Thank you for remembering Barham in this way. My Granddad was Able Seaman John McHugh, Gun Loader, turret A. That armored station was about 4 storeys high inside the ship's hull. If you observe closely the blast shows a portion of armored deck-plate flying off, the speculation was that actually created an egress point for the bodies of the turret crews. A true miracle that he survived the blast but he was in a bad way, due to the triage system for assessing viable casualties, he was not expected to survive. He required a saline bronchial lavage to flush his lungs of Barham's engine oil that he'd ingested whilst floating unconscious. He was actually marked down on both the survivor and deceased list. I believe that Barham's casualties were the first to ever receive blood plasma in a war zone? The more you look into the details of this sinking the more repugnant things become. Good people were pulverised during that conflict in order for us to enjoy our freedoms today. If he hadn't of made it I wouldn't be able to type this. R.I.P to all his crewmates.
@@paoloviti6156 As bad as Hood's loss was, I believe Yamato's was far worse for two reasons. One, over 3,000 crewmen perished. Second, her final sorte was completely unnecessary and was considered a suicide mission before it ever began.
@@DK-gy7ll in truth I was referring to the UK capitol ships but I forgot to mention it, my apologies. Yes, the sinking of the Yamato with 3.000 sailors was terrible...
I had an uncle on board her, he still is. I never met Uncle Charlie, he was a stoker, that's about all I know. Thank you for a respectful and informative video.
I guess I'm one of the few who knew the ship in the video. Especially being from the other side of the pond! Way back in the dark ages of the early 1980s, as a kid in Junior High (7th grade), I did a report on the HMS Barham; relating pretty much everything said in the video about her history, with the exception of her collisions. My teacher not only gave me a 100%, he told me as a kid himself, he had seen the newsreel of her sinking. But he never knew her full history. Only Hood lost more men in her sinking than Barham. Respect to both ships and crews from an American Navy Veteran. I served in the late 80s, and in the Mediterranean! There is a good chance we passed over her final resting place without knowing it.
That's not *quite* where Barham's story ends. She also played a role in one of the last British witchcraft trials. In Nov 1941, Helen Duncan, a self-proclaimed medium, held a séance at which she claimed a spirit of a sailor told her HMS Barham had been sunk. Because the sinking was not announced to the general public until late Jan 1942, she was investigated by the security services and the Navy. They did find a logical reason behind her knowing, but she was charged with various fraud offenses and sentenced to nine months in prison.
My Dads elder brother Albert was posted on HMS Barham. Upon leaving the family home on leave to return to the ship, my Grandmother said to Albert's 3 sisters after he headed off with his kit bag, "We won't be seeing our Albert again!". My aunts told me this story and also that she knew when the ship had been lost before it was reported. Albert was the last of 5 children she lost out of 10. I do remember my Grandmother but she passed away when I was only 3.
That lady Helen Duncan you are talking about is my step sisters great niece her name is fiona she's the double of her yeah great story alright...very accurate
There is a quaint country church at the end of a lonely lane in Dartmoor if you go inside you will find a plaque to a young medical officer of HMS Barham, he is my cousin and he gave all for King and Country. Everytime I see that footage I think of him, what those last minutes were like as the ship went onto her beam ends and then the explosion. It is amazing footage until you think of the men lost.
Cold sea water pouring down the funnel onto extremely hot engines also helped with her explosion. Also hot oil and cold water is explosive. Try it at home... but not inside, and stand back. Many of the survivors also were deafened, and the one's that slid down her hull were badly injured by the marine growth and barnacles ripping up their bottoms and backs. This caused many men very serious infections and extensive hospital care. Most of my WW2 friends served in the Mediterranean on board cruisers and submarines.
Those are deadly things you describe which would not be considered until it happens I can imagine ropes in water also being deadly due to entanglements when trying to swim.
Yes, although even when first launched Barham operated fuel fired boilers for propulsion which were far less reactive to the sudden onrush of cold sea water as opposed to coal fired furnace powered Scotch boiler types.
@@RobbyHouseIV I was a BT on the DD-876 , cold sea water going into the stack hitting the very hot tubes will explode a boiler . Very bad for the stokers.
Looking at the infamous footage, it's incredible that over 400 men actually survived that detonation. I wonder how many of those remained physically and psychologically undamaged, though...
In order to maintain the veil of secrecy regarding Barham's disappearance my Granddad and crewmates were sent to South Africa to recuperate thus taking them out of any immediate communication range with the folks back home. It was a cunning combination of incarceration serving as rehabilitation..
@@sixtyshippee "How're you feeling, lad- little bit shaky after that, eh?" "I'm all right.." "Good, that's the spirit, lad! Soon have you back on your feet" "Thanks, doc."
My father was aboard Barham when she blew up. He survived the explosion and spent 2 hours in the water before being picked up by a destroyer Nizam (?) He miraculously had no physical injuries and lived to the age of 96. However, the experience dominated his life. PTSD was not known in those days. How many other men suffered in the same way ?
I recall an account from one sailor who joined HMS Barham in 1940. The officers assured him that Barham was immune to torpedo attack. But some officers aboard HMS Prince of Wales (sunk by Japanese aircraft in Dec 1941) reportedly believed that P of W was unsinkable because of her radar directed AA guns. New technology is seldom as miraculous as advertised.
My long gone granddad served on her at the beginning of WWll, he survived b/c the RN deemed him to old to serve at sea & so was drafted a shore. He would talk about his mess mates that went down with the ship now & again. He was so old that he was a mechanic in the Royal flying Corp, the fleet Air arm was invented & he transfered to the RN, later he changed branch to ships engineering (Stoker dept). He finally died in the early eighties in his sleep after a thrilling career.
My Uncle was a survivor from Barham.. MY father was the first to hear he was safe as he was then serving in Egypt where the survivors were taken and had to try and write home with a cryptic message to tell the family he was safe due to censorship
That is a really good piece of information, thank you for sharing that. Did you know if any Xmas postcards were sent to the crew from the RN or sent home to loved ones from the crew? I ask because there is great confusion as to what level of deception was used to censure the sinking of the ship at that time? I was told but cannot confirm this ( due to their very covert nature) that the Naval Intelligence Department typed out standard RN Xmas greetings cards from actual deceased members of the crew, to their family at home, to maintain the ruse that Barham was still afloat and on duty in the Med? We had broken the U-Boats enigma code and we knew Von Tiesenhausen was unaware that he'd actually sunk the Barham at that time. The immoral subterfuge of war time knows no boundaries.
The Queen Elizabeth is my favorite class of RN battleships, and HMS Barham in particular. There is a picture of the ship taken during the 1930s that was beautiful!
I hold my hands up and confess that like many people I know well the photo of that cataclysmic explosion but I did also know that it was HMS Barham, however prior to the ship sinking I knew nothing about her.................hangs her head in shame! Thank you for this very interesting video and all that you taught me!
