Dates: 1914 - 1941
HMS Barham (pennant number 04) was a Queen Elizabeth-class battleship of the Royal Navy named after Admiral Charles Middleton, 1st Baron Barham, built at the John Brown shipyards in Clydebank, Scotland, and launched in 1914.
In World War I, she collided with her sister-ship Warspite in 1915. In 1916, she was Admiral Hugh Evan-Thomas’s flagship of the 5th Battle Squadron temporarily attached to Admiral David Beatty’s Battlecruiser Fleet at the battle of Jutland, where she received five hits and fired 337 shells.
During the 1926 general strike she and Ramillies was sent to the River Mersey to land food supplies. She was less extensively modified between the wars than her sisters. Among her captains was Percy Noble.
In World War II she operated in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. She was damaged by a German submarine torpedo in December 1939, while at sea north of the British Isles.
Barham in the Mediterranean.In September 1940, she took part in Operation Menace, a British naval attack on Dakar, Senegal prior to a landing by the Free French. Barham engaged the French battleship Richelieu. On 25 September, the Richelieu hit Barham with a 380 mm shell. The French submarine Beveziers hit the battleship HMS Resolution with a torpedo the same day. Operation Menace was abandoned. Barham then joined Force H at Gibraltar, taking part in several Malta Convoys.
At the end of 1940, Barham joined the Mediterranean Fleet, taking part in the Battle of Cape Matapan in March 1941 and receiving bomb damage off Crete in May.
On 25 November 1941, while steaming to cover an attack on Italian convoys, Barham was hit by three torpedoes from the German submarine U-331, commanded by Lieutenant Hans-Dietrich von Tiesenhausen. The torpedoes were fired from a range of only 750 yards providing no time for evasive action, and stuck so closely together as to throw up a single massive water column. As she rolled over to port, her magazines exploded and the ship quickly sank with the loss of over two thirds of her crew.
Forces Reunited Forum Posts involving HMS Barham
" If you have time copy and paste this on to your browser. It follows on to Murrys’ posting. http://www.crystalinks.com/ancientastronauts.html George. Join the Navy? will there be one when he is old enough to join. My grandfather was in the Navy, at Jutland on the HMS Barham. My father was in the RAF. So as a compromise I joined the Crabfat Navy Last edited by Colin Davies"
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" Alright Peter, You asked for some gen on the Berwick (1940) I hope this helps Noteable events involving Berwick include: 2 Mar, 1940 HMS Berwick (Capt I.M. Palmer, DSC, RN)intercepts the German merchant Wolfsburg (6201 GRT) north of Iceland in position 67º50’N, 22º45’W. However ..."
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" Quoting: sheila ormiston Bob I think one of my worst memories of the war is of the Hood as she went down with just a couple of blokes standing at the stern. What do you know of the Barham. When it was the anniversary of her sinking the Evening News, a Pompey paper, used to have pages and ..."
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" Quoting: Bob Draper Hi Sheila, Found this on wikapedia, sorry to say, ( I was only 3months old when she was sunk ) that I had never heard of her till your post... Service In World War I, she collided with her sister-ship Warspite in 1915. In 1916, she was Admiral Hugh Evan-Thomas’s ..."
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" Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham won the Battle of Cape Matapan, off the southwest coast of Greece’s Peloponnesian peninsula. Departing on March 26, 1941, with the bulk of the Regia Marina’s remaining strength, Adm. Angelo Iachino planned to conduct a sweep of the waters off Crete. Incorrectly ..."
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