The battleship HMS Barham of the Royal Navy in port. Built in 1915 with a displacement of 31,000 ...

Accession Number 044775
Collection type Photograph
Object type Black & white - Film polyester negative
Conflict Second World War, 1939-1945
Copyright

Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain

Public Domain Mark This item is in the Public Domain

Description

The battleship HMS Barham of the Royal Navy in port. Built in 1915 with a displacement of 31,000 tons, Barham was part of the Eastern Mediterranean Fleet in mid 1940 and in September 1940 was included in the Dakar Expeditionary Force for operations against Vichy French forces in Western Africa. During 1941, Barham was back in the Mediterranean in fleet operations in support of Allied activities against Bardia, Tobruk and Crete. Later that year, Barham was in the Battle Fleet patrolling between Crete and Cyrenaica when at 4.25 p.m. on 25 November 1941 she was struck by three torpedoes fired from the German submarine U331 and blew up with the explosion of a main magazine. Four accompanying destroyers rescued some 450 survivors but Barham's captain, fifty five officers and 806 men were lost but Admiral Pridham-Wippell, who was blown overboard by the explosion, was safely recovered by one of the destroyers. The loss of Barham was kept secret until 27 January 1942. The responsible submarine U331 was subsequently sunk by aircraft in the Mediterranean on 17 November 1942 when her captain, Freiherr von Tiesenhausen, was captured.