The loss of HMS Barham is not as everybody thinks. Barham was capsizing at the time, and as soon as seawater entered the boiler room, the explosion is instant. The power of the superheated steam within the boilers has enormous force, and will rip a ship in two. If you look at pictures of exploded steam locomotives, the damage is extensive. Barham had boilers 10 times that size.... Full recognition & respect to the crew of Barham; RIP.
Indeed. If you slow down footage, the aforementioned superheated steam can be seen to condense above the explosion. It’s quite possible the starboard after magazine did detonate, but this would’ve been a secondary effect of the expansion pressure. I don’t buy the explanation of a fire spreading from the four inch magazine to the starboard after, as annunciated in the commentary. The bomb room is contained behind an armour plated fire proof door that would’ve stopped a fire in the timescale involved here. There’s no burning fuel in the water at the point of capsize, which would have been the case if burning fuel was responsible. A nasty business all the same.
I was lucky and worked in Devonport dockyard as an engine fitter apprentice in 1968. My charge hand (PTO) was a great engineer and person who was on Barham as a young ERA when she was sunk. Lucky for him he had just come off watch and the only injury to him had been to his earring.God bless yo Andy.
Very similar to HMS Audacious in 1914, she hit a mine and sank after many hours of the crew trying to save her. When she capsized she blew up. All the crew managed to get away but one man was killed by falling debris about half a mile away. No-one knows why this should have happened, whatever it was perhaps the same thing happened to HMS Barham. By the way thankyou for calling it the Great War, few people do.
HMS Barham was a fine ship with a good crew. I had family who served aboard her at a few points, though I was never given specific details. A shame really. But Barham herself?. She was a good ship... Thank you for this tribute to her name.
This was needed. The way Barham is commonly known is the same way one “knows” a person from their obituary. Also, no one should be unaware of the over 800 obituaries associated with that footage. I completely agree with the other comments about stock footage use, especially by some channels that obviously just don’t care about the sanctity of history. This channel is a bright spot amongst some Dark ones
Although I already knew of her life and death, I must say, this is the best summary of her history I have seen as a video. Congratulations, you deserve it my friend. Si vis pacem, para bellum
"Only four hundred men would survive", based on how quickly things took place and that massive explosion it is amazing anyone got out alive, let alone four hundred.
The relevant detail you put into your videos, as well as the personable narrative style of them, make this one of my favorite channels. I never fail to learn interesting things about the subject you chose.
I knew a great nephew of the submarine commander, who survived the war by being taken prisoner. He ended his days in Vancouver, Canada. He never got over what he had done.
Excellent documentary of a fine ship that unfortunately many know only because of her final explosion film footage. Thanks for taking the time to tell Barhams full story..look forward to your future work..🙂👍🇬🇧
I have discussed this at some lengeth with Drachinifel and we came to the conclusion that it was most likely a boiler detonation that caused this. The ship suddenly explodes seconds after the funnel hits the waterline. Also the colour of the blast (seen in the colourised version of the clip) looks to be more of a steam explosion than a magazine explosion. Of course we will never know for sure what it was but thought I'd throw that nugget out there! :D Excellent video, this is maybe the 4th of yours ive watch and im loving it so thats a sub bud
I came across your channel a few days ago, and must say you are becoming the next Drachinifel! Easy subscription! Barham was one of the most underrated battleships of the second world war- and, alongside her sisters Valiant- and of course Warspite- went to show that the Queen Elizabeth class were probably the most successful class of battleships ever built in terms of operational history. I would note however- that all members of the QE class did achieve the design speed of 25 knots at least once in their careers. Indeed, Valiant and QE made nearly 27 knots after modernisation.
No QE class BB ever made more than 25 knots, witch Malaya reached during trail. After the 30s modernisations non did over 24 knots. Great ships for there age regardless.
@@niclasjohansson4333 QE made 26.5 knots on trials after modernisation. Valiant and Warspite both made at least 25, though were slowed by the end of the war due to damage. Hope this helps :)
@@thetorturepenguin Someone is giving you wrong info, these ships never reached there designed speed of 25 kn, and after refit QE herself only managed 23,5 kn thanks to being bulged !
@@niclasjohansson4333 Indeed not my friend. The QE as modernised- due to the more powerful engines (four more boilers) actually exceeded 25 knots. It was because of this that they were sued as fast carrier escorts.
I'm guessing that since the three torpedoes did not literally hit simultaneously, that the first torpedo took out the part of the torpedo bulge it hit, and then the next two went through to hit the actual hull, doing the serious damage. IIRC, USS Nevada suffered a similar one-two punch in which a subsequent torpedo hit where a previous torpedo had taken out the torpedo bulge.
Beatty was a terrible subordinate and a terrible commander. He didn’t bother to signal or report much at all, and when he did, they were full of those “signaling errors”, of which you speak. Furthermore, IIRC it was his practice of leaving flash doors open which directly lead to the loss of at least 2 ships at Jutland.
It's about time this clip is restricted to only for use in relation to this particular tragedy. I've seen it relating non-military sinking...wrong and distespectful
Bill Maxted (uncle Maxie) was below in the galley when the torpedoes hit. He remembered her capsizing and the next thing he remembered was being in the water. No memory of the explosion at all! Lovely man never married. I can see now he probably had PTSD but outwardly was great fun. He died 1968.
Thanks for this summary. Really good ! My great grandfather served on Barham during the interwar years, so it was good to see a full history. Also worth noting that Admiral Barham, after which she was names was Nelson's victualler during the Napoleonic Wars, and whilst Nelson is remains a legend, the chap who kept him in food and bullets is much less well known.
Given how spectacular her explosion and sinking was, it's a bit surprising that there are no wreck photos. I believe her wreck was located some years ago.
Barham did her job very well and is now at peace at the bottom of the sea with all the men who bravely served upon her.. one of the best of the 6 QE class BBs for sure
I can remember that: a period when I was drawing pictures of the Battle of the River Platte fought by men wearing conical helmets, carrying swords and shields. Curiously……..
I see you have gained a few thousand subs since last I looked. Congrats. that speaks to your content. another ship that is known for its sinking, through ciné cameras being on hand. SMS Szent Istvan. (I have even seen the two clips used in a way that implies they are the same ship, ignoring the obvious difference between the two, between the quality of the footage, and the 1/4 century between the 2 events)
Well, torpedoes were not 'new' weapons when the Queen Elizabeths were built, and no Queen Elizabeth, or indeed any other British battleship, succumbed to aerial bombs.
My grandad Paul Camilleri was on board. He was Maltese and enlisted in the British navy when he was 19 when they were stationed on the island. He was a clerk to the captain. He managed to survive, he abandoned ship about 30 seconds before the final torpedo and explosion and had to tread water for hours until rescued.
So this ship was, despite how she's remembered, actually quite valiant and reasonably successful before being sunk doing what she was meant to do. You want a REALLY embarrassing ship, try the Vasa. She was King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden's great hope for his nations naval future. But, on her maiden voyage, on smooth seas in nearly a dead calm, a bare breath of wind freshened into a light breeze. Demonstrating one of the most embarrassingly flawed naval designs in the entire history of shipbuilding, Vasa immediately capsized and sank, not even a thousand yards from the dock, with *tens* of thousands of Swedish citizens, who had come out of their homes to watch their new pride and joy depart, watching.
