Portsmouth 2022 - Astley Arms Whiskey Bottle

 The Royal Naval Base Blyth on the Northumberland coast  was a submarine base during both World Wars. 

Blyth Submarine Base

At 11:00 on 3rd September 1939 the Admiralty sent a signal to all warships “COMMENCE HOSTILITIES AGAINST GERMANY IMMEDIATELY”. A signal that would result in the sixth submarine flotilla being sent to Blyth. 

On Christmas Eve 1939, the submariners of HMS Seahorse were enjoying themselves in the Astley Arms, Seaton Sluice, near Blyth. 

HMS  Seahorse

Astley Arms Seaton Sluice

A raffle for a bottle of whiskey was won by Petty Officer Leonard Wilson. Unfortunately PO Wilson was unable to collect it before HMS Seahorse left Blyth on Patrol. 

Petty Officer Leonard Wilson

The landlady, Mrs Lydia Jackson kept the bottle for safekeeping awaiting the return of HMS Seahorse. Sadly, the submarine never returned, it was lost with all hands.

It is thought that she could have been sunk by the German First Minesweeper Flotilla which reported carrying out a prolonged depth charge attack on an unknown submarine on 7 January 1940.

 The bottle of whiskey remained at the pub till the landlady retired in 1971 when it was presented to the Royal Navy Submarine Museum. 

Astley Arms Whiskey Bottle
RN Submarine Museum

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The loss of HMS Seahorse is recorded on the Lost Submarines Memorial at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum, Gosport.

Royal Navy Submarine Museum 
Lost Submarines Memorial

HMS Seahorse was lost with all hands and the names of the 39 crew members are recorded on the Royal Navy Submarine Museum's Memorial Wall. It includes the name of Petty Officer Leonard Wilson.

Portsmouth 2022 - Royal Navy Submarine Museum Memorials

The Royal Navy Submarine Museum, Gosport, houses memorials to the Submarine Service. 

RN Submarine Museum
HMS Alliance Lost Submarines Memorial IJ

The Lost Submarines Memorial at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum records the names of vessels that have been lost since the formation of the Royal Navy's Submarine Service in October 1901.

RN Submarine Museum Lost Submarines Memorial

The first loss was that of HMS A1 which was accidentally sunk in the Solent on 18 March 1904 during a training exercise when hit by the mail steamer, SS Berwick Castle en route from Southampton to Hamburg. 

The first submarine lost to enemy actions was HMS D5 which struck a mine laid by SMS Stralsund on 3 November 1914 after responding to a German attack on Yarmouth by cruisers. During World War One 48 submarines were lost as a result of accidents and enemy action. 

World War Two would see the loss 82 submarines, the first lost to enemy action being HMS Seahorse which failed to return from a patrol in January 1940. 

Pre WW1        6
WW1             48
Inter-War      11
WW2             82
Post War         3

The Royal Navy Submarine Museum features an "Area of Remembrance" that contains a wall of names listing all British submariners killed on active service.

RN Submarine Museum
Area of Remembrance

RN Submarine Museum Submariners Memorial Wall

Portsmouth 2022 - Royal Navy Submarine Museum

 The Royal Navy Submarine Museum is based in Gosport. It exhibits the history of the submarine from an initial use of an underwater craft from the American Revolutionary War through to todays modern nuclear deterrent. 

The museum's primary exhibit is HMS Alliance, a Cold War Era vessel.

HMS Alliance

 In 1775, the first ever use of a submersible in warfare was recorded when The Turtle was used in an unsuccessful attempt to blow up British ships in New York Harbour. 

The Turtle
New York Harbour 1775

The Turtle replica RN Submarine Museum

Experimentation continued over the next 100 years, the concept of the use of submarines becoming more prominent with the development of metal hull ships, the internal combustion engine and the weaponising of vessels with the invention of the torpedo.

The Royal Navy's commissioned it's first submarine in 1901, HMS Holland 1. It was one of six boats armed with a single torpedo tube and carried 3 torpedoes. 

HMS Holland 1

HMS Holland 1 RN Submarine Museum

The prominence of the submarine and it's impact on warfare came with both World Wars.

World War One Submarines

World War Two Submarine

The end of WW2 brought about the Cold War and the submarine became the foundation of British Defence Policy, the mainstay of the nuclear deterrent. In 1961, HMS Resolution became the first submarine in the Royal Navy to carry nuclear Polaris missiles.

