HMS Victory

[Brian Probetts (Site Admin)]

Hi team
The month of September brings a few more memories of a century ago when Britain and her Dominions were fighting for survival. A century before that Horatio Nelson and his fleet were doing exactly the same with HMS VICTORY at the fore. As you can read below many millions of pounds are now needed to keep the old girl upright in drydock after originally being floated out of drydock at Chatham in 1765, just over 250 years ago.
Regards
Peter Hogg
Royal NZ Naval Assn
South Canterbury Branch
New Zealand

"peterhogg222@gmail.com"

THIS MONTH IN HISTORY

Credit to Ngapona Assn. Auckland NZ

09 September 1914 – The Admiralty announces the formation of the Royal Naval Division. The Royal Naval Division was an infantry division formed from Royal Navy and Royal Marine reservists and volunteers who were not needed for service at sea.

A number of New Zealanders, including Bernard and Oscar Freyberg, joined the Royal Naval Division (Bernard Freyberg later became Lieutenant General Lord Freyberg VC and Governor-General of New Zealand).



Lieutenant-General Sir Bernard Cyril Freyberg, 1st Baron, was born in England in 1889 but brought to New Zealand by his parents at the age of two. He was educated at Wellington College.
He joined the Royal Naval Brigade in England at the outbreak of World War I. He served in France, Gallipoli and France again, winning the Victoria Cross.
He was a temporary Brigadier in 1918 and became a regular soldier after the war. He was made General Staff Officer at the War Office. He retired in 1934 but was recalled in 1939, commanding the New Zealand Division in Greece, Africa and Italy.
He was created Baron Freyberg of Wellington, New Zealand, and Munstead, Surrey, in 1951. He was Deputy Constable and Lt-Governor of Windsor Castle until his death in 1963.

01 September 1915–HMT Southland is torpedoed in the Aegean Sea by German submarine UB-14 with the loss of 40 men. The ship was beached, repaired, and returned to service in August 1916. While in service between the United Kingdom and Canada in April 1917,Southland was torpedoed a second time, this time by U-70; she was sunk off the coast of Ireland with the loss of four lives.

HMT Southland after torpedo hit in September 1915
Career
Name:	1900: Vaderland 1915: Southland
Owner:	International Navigation Company
Operator:	1901: American Line (charter) 1903–1914: Red Star Line 1914–1917: White Star–Dominion

"A Splendid story is told of the sinking of the transport Southland in the Mediterranean Sea. When the torpedo struck the vessel reeled and the order was given to abandon the ship. There was never a cry or sign of fear. The Australian soldiers merely came briskly on deck singing 'Australia will be there.'
The troops all went to their stations and lowered the boats in an orderly manner. The subalterns searched the interior of the ship for wounded and finally came on deck to find only the general staff on board. They helped to lower the last boats and got into a half swamped one themselves. Fourteen persons were killed by the explosion and twenty two were drowned including Brigadier General Linton."^[6][7]

A record of this event is recorded in the war diary of Captain Herbert Franklin Curnow:
"Thursday 2 September
Up 6am. Drew 120 rounds of ammunition and iron and landing rations. Pulled into Lemnos and dropped anchor about 10am. The Military Landing Officer came on board, got my disembarkation return and meantime informed us that the Southland having on board 2 Aus Div H.Q 6th Inf Bge HQ., 21 Bt 1 Coy 23rd Btn. some A.S.C. A.M.C. & Signalling details had been torpedoed behind us. Later ascertained about 25 lives lost including Col Linton, Brigadier. Turned in soon after dinner."
However, a member of Australian unit reported one crew shot for behaving improperly.^[5] The remaining men and ship's crew were able to get to the Allied vessels later the same day. HMT Southland carried James Martin whose experiences, and those of his friend Cecil Hogan, were described in a book by Anthony Hill.
The sinking was depicted in the painting Sinking of the Southland^[8] by Fred Leist, who was appointed an official war artist in September 1917, and attached to the 5th Division AIF.
North Atlantic and second torpedo attack

Southland was repaired and returned to White Star–Dominion for Liverpool–Quebec–Montreal service in August 1916, but on 4 June 1917 was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-70 while 140 nautical miles (260 km) northwest of Tory Island off the Irish coast at position (56°10′N 12°14′WCoordinates: 56°10′N 12°14′W) with the loss of 4 lives.^[9][10]
Credit to Wikipedia for information above


01 September 1916– Commander Armstrong RNVR is sent by the Admiralty to New Zealand, to recruit men for the RNVR. Specifically the Royal Navy sought to expand the RNVR to provide crews for the 500 Motor Launches to serve with the Coastal Command.


Motor Launch ML123



HMS VICTORY
UK’s oldest naval ship still in commission, HMS Victory, is facing it’s last chance to survive.
According to Andrew Baines, curator at the National Museum of the Royal Navy and project director of HMS Victory, the vessel is slowly rotting because she is not adequately supported.
A £550,000 survey conducted aboard the ship showed its true state and revealed necessary repairs. MailOnline writes that the vessel’s keel has been dropping by half a centimetre a year due to water damage and the current dry dock cradle was putting stress on Victory’s hull.
The museum is already working on enhancing the vessel’s cradle with some 140 points of support. Other works that are planned to be conducted will have a goal of stabilizing the vessel and replacing old planking making her top deck watertight, as reported by Portsmouth News. Baines estimates the project would cost about £35m-£40m.
HMS Victory, originally made of oak, started its previous 50 year-long makeover project in 1955. She was first launched in 1765 and served as Admiral Lord Nelson’s flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.
In March 2012 the National Museum of the Royal Navy took responsibility of the vessel which celebrated her 250th anniversary in May this year.

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HMS Victory  

4. HMS Victory is a 104-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, ordered in 1758, laid down in 1759 and launched in 1765. She is best known as Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Credit Wikipedia
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6. Construction started: July 23, 1759
7. Launched: May 7, 1765
8. Length: 69 m
9. Weight: 3,556 tons
10. Place built: Chatham, United Kingdom
11. Designer: Thomas Slade

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In 1922 she was saved for the nation and placed permanently into dry dock where she remains today, visited by 25 million visitors as a museum of the sailing navy and the oldest commissioned warship in the world.
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[j.sabourn]

The oldest commissioned working naval vessel in 1980 was I believe HMS Reclaim. She also had a sail, but never saw it in use. JS

[happy daze john in oz]

Interesting cemetery in Gibraltar that we saw. There are a number of crew from her buried there officers and ordinary seamen. Not many know about the place though.