@@rikk319 I did mention King Gustavus Adolphus. That sets the time period quite well. I was speaking to those who actually knew some bare facts about history. The completely ignorant don't matter to me.
Well I have the most interesting true story. The U-Boat, U-331, was commanded by a gentleman who eventually was capture the following year, ended up in a POW camp in Canada, FELL in love with this country. War ends, he waits the required time and immigrates to Canada. Made his way to the West Coast and was a client at my bank and I, as senior lender, set him & his lovely wife, Maria, with a few mortgages over the years. Hans-Diedrich Freiherr von Tiesenhausen, was an amazing nature photographer and landscape architect.
Unfortunately ships tend to become famous by their tragic sinking far more often than their active service life. Everyone knows about the Titanic. Few know much about the Olympic. Everyone knows about the Arizona, while few know about her sister the Pennsylvania. That's why you can easily find model kits of the Titanic and Arizona but hardly any of their sister ships, which you have to kit-bash if you want an accurate replica of those.
My wife's grandfather, PO/TEL Garry Owen, was on the Warspite that day. Barham was allowed to be lead ship, instead of Warspite. So grandad was not a casualty. In the town cemetery where I live, Redditch, England, there is a War Grave of a 15 year old boy sailor who died as a result of injuries when HMS Barham was hit. My wife's grandfather was the wireless operator for Admiral Cunningham prior to the Battle of Matapan. While in Alexandria, he was tasked with going to all the other British ships to instruct them to break radio silence when contact was made with the Italian fleet; the Italian ships did not have radio but still relied of Semaphore and morse code by Aldis-type lamps.. His instructions did not go down too well with many British sailors and he was hounded off more than one ship. In the end, the order was carried out and complete success ensued. The Italian fleet was never a threat again.
the opening of this video is extremely funny to me, because I first learned about barham from the youtube comments section talking about how rough of a year 1941 was for the royal navy, briefly mentioning her. I then learned more about her from Drachinifel's video on the QE's, and from videos on the battle of jutland. I then learned some detail about how she sank(just that it was by a submarine attack), and finally searched her up to learn more, at which point I encountered the famous video, and 5 minutes later watched this.
My dad volunteered and served in our RCN here in Canada I'm sure he would have heard the terrible news of the HMS Barham sinking ...RIP men of the Barham ...With respect from your Canadian friends....🇬🇧🇬🇧🇨🇦🇨🇦💪💪
How many people know about HMS Barham, and HMS Duchess, & the collision on 12 December 1939, at which the Duchess was sunk? My uncle was an Able Seaman, Roland Ralph, who was lost that day, with most of the rest of the crew, off the coast of the Mull of Kintyre. I believe there is a memorial graveyard on nearby Rathlin Island. Roland was only 19 when he died, and it forever haunted his family, particularly my mother, his younger sister Denise. RIP DUCHESS and crew.
It's great to see the rest of Barham's career covered to show that she was far more than just "the British battleship whose loss got covered up during WW2."
When U-331 fired the spread of torpedoes, someone was a tad slow in counter flooding to compensate for the loss in weight. She almost broke the surface before the flooding balanced her out again. How I know this is that my father was doing his cadet cruise on U-331, and returned to Flensburg to his next round of classes in the Naval Academy shortly thereafter.
Sigh… I’ve said this plenty of times, but Yamato isn’t even remotely unique in entering service after battleships had become obsolete; that’s a problem WITH THE ENTIRE WWII GENERATION OF BATTLESHIPS FOR EVERY MAJOR NAVY SAVE THE SOVIETS. She just gets a disproportionate amount of criticism for it compared to all the other battleships that were just as pointless. And the Japanese realized battleships were obsolete much sooner than most people think (certainly before the WAllies did)-they suspended all battleship construction immediately after Force Z (Shinano was ordered to be completed only to the point where she could be towed away to be disposed of, even though Midway hadn’t yet happened and thus the idea to convert her was months away). The only reason Yamato and Musashi ended up entering service anyways was because both had been launched and Yamato was actually fully operational by the time Force Z went down, meaning that the Japanese were stuck with a pair of ships they already knew were useless (which is part of why they didn’t bother using them that much). The US and UK continued further and equally pointless battleship construction far beyond this point, even postwar.
Actually, though BB vs. BB combat had become a relic of history, BBS were not total wastes of steel and fuel oil even then. Remember that two Iowa class BBs were very useful in later conflicts, and modernized well.
@@bkjeong4302 "The US and UK continued further and equally pointless battleship construction far beyond this point, even postwar." Nonsense. The UK completed the remaining KGV class battleships in the first half of the war, which were required to fight the German capital ships, and as anti-air carrier escorts and shore bombardment platforms in the later Royal Navy Pacific Fleet against Japan. The only other British battleship built during the war, HMS Vanguard, was laid down in 1941, launhed in 1944, but only commissioned in 1946, with construction repeatedly stopped to divert resources to carriers and convoy escorts.
@@originalkk882 Vanguard by herself was still far more work and effort than the Japanese put into battleship construction after Force Z, and Anson and Howe were not operational at that point either. And given just how terrible the German surface fleet was and that there were better alternatives for carrier escort/shore bombardment roles, I’d argue they were unnecessary.
@@richardeikenburg7347 The Iowas weren’t all that useful for how much was expended on them, actually. And building a capital ship only is strategically viable if you can use it as such: yes, battleships could still be used for “lesser” roles like shore bombardment or AA, but these roles did not justify building an entire new battleship to do, especially when cost-effective alternatives were around.
My Uncle John, was on escort ship HMS Hotspur at the time of HMS Barham being torpedoed. After the explosion he said that the water was black with oil and mateloes. His brother Reg, was on the Warspite still in the eastern mediterranean.
Just for the record the first photo in this video shows HMS Barham existing Grand Harbour in Malta the fort in the background is HMS Saint Angelo !! My father used to be stationed in that fort as Stoker Petty Officer during the 1950's!!! During WWII he was serving on a minesweeper HMS Sunset!!
Shout out to my Grand Pops Able Seaman Douglas W. Ralphs who managed to jump over board and was finally rescued 45 minutes later. He is in the HMS Barham book and gives his personal account & the HMS Barham Association website. Respect to all the men wo lost their lives that day ! And salute to all who survived !
Cape Matapan ... the late great Duke of Edinburgh gave a long and very interesting interview (available on RUclips). There he said his ship, The Valiant, was joined by The Barham and ... The QE?! Later Prince Philip said: Yes, I know it was The Warspite, where one tough block, Andrew Cunningham, was in charge of us all, but we didnt like all that hype forming about her ... that's why I said QE, as we all were QE ships.