Cold War Submarines

HMS Resolution Polaris missile carrier

Polaris missile Firing Panel

Polaris Missile

In 1982, the submarine was used in it's more traditional role of targeting surface ships during the Falklands Campaign. On 2nd May 1982, HMS Conqueror sank the Argentinian light cruiser General Belgrano.

HMS Conqueror returns from the Falklands 1982

Falklands Campaign 1982

Portsmouth 2022 - HMS M33

HMS M33 Portsmouth

HMS M33 Portsmouth IJ DM

 HMS M33 is a class M-29 monitor, one of five built in Belfast in 1915 as part of an Emergency War Programme of ship construction. It is now preserved at the Royal Dockyard Portsmouth.

A monitor was a small ship that was equipped with disproportionately large guns designed to operate in shallow waters. Their role was to provide naval gun fire support to troops ashore.

HMS M33 was commissioned in June 1915. Her armament consisted of two 6 inch (152mm) guns, a QF 6 pounder (57mm) gun and two maxim guns. The crew of 72 included men form the Royal Marine Artillery to man the primary armament, the six inch guns. 

Class M26 Monitor

HMS M33

HMS M33 6 inch gun

BL 6-inch Mk XII naval gun

Calibre:                                 6 inches (152.4 mm)

Maximum firing range:    19,660 metres (21,500 yd)

Shell:                             100 pounds (45.36 kg)  

                                            [Lyddite /  Armour-piercing / Shrapnel]

Rate of fire:                     5-7 rpm

HMS M33 Ammunition Magazine

HMS M33 Ships Office

HMS M33 - RMA Gunners Accommodation

HMS M33's first active operation was during the Gallipoli campaign supporting the British landings at Suvla Bay in August 1915. 

She remained stationed at Gallipoli until the peninsular was evacuated in January 1916. 

Gallipoli Sulva Bay Landings August 1915

HMS M33 Sulva Bay 1915

Serving in the Mediterranean, HMS M33 and was involved in the seizure of the Greek fleet at Salamis Bay on 1 September 1916. A preventive operation against neutral Greece to prevent the fleet from falling into German or Bulgarian hands. The ship remained in the Mediterranean till the end of the war. 

HMS M33 crew at work

HMS M33

HMS M33 Crew

After the Armistice, HMS M33 along with five other monitors (M23, M25, M27, M31 and Humber) were sent to Murmansk in 1919 to relieve the North Russian Expeditionary Force. HMS M33 moved to Archangel in June travelling up  the Dvina River to cover the withdrawal of British and White Russian forces

HMS M33 returned to Chatham in October 1919. 

North Russian Expeditionary Force
Dvina River

HMS M33

HMS M.33, monitor - British warships of World War 1 (naval-history.net)

Mediterranean 

July 1915-November 1918

North Russia Expeditionary Force 

May-September 1919.

Ships Cat Miss Muggins

Portsmouth 2022 - HMS Warrior

 

HMS Warrior IJ

HMS Warrior was Britain's first ironclad war ship being commissioned on 1st August 1861. 

HMS Warrior

The ship gave it's name to the Warrior Class warships which were built in response to the French Navy's launching of the first ironclad warship Gloire.

Warrior Class warships
HMS Warrior and HMS Black Prince

HMS Warrior was a steam powered with a full set of sails. It had a single gun deck mounting 19 guns on each side. A fore and aft chaser gun completed the armament of 40 guns.

HMS Warrior Portsmouth

The armament of 40 guns consisted of:

26 × Smoothbore muzzle-loading (SBML) 68-pdr (206 mm) guns

10 × Rifled breechloading (RBL) 110-pdr (178 mm) guns

4 × Rifled breechloading (RBL) 40-pdr (121 mm) guns

HMS Warrior 110 pounder RBL IJ

HMS Warrior RBL 110 pounder

HMS Warrior Gun Deck

HMS Warrior RBL 40 pounder

HMS Warrior opening the breech  TW IJ

HMS Warrior Crew Station on Gun Deck

HMS Warrior Rum Ration

HMS Warrior Officers War Room

HMS Warrior Officers Dining Room

HMS Warrior Officers Cabin

HMS Warrior conducted a publicity tour of Great Britain in 1863.

HMS Warrior departing Portsmouth

HMS Warrior practice firing

HMS Warrior was then employed on active working as part of the Channel Squadron. Ten years later she was made obsolete as warship as sail came to an end and transition to the steel armour plated ships.