A few moments from our history books

[Brian Probetts (Site Admin)]

Hi Team
A few moments from our history books, thanks to Old Salts Longcast for latest update
Regards
Peter Hogg
RNZNA South Canterbury NZ

THIS MONTH IN HISTORY
25 March 1915 The first neutral ship is sunk after a stop and search, when SMS U-29 captures, inspects, and sinks the Dutch vessel SS Medea.


20 March 1916 I Anzac Corps lands in France. Following the evacuation of Gallipoli in December 1915, the original Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (consisting of the Australian Imperial Force and the New Zealand Expeditionary Force) was reorganised and replaced by I ANZAC Corps and II ANZAC Corps in February 1916. However, although Gallipoli was behind them, the Anzacs were about to be thrown into the Western Front.


26 March 1917 HMS Myrmidon is lost after a collision with SS Hamborn in the English Channel. Only one of HMS Myrmidon’s crew is killed.


26 March 1918 New Zealander Stoker Alfred Thompson (RNZNR) is killed on active service, drowned after an enemy attack by a submarine.

07 April 1919 Admiral Sir David Beatty (later Admiral of the Fleet, the 1st Earl Beatty) hauls down his flag in HMS Queen Elizabeth and the Royal Navy’s Grand Fleet ceases to exist. It is replaced by the Home, Atlantic and Mediterranean Fleets.
History of HMS Queen Elizabeth
More than 20 ships in Britain’s Navy have carried the name Elizabeth, going all the way back to the namesake monarch and battle honours beginning with the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588.
Only one previous warship has been named Queen Elizabeth, however. She proved to be one of the great names of the 20th Century Royal Navy. The ship was the apotheosis of pre-World War 1 battleship design, the first oil-powered capital ships in the Royal Navy, and the first equipped with the 15in gun, capable of hurling a shell weighing nearly one ton just short of 20 miles.
Joining the Fleet in 1915, Queen Elizabeth was sent to the Dardanelles to support the ill-fated Gallipoli campaign before being returned to the Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow. She missed the titanic clash of dreadnoughts at Jutland because she was being refitted (four of her sisters all saw action that day) but she did witness the capitulation of the German Navy.
As the flagship of the Grand Fleet in November 1918, it was here that the armistice terms were dictated to the leaders of the High Seas Fleet by Admiral Beatty, Britain’s most famous admiral of the day.



This image shows the forward 15" guns of the Queen Elizabeth - the built up nature of the barrels can be clearly seen in this early picture of the ship. Image courtesy of MaritimeQuest website