No different than using the footage of the two aircraft being ‘shot down’ when they actually collided or the B-17 being destroyed. Making a movie, especially a low budget sci-fi, pre CGI movie; some things can’t be replicated & have to use whatever footage can be found.
hi i had an uncle Arthur Taylor a stoker i never met him but my father Frank Taylor (he was in the 8th army ) told me all about his big brother how is still with his ship god rest his sole and all his ship mates thanks for remembering Barham
That film of Barham sinking! However old, battleships were EXPECTED to be invulnerable. As in hard to sink! That was the justification for the size, cost, and power. First Sea Lord Fischer took advantage of what I call the Hampton Rhodes effect. Cannon balls bounced off armor for little effect. Lots of people saw it. That was the 1860s. As a boy, I grew up loving battleship tales. Then came the understanding that battleships are not built anymore. Lord Fischer built up the power and mystique of battle ships. So much that the Washington naval treaty was drafted to eclipse their power. Instead the treaty limiting battleships ended up resulting in monster ships like Musashi. Sinkings of Barham, Prince of Whales, Hood and others. Demonstrated that too much money had been spent on ships not worth the expense. It's understandable that Fischer didn't want to part with the 12" gun. But building ships of greater than 20,000 tons required a lot of justification. That justification was proven unjustified. Barham became a classic example of why the expense was unjustified. Before Fischer's folly. Building sea worthy armored ships of up to 18,000 tons was popular. Call them whatever you like. Are rugged armored ships armed with modern weapons and electronics obsolete? No. Very few are built in the 15,000 ton to 20,000 tons range. No one calls a large warship, a battleship anymore. That's the legacy of Fischer's folly.
Battleships were self-licking ice cream cones. They needed more armor because of big guns and needed bigger guns because of more armor. Ultimately torpedoes and airplanes broke the cycle.
@@Wick9876 That's one way of looking at it. But it was never that simple. The concept of the all big gun battleship. Was proposed following the Russio Japanese war. Gun performance had greatly exceeded the ability to direct the accurate fall of shells. Something greatly exacerbated the the variety of guns on the battleships of the day. What really mattered was hits that inflicted damage. At the battle of Tsu shima the battle took place at long range. When only the largest guns were used. Japanese ships hit the Russian ships, often enough, to win the battle. The actual issue was accurate gunfire. But because the damage was inflicted by the largest guns. New battleship design focused on the largest guns. During WW-I, the German fleet evaded full scale battle at Jutland. So, the dominant paradigm reigned until 1945. What actually mattered was hits that inflicted serious flooding and or a serious fire. Armor could provide some protection to magazines or machinery. Only people forgot that armor couldn't stop flooding, or a fire. Torpedoes were short range weapons of questionable accuracy. Often easily evaded, accept in rare cases like HMS Barham. Also armor piercing shells didn't just bounce off anymore. Even if the armor wasn't penetrated? Armor piercing shells gouged deep pits into the armor plates struck. Causing expensive, and difficult to repair damage. Successive hits in a weakened area, could result in actual penetration. Ships were more vulnerable to fires and flooding. HMS Hood suddenly blew up in battle. A minor hit on the deck aft, started a fire that no one took seriously. For decades people speculated about a "perfect hit," defeating Hood's armor. When the wreckage was examined on the sea floor. All four main magazines were found to have exploded. Something that shouldn't happen, unless the ship's damage control boundaries were not set. It seems that the minor hit aft, which started a fire? Ruptured the petrol storage for the ships scout plane. The flood of flaming fuel spreads below decks. Until it reaches the magazine. No perfect hit, just a fire! It's often been said that Bismarck sank the Hood. Except that minor hit aft was likely a shell from Prince Eugene. Bismarck's escorting cruiser, that started the fire. Today's warships are even more vulnerable to fire. The recent destruction of Russia's flagship Moskva? A missile hit, started a fire that destroyed the ship. Modern missiles if hit, burn and explode real well. The real Achilles heel of the battleship? Was always it's mythical mystique of invulnerability, suggested by its armor protection.
Yes, she did more....... They laughed at the battleship, and it did catch fire, roll over, and blow up., But the next one stayed afloat! (Tip of the hat to Monty Python.)
Sad tale that my dad talked about he was on Barhams sister ship Malaya for first three years of the war when they survived a single torpedo attack with i believe no casualties the y ended up in New York for three months for repairs Dad said Malaya was reguarded as lucky ship sadly wasnt the case for Barham.
Thank you for remembering Barham in this way. My Granddad was Able Seaman John McHugh, Gun Loader, turret A.
That armored station was about 4 storeys high inside the ship's hull.
If you observe closely the blast shows a portion of armored deck-plate flying off, the speculation was that actually created an egress point for the bodies of the turret crews.
A true miracle that he survived the blast but he was in a bad way, due to the triage system for assessing viable casualties, he was not expected to survive. He required a saline bronchial lavage to flush his lungs of Barham's engine oil that he'd ingested whilst floating unconscious. He was actually marked down on both the survivor and deceased list.
I believe that Barham's casualties were the first to ever receive blood plasma in a war zone?
The more you look into the details of this sinking the more repugnant things become. Good people were pulverised during that conflict in order for us to enjoy our freedoms today.
If he hadn't of made it I wouldn't be able to type this.
R.I.P to all his crewmates.
Although it was a horrible loss I believe that the worst loss of the war was the sinking of the Hood with only 3 survived.
@@paoloviti6156 As bad as Hood's loss was, I believe Yamato's was far worse for two reasons. One, over 3,000 crewmen perished. Second, her final sorte was completely unnecessary and was considered a suicide mission before it ever began.
@@DK-gy7ll in truth I was referring to the UK capitol ships but I forgot to mention it, my apologies. Yes, the sinking of the Yamato with 3.000 sailors was terrible...
My dad was a survivor of Barham sinking signal man Douglas Palmer RN
My mums friends father was on the Barham and didn’t survive. She could never watch the film.
I had an uncle on board her, he still is. I never met Uncle Charlie, he was a stoker, that's about all I know. Thank you for a respectful and informative video.
The stories about warships being sank sometimes overlook the human side of the tragedy. So sorry for your family's loss.
I guess I'm one of the few who knew the ship in the video. Especially being from the other side of the pond!
Way back in the dark ages of the early 1980s, as a kid in Junior High (7th grade), I did a report on the HMS Barham; relating pretty much everything said in the video about her history, with the exception of her collisions. My teacher not only gave me a 100%, he told me as a kid himself, he had seen the newsreel of her sinking. But he never knew her full history.
Only Hood lost more men in her sinking than Barham.
Respect to both ships and crews from an American Navy Veteran.
I served in the late 80s, and in the Mediterranean! There is a good chance we passed over her final resting place without knowing it.
That's not *quite* where Barham's story ends. She also played a role in one of the last British witchcraft trials. In Nov 1941, Helen Duncan, a self-proclaimed medium, held a séance at which she claimed a spirit of a sailor told her HMS Barham had been sunk. Because the sinking was not announced to the general public until late Jan 1942, she was investigated by the security services and the Navy. They did find a logical reason behind her knowing, but she was charged with various fraud offenses and sentenced to nine months in prison.
