 October 1944 off the coast of San Remo. These were a series of small explosive motor boats developed by the Italian Royal Navy, which was based on its predecessors, the prototype boat MA (Motoscafo d'Assalto) and the MAT (Motoscafo Avio Trasportato), an airborne prototype. Explosive motorboats were designed to make a silent approach to a moored warship, set a collision course and run into full gear until the last 200 or 100 yards to the target, when the pilot would eject after blocking the rudder. At impact, the hull would be broken amidships by a small explosive charge, sinking the boat and the warhead, which was fitted with a water-pressure fuse set to go off at a depth of one meter. By the end of September 1938 the Navy Department ordered six explosive boats. The one-pilot vessels were built by the companies Baglietto of Varazze and CABI of Milan, which was also to supply the engines. The small vessels were used by the Italian Navy in at least two major operations in the Mediterranean theatre during World War II.

Italian MTM captured by the USS Gleaves on 2 October 1944 off the coast of San Remo.

Italian MTM, La Spezia, 1947.

The remains of St. Elmo Bridge which collapsed after the Italia MT boat attack of 1941 (before a new bridge was built in 2012).

Italian MTM in the Naval Museum, Venice.

Italian destroyer Sella, one of the mother ships of the explosive motor boats.

Italian cruiser Fiume.

Fiume, a Zara-class heavy cruiser of the Italian Regia Marina. Sunk during Battle of Cape Matapan, 29 March 1941. Painting by Adam Werka.

Torpedo boat IJN Tomozuru on February 24, 1934, the day of her completion. She capsized in a storm just two weeks later, leading the IJN to inspect many of their existing ships and revealing systemic issues of overweight and top-heaviness.

Japanese Navy at Tsingtao, China (ships shown from left to right are: Akagi, Kirishima, Kongo, Mikuma, Ryujo, Kumano and Fuso), 25 March 1938.

IJN Kikuzuki after salvage, 1944.

Rear Admiral Robert Bostwick Carney, center with holster, Chief of Staff to Admiral William F. Halsey, is saluted by Vice Admiral Michitaro Tazuka, Commander, First Japanese Naval District, as he turns over the Yokosuka Naval Base to the U.S. Navy.

The Japanese fleet under attack during the battle of Midway.

One of the Truk recon photos taken on 4 February 1944. Dublon Island, site of Fourth Fleet Headquarters, is at the lower left; in the center is the Japanese naval airbase on Eten. Two aircraft carriers are at anchor under the clouds at center right, and various other ships dot the harbor. The image of an oddly-shaped ship in the corner of one of the Marine photos turned out to be the first picture of the Yamato-class battleship, leading to extensive intelligence analysis of that type of ship.

Rabaul under attack by American carrier aircraft on 5 November 1943, when intelligence enabled Halsey’s South Pacific forces to arrive just hours after a powerful Japanese fleet entered the base. Taken by a plane from the USS Saratoga, it shows Japanese vessels fleeing at high speed. Burning brightly and stationary in the middle of Simpson Harbor is the cruiser Maya.

Rabaul Harbor, New Britain Island.

IJN Yamato explodes and capsizes. The smoke cloud billowing thousands of feet were seen by coastwatchers in Kyushu more than 100 miles away. 7 April 1945.