Now that's some unheard of history....
My Dads elder brother Albert was posted on HMS Barham. Upon leaving the family home on leave to return to the ship, my Grandmother said to Albert's 3 sisters after he headed off with his kit bag, "We won't be seeing our Albert again!". My aunts told me this story and also that she knew when the ship had been lost before it was reported. Albert was the last of 5 children she lost out of 10. I do remember my Grandmother but she passed away when I was only 3.
That lady Helen Duncan you are talking about is my step sisters great niece her name is fiona she's the double of her yeah great story alright...very accurate
She should have been dunked into the Thames or something Cotton Mathersish! Sounds like she was no Glenda Good Witch of the East nowhatimsayin? ;o)
That's wild 😮
That about 400 of the total 1200 (1/3), survived is a miracle, when you consider the likes of HMS Hood where of a crew of 1400 only 3 survived
There is a quaint country church at the end of a lonely lane in Dartmoor if you go inside you will find a plaque to a young medical officer of HMS Barham, he is my cousin and he gave all for King and Country. Everytime I see that footage I think of him, what those last minutes were like as the ship went onto her beam ends and then the explosion. It is amazing footage until you think of the men lost.
My grandfather was on Barham at Jutland as a Royal Marine
Cold sea water pouring down the funnel onto extremely hot engines also helped with her explosion. Also hot oil and cold water is explosive. Try it at home... but not inside, and stand back.
Many of the survivors also were deafened, and the one's that slid down her hull were badly injured by the marine growth and barnacles ripping up their bottoms and backs. This caused many men very serious infections and extensive hospital care.
Most of my WW2 friends served in the Mediterranean on board cruisers and submarines.
Those are deadly things you describe which would not be considered until it happens I can imagine ropes in water also being deadly due to entanglements when trying to swim.
Yes, although even when first launched Barham operated fuel fired boilers for propulsion which were far less reactive to the sudden onrush of cold sea water as opposed to coal fired furnace powered Scotch boiler types.
@@RobbyHouseIV I was a BT on the DD-876 , cold sea water going into the stack hitting the very hot tubes will explode a boiler . Very bad for the stokers.
Looking at the infamous footage, it's incredible that over 400 men actually survived that detonation. I wonder how many of those remained physically and psychologically undamaged, though...
In order to maintain the veil of secrecy regarding Barham's disappearance my Granddad and crewmates were sent to South Africa to recuperate thus taking them out of any immediate communication range with the folks back home. It was a cunning combination of incarceration serving as rehabilitation..
@@waynesimpson2074 to say that your granddad and his shipmates survived a vision of hell would be an understatement. God bless them all.
And i bet not one of them had counselling.
@@sixtyshippee "How're you feeling, lad- little bit shaky after that, eh?"
"I'm all right.."
"Good, that's the spirit, lad! Soon have you back on your feet"
"Thanks, doc."
My father was aboard Barham when she blew up. He survived the explosion and spent 2 hours in the water before being picked up by a destroyer Nizam (?) He miraculously had no physical injuries and lived to the age of 96. However, the experience dominated his life. PTSD was not known in those days. How many other men suffered in the same way ?
I recall an account from one sailor who joined HMS Barham in 1940. The officers assured him that Barham was immune to torpedo attack. But some officers aboard HMS Prince of Wales (sunk by Japanese aircraft in Dec 1941) reportedly believed that P of W was unsinkable because of her radar directed AA guns. New technology is seldom as miraculous as advertised.
Claiming something is unkillable is usually a sure fire way to get it killed.
My long gone granddad served on her at the beginning of WWll, he survived b/c the RN deemed him to old to serve at sea & so was drafted a shore. He would talk about his mess mates that went down with the ship now & again. He was so old that he was a mechanic in the Royal flying Corp, the fleet Air arm was invented & he transfered to the RN, later he changed branch to ships engineering (Stoker dept). He finally died in the early eighties in his sleep after a thrilling career.
Her sister ship Warspite was the most decorated ship and kicked some arse.
My Uncle was a survivor from Barham.. MY father was the first to hear he was safe as he was then serving in Egypt where the survivors were taken and had to try and write home with a cryptic message to tell the family he was safe due to censorship
That is a really good piece of information, thank you for sharing that. Did you know if any Xmas postcards were sent to the crew from the RN or sent home to loved ones from the crew?
I ask because there is great confusion as to what level of deception was used to censure the sinking of the ship at that time?
I was told but cannot confirm this ( due to their very covert nature) that the Naval Intelligence Department typed out standard RN Xmas greetings cards from actual deceased members of the crew, to their family at home, to maintain the ruse that Barham was still afloat and on duty in the Med?
We had broken the U-Boats enigma code and we knew Von Tiesenhausen was unaware that he'd actually sunk the Barham at that time.
The immoral subterfuge of war time knows no boundaries.
Thank you for this fine tribute to the ship and the men who served aboard her.
Amen!
The Queen Elizabeth is my favorite class of RN battleships, and HMS Barham in particular. There is a picture of the ship taken during the 1930s that was beautiful!
I hold my hands up and confess that like many people I know well the photo of that cataclysmic explosion but I did also know that it was HMS Barham, however prior to the ship sinking I knew nothing about her.................hangs her head in shame! Thank you for this very interesting video and all that you taught me!
RIP Shipmates from a retired US Navy Sailor...
"History channel... back when it did history"... the sad but true understatement of the year.
The loss of HMS Barham is not as everybody thinks. Barham was capsizing at the time, and as soon as seawater entered the boiler room, the explosion is instant. The power of the superheated steam within the boilers has enormous force, and will rip a ship in two. If you look at pictures of exploded steam locomotives, the damage is extensive. Barham had boilers 10 times that size.... Full recognition & respect to the crew of Barham; RIP.
Indeed. If you slow down footage, the aforementioned superheated steam can be seen to condense above the explosion. It’s quite possible the starboard after magazine did detonate, but this would’ve been a secondary effect of the expansion pressure. I don’t buy the explanation of a fire spreading from the four inch magazine to the starboard after, as annunciated in the commentary. The bomb room is contained behind an armour plated fire proof door that would’ve stopped a fire in the timescale involved here. There’s no burning fuel in the water at the point of capsize, which would have been the case if burning fuel was responsible. A nasty business all the same.
She went out like a champ. She didn't go quietly into the good night.
I was lucky and worked in Devonport dockyard as an engine fitter apprentice in 1968. My charge hand (PTO) was a great engineer and person who was on Barham as a young ERA when she was sunk. Lucky for him he had just come off watch and the only injury to him had been to his earring.God bless yo Andy.
Very similar to HMS Audacious in 1914, she hit a mine and sank after many hours of the crew trying to save her. When she capsized she blew up. All the crew managed to get away but one man was killed by falling debris about half a mile away. No-one knows why this should have happened, whatever it was perhaps the same thing happened to HMS Barham. By the way thankyou for calling it the Great War, few people do.
Most believe it is the mixture of very cold sea water going through the funnels and making contact with the very hot and high pressured boilers.
HMS Barham was a fine ship with a good crew. I had family who served aboard her at a few points, though I was never given specific details. A shame really.
But Barham herself?. She was a good ship...
Thank you for this tribute to her name.
This was needed. The way Barham is commonly known is the same way one “knows” a person from their obituary. Also, no one should be unaware of the over 800 obituaries associated with that footage.
I completely agree with the other comments about stock footage use, especially by some channels that obviously just don’t care about the sanctity of history. This channel is a bright spot amongst some Dark ones
I see what you did there - can't disagree . . .
shocking though the casualty numbers, the miracle is so many survived.
Lest we forget, she shares this fate with HMS Hood.
Although I already knew of her life and death, I must say, this is the best summary of her history I have seen as a video.
Congratulations, you deserve it my friend.
Si vis pacem, para bellum
"Only four hundred men would survive", based on how quickly things took place and that massive explosion it is amazing anyone got out alive, let alone four hundred.
The relevant detail you put into your videos, as well as the personable narrative style of them, make this one of my favorite channels. I never fail to learn interesting things about the subject you chose.
I knew a great nephew of the submarine commander, who survived the war by being taken prisoner. He ended his days in Vancouver, Canada. He never got over what he had done.
RIP, war is such a costly proposition to human life. Brave, real men with real stories to hear. Eternal thanks for the service and sacrifice.
Very true and in the long runwas never worth it.
It was good to hear that there were survivors of the sinking - I did not know that.
Excellent documentary of a fine ship that unfortunately many know only because of her final explosion film footage. Thanks for taking the time to tell Barhams full story..look forward to your future work..🙂👍🇬🇧
I have discussed this at some lengeth with Drachinifel and we came to the conclusion that it was most likely a boiler detonation that caused this. The ship suddenly explodes seconds after the funnel hits the waterline. Also the colour of the blast (seen in the colourised version of the clip) looks to be more of a steam explosion than a magazine explosion. Of course we will never know for sure what it was but thought I'd throw that nugget out there! :D Excellent video, this is maybe the 4th of yours ive watch and im loving it so thats a sub bud
I came across your channel a few days ago, and must say you are becoming the next Drachinifel! Easy subscription!
Barham was one of the most underrated battleships of the second world war- and, alongside her sisters Valiant- and of course Warspite- went to show that the Queen Elizabeth class were probably the most successful class of battleships ever built in terms of operational history.
I would note however- that all members of the QE class did achieve the design speed of 25 knots at least once in their careers.
Indeed, Valiant and QE made nearly 27 knots after modernisation.
No QE class BB ever made more than 25 knots, witch Malaya reached during trail. After the 30s modernisations non did over 24 knots. Great ships for there age regardless.
@@niclasjohansson4333 QE made 26.5 knots on trials after modernisation. Valiant and Warspite both made at least 25, though were slowed by the end of the war due to damage.
Hope this helps :)
@@thetorturepenguin Someone is giving you wrong info, these ships never reached there designed speed of 25 kn, and after refit QE herself only managed 23,5 kn thanks to being bulged !
@@niclasjohansson4333 Indeed not my friend. The QE as modernised- due to the more powerful engines (four more boilers) actually exceeded 25 knots.
It was because of this that they were sued as fast carrier escorts.
@@thetorturepenguin You are free to belive whatever you want, after all the Japanese turned Yamato into a spaceship postwar!
I'm guessing that since the three torpedoes did not literally hit simultaneously, that the first torpedo took out the part of the torpedo bulge it hit, and then the next two went through to hit the actual hull, doing the serious damage. IIRC, USS Nevada suffered a similar one-two punch in which a subsequent torpedo hit where a previous torpedo had taken out the torpedo bulge.
I wonder who decided that the contact was " too big to be a submarine? "
Considering the violence of the explosion, I think it is a miracle that so many 100's actually survived.
Excelent video. Thanks.
Beatty was a terrible subordinate and a terrible commander. He didn’t bother to signal or report much at all, and when he did, they were full of those “signaling errors”, of which you speak. Furthermore, IIRC it was his practice of leaving flash doors open which directly lead to the loss of at least 2 ships at Jutland.
A decent potted history of a grand ship and the explosion of HMS Barham actually used for the real ship. 👍
It's about time this clip is restricted to only for use in relation to this particular tragedy. I've seen it relating non-military sinking...wrong and distespectful
Bill Maxted (uncle Maxie) was below in the galley when the torpedoes hit. He remembered her capsizing and the next thing he remembered was being in the water. No memory of the explosion at all! Lovely man never married. I can see now he probably had PTSD but outwardly was great fun. He died 1968.
It is worth noting that when referring to RN armour it is not 13 inch at 90 degrees, it is 13 inch at 45 degrees ie. plunging shot.
Brilliant summary of this great warship’s career. You are, absolutely right in your description of popular knowledge and opinion.
Thanks for this summary. Really good ! My great grandfather served on Barham during the interwar years, so it was good to see a full history. Also worth noting that Admiral Barham, after which she was names was Nelson's victualler during the Napoleonic Wars, and whilst Nelson is remains a legend, the chap who kept him in food and bullets is much less well known.
USS Arizona: *First time?*
HSM Hood: Actually It's second time...damm Bismark.
Aboukir, Houge, Cressy: 4th time for subs! Don't forget about us!
Given how spectacular her explosion and sinking was, it's a bit surprising that there are no wreck photos. I believe her wreck was located some years ago.
Hmm, Mr Cameron? I believe that the last know position at her detonation is noted but I hadn't heard of any wreck location?
@@waynesimpson2074 I just recall having read it. As a practical matter, though, I doubt the wreck location would be much different.
Thank you for highlighting the forgotten history of this old warrior.
Barham did her job very well and is now at peace at the bottom of the sea with all the men who bravely served upon her.. one of the best of the 6 QE class BBs for sure
Nice job on the title for this, I think it was one of the best I've seen.
The film of her exploding was in the intro to every episode of The War at Sea from the 1950s.
I can remember that: a period when I was drawing pictures of the Battle of the River Platte fought by men wearing conical helmets, carrying swords and shields. Curiously……..
A well done and deserving tribute. Thanks.
Thanks for the complete history. I knew a lot of it but you filled the blanks.
I love the comment about when the History Channel still did history!👍😉
I see you have gained a few thousand subs since last I looked. Congrats.
that speaks to your content.
another ship that is known for its sinking, through ciné cameras being on hand.
SMS Szent Istvan.
(I have even seen the two clips used in a way that implies they are the same ship,
ignoring the obvious difference between the two, between the quality of the footage,
and the 1/4 century between the 2 events)
That’s what happens when old weapons designed to survive shellfire meet new weapons like capable torpedoes and aerial bombs.
Well, torpedoes were not 'new' weapons when the Queen Elizabeths were built, and no Queen Elizabeth, or indeed any other British battleship, succumbed to aerial bombs.
My grandad Paul Camilleri was on board. He was Maltese and enlisted in the British navy when he was 19 when they were stationed on the island. He was a clerk to the captain. He managed to survive, he abandoned ship about 30 seconds before the final torpedo and explosion and had to tread water for hours until rescued.
So this ship was, despite how she's remembered, actually quite valiant and reasonably successful before being sunk doing what she was meant to do. You want a REALLY embarrassing ship, try the Vasa. She was King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden's great hope for his nations naval future. But, on her maiden voyage, on smooth seas in nearly a dead calm, a bare breath of wind freshened into a light breeze. Demonstrating one of the most embarrassingly flawed naval designs in the entire history of shipbuilding, Vasa immediately capsized and sank, not even a thousand yards from the dock, with *tens* of thousands of Swedish citizens, who had come out of their homes to watch their new pride and joy depart, watching.
It would have helped if you mentioned that Vasa sank in 1628, a poorly designed wooden sailing ship, not a steel battlecruiser like HMS Barham.
@@rikk319 I did mention King Gustavus Adolphus. That sets the time period quite well. I was speaking to those who actually knew some bare facts about history. The completely ignorant don't matter to me.
Well I have the most interesting true story. The U-Boat, U-331, was commanded by a gentleman who eventually was capture the following year, ended up in a POW camp in Canada, FELL in love with this country. War ends, he waits the required time and immigrates to Canada. Made his way to the West Coast and was a client at my bank and I, as senior lender, set him & his lovely wife, Maria, with a few mortgages over the years. Hans-Diedrich Freiherr von Tiesenhausen, was an amazing nature photographer and landscape architect.
Unfortunately ships tend to become famous by their tragic sinking far more often than their active service life. Everyone knows about the Titanic. Few know much about the Olympic. Everyone knows about the Arizona, while few know about her sister the Pennsylvania. That's why you can easily find model kits of the Titanic and Arizona but hardly any of their sister ships, which you have to kit-bash if you want an accurate replica of those.
Other Channels take heed - please don`t use films/photos that are not relevant. Thanks for filling the gaps.
But none the less the Royal Navy have had many successes!
Great video thanks for posting it.
My wife's grandfather, PO/TEL Garry Owen, was on the Warspite that day. Barham was allowed to be lead ship, instead of Warspite. So grandad was not a casualty. In the town cemetery where I live, Redditch, England, there is a War Grave of a 15 year old boy sailor who died as a result of injuries when HMS Barham was hit.
My wife's grandfather was the wireless operator for Admiral Cunningham prior to the Battle of Matapan. While in Alexandria, he was tasked with going to all the other British ships to instruct them to break radio silence when contact was made with the Italian fleet; the Italian ships did not have radio but still relied of Semaphore and morse code by Aldis-type lamps.. His instructions did not go down too well with many British sailors and he was hounded off more than one ship. In the end, the order was carried out and complete success ensued. The Italian fleet was never a threat again.
the opening of this video is extremely funny to me, because I first learned about barham from the youtube comments section talking about how rough of a year 1941 was for the royal navy, briefly mentioning her. I then learned more about her from Drachinifel's video on the QE's, and from videos on the battle of jutland. I then learned some detail about how she sank(just that it was by a submarine attack), and finally searched her up to learn more, at which point I encountered the famous video, and 5 minutes later watched this.
Good tribute. Someone needed to underline her better moments
Seen its explosion to represent the sinking of merchant ships in the U-boat war.
My dad volunteered and served in our RCN here in Canada I'm sure he would have heard the terrible news of the HMS Barham sinking ...RIP men of the Barham ...With respect from your Canadian friends....🇬🇧🇬🇧🇨🇦🇨🇦💪💪
How many people know about HMS Barham, and HMS Duchess, & the collision on 12 December 1939, at which the Duchess was sunk? My uncle was an Able Seaman, Roland Ralph, who was lost that day, with most of the rest of the crew, off the coast of the Mull of Kintyre. I believe there is a memorial graveyard on nearby Rathlin Island. Roland was only 19 when he died, and it forever haunted his family, particularly my mother, his younger sister Denise. RIP DUCHESS and crew.
It's great to see the rest of Barham's career covered to show that she was far more than just "the British battleship whose loss got covered up during WW2."
When U-331 fired the spread of torpedoes, someone was a tad slow in counter flooding to compensate for the loss in weight. She almost broke the surface before the flooding balanced her out again. How I know this is that my father was doing his cadet cruise on U-331, and returned to Flensburg to his next round of classes in the Naval Academy shortly thereafter.
I inherited a photo album, in it contains a photo of the survivors of HMS Barham in the water waiting to be rescued.
Right on. Thanks for sharing.
IJN Yamato: Finally realizing Battleships were obsolete.
Sigh…
I’ve said this plenty of times, but Yamato isn’t even remotely unique in entering service after battleships had become obsolete; that’s a problem WITH THE ENTIRE WWII GENERATION OF BATTLESHIPS FOR EVERY MAJOR NAVY SAVE THE SOVIETS. She just gets a disproportionate amount of criticism for it compared to all the other battleships that were just as pointless.
And the Japanese realized battleships were obsolete much sooner than most people think (certainly before the WAllies did)-they suspended all battleship construction immediately after Force Z (Shinano was ordered to be completed only to the point where she could be towed away to be disposed of, even though Midway hadn’t yet happened and thus the idea to convert her was months away). The only reason Yamato and Musashi ended up entering service anyways was because both had been launched and Yamato was actually fully operational by the time Force Z went down, meaning that the Japanese were stuck with a pair of ships they already knew were useless (which is part of why they didn’t bother using them that much). The US and UK continued further and equally pointless battleship construction far beyond this point, even postwar.
Actually, though BB vs. BB combat had become a relic of history, BBS were not total wastes of steel and fuel oil even then. Remember that two Iowa class BBs were very useful in later conflicts, and modernized well.
@@bkjeong4302 "The US and UK continued further and equally pointless battleship construction far beyond this point, even postwar." Nonsense. The UK completed the remaining KGV class battleships in the first half of the war, which were required to fight the German capital ships, and as anti-air carrier escorts and shore bombardment platforms in the later Royal Navy Pacific Fleet against Japan. The only other British battleship built during the war, HMS Vanguard, was laid down in 1941, launhed in 1944, but only commissioned in 1946, with construction repeatedly stopped to divert resources to carriers and convoy escorts.
@@originalkk882
Vanguard by herself was still far more work and effort than the Japanese put into battleship construction after Force Z, and Anson and Howe were not operational at that point either. And given just how terrible the German surface fleet was and that there were better alternatives for carrier escort/shore bombardment roles, I’d argue they were unnecessary.
@@richardeikenburg7347
The Iowas weren’t all that useful for how much was expended on them, actually.
And building a capital ship only is strategically viable if you can use it as such: yes, battleships could still be used for “lesser” roles like shore bombardment or AA, but these roles did not justify building an entire new battleship to do, especially when cost-effective alternatives were around.
My great uncle was a midshipman on the Barham. His death haunted my grandmother until the day she died.
My maternal Grandfather was on this ship when it exploded. He was one of the sailors that lived.
My Uncle John, was on escort ship HMS Hotspur at the time of HMS Barham being torpedoed. After the explosion he said that the water was black with oil and mateloes. His brother Reg, was on the Warspite still in the eastern mediterranean.
I had no idea about this ship or its history! Thank you for the excellent video!
Just for the record the first photo in this video shows HMS Barham existing Grand Harbour in Malta the fort in the background is HMS Saint Angelo !! My father used to be stationed in that fort as Stoker Petty Officer during the 1950's!!! During WWII he was serving on a minesweeper HMS Sunset!!
I'm curious what it was that made 118 people 👎this video, I found it a well put interesting video.
Shout out to my Grand Pops Able Seaman Douglas W. Ralphs who managed to jump over board and was finally rescued 45 minutes later. He is in the HMS Barham book and gives his personal account & the HMS Barham Association website. Respect to all the men wo lost their lives that day ! And salute to all who survived !
ballsy U boat crew
Cape Matapan ... the late great Duke of Edinburgh gave a long and very interesting interview (available on RUclips). There he said his ship, The Valiant, was joined by The Barham and ... The QE?! Later Prince Philip said: Yes, I know it was The Warspite, where one tough block, Andrew Cunningham, was in charge of us all, but we didnt like all that hype forming about her ... that's why I said QE, as we all were QE ships.
Imagine if they had reliable shells at Jutland
I hate the exploitation of her loss by the film industry
I LOVE IT!
Too bad this video only used stills. The full footage is Awesome! 😂
@@BA-gn3qb ar#e .. Hole ...
@@stephenjones6500 -Kiss It
No different than using the footage of the two aircraft being ‘shot down’ when they actually collided or the B-17 being destroyed. Making a movie, especially a low budget sci-fi, pre CGI movie; some things can’t be replicated & have to use whatever footage can be found.
Don't know about you but I took it as a history lesson
Thank You
Wait…. The History Channel used to show history?! 🤯
hi i had an uncle Arthur Taylor a stoker i never met him but my father Frank Taylor (he was in the 8th army ) told me all about his big brother how is still with his ship god rest his sole and all his ship mates thanks for remembering Barham
If you zoom the explosion and pause you can see men flying. Little dots that look like debris. Terrible fate.
That film of Barham sinking! However old, battleships were EXPECTED to be invulnerable. As in hard to sink! That was the justification for the size, cost, and power. First Sea Lord Fischer took advantage of what I call the Hampton Rhodes effect. Cannon balls bounced off armor for little effect. Lots of people saw it. That was the 1860s.
As a boy, I grew up loving battleship tales. Then came the understanding that battleships are not built anymore. Lord Fischer built up the power and mystique of battle ships. So much that the Washington naval treaty was drafted to eclipse their power. Instead the treaty limiting battleships ended up resulting in monster ships like Musashi. Sinkings of Barham, Prince of Whales, Hood and others. Demonstrated that too much money had been spent on ships not worth the expense. It's understandable that Fischer didn't want to part with the 12" gun. But building ships of greater than 20,000 tons required a lot of justification. That justification was proven unjustified. Barham became a classic example of why the expense was unjustified. Before Fischer's folly. Building sea worthy armored ships of up to 18,000 tons was popular. Call them whatever you like. Are rugged armored ships armed with modern weapons and electronics obsolete? No. Very few are built in the 15,000 ton to 20,000 tons range. No one calls a large warship, a battleship anymore. That's the legacy of Fischer's folly.
Battleships were self-licking ice cream cones. They needed more armor because of big guns and needed bigger guns because of more armor. Ultimately torpedoes and airplanes broke the cycle.
@@Wick9876 That's one way of looking at it. But it was never that simple. The concept of the all big gun battleship. Was proposed following the Russio Japanese war. Gun performance had greatly exceeded the ability to direct the accurate fall of shells. Something greatly exacerbated the the variety of guns on the battleships of the day. What really mattered was hits that inflicted damage. At the battle of Tsu shima the battle took place at long range. When only the largest guns were used. Japanese ships hit the Russian ships, often enough, to win the battle. The actual issue was accurate gunfire. But because the damage was inflicted by the largest guns. New battleship design focused on the largest guns. During WW-I, the German fleet evaded full scale battle at Jutland. So, the dominant paradigm reigned until 1945. What actually mattered was hits that inflicted serious flooding and or a serious fire. Armor could provide some protection to magazines or machinery. Only people forgot that armor couldn't stop flooding, or a fire. Torpedoes were short range weapons of questionable accuracy. Often easily evaded, accept in rare cases like HMS Barham. Also armor piercing shells didn't just bounce off anymore. Even if the armor wasn't penetrated? Armor piercing shells gouged deep pits into the armor plates struck. Causing expensive, and difficult to repair damage. Successive hits in a weakened area, could result in actual penetration. Ships were more vulnerable to fires and flooding.
HMS Hood suddenly blew up in battle. A minor hit on the deck aft, started a fire that no one took seriously. For decades people speculated about a "perfect hit," defeating Hood's armor. When the wreckage was examined on the sea floor. All four main magazines were found to have exploded. Something that shouldn't happen, unless the ship's damage control boundaries were not set. It seems that the minor hit aft, which started a fire? Ruptured the petrol storage for the ships scout plane. The flood of flaming fuel spreads below decks. Until it reaches the magazine. No perfect hit, just a fire! It's often been said that Bismarck sank the Hood. Except that minor hit aft was likely a shell from Prince Eugene. Bismarck's escorting cruiser, that started the fire.
Today's warships are even more vulnerable to fire. The recent destruction of Russia's flagship Moskva? A missile hit, started a fire that destroyed the ship. Modern missiles if hit, burn and explode real well. The real Achilles heel of the battleship? Was always it's mythical mystique of invulnerability, suggested by its armor protection.
Yeah. Same thing with _Arizona_ .
.
Great video! Thanks😀
Do you know how to find list of the crew ithink my dad was on the ship but passed away
My grand dad 18 years RN died on this ship, Barham was torpedoed.
Yes, she did more....... They laughed at the battleship, and it did catch fire, roll over, and blow up., But the next one stayed afloat! (Tip of the hat to Monty Python.)
Sad tale that my dad talked about he was on Barhams sister ship Malaya for first three years of the war when they survived a single torpedo attack with i believe no casualties the y ended up in New York for three months for repairs Dad said Malaya was reguarded as lucky ship sadly wasnt the case for Barham.
Nice one mate
The same like the HMS Hood: one shot was enough...
Three or possibly even four torpedo hits.
Yep! First it rolled over.
Warspite always hit someone or something friendly.
Love her.
My Grandad served on Barham between the wars as an electrician.