French Battleship Massena 1892

French Battleship Massena

Masséna was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the French Navy, built in the 1890s. She was a member of a group of five broadly similar battleships, along with Charles Martel, Jauréguiberry, Bouvet, and Carnot, that were ordered in response to the British Royal Sovereign class. She was named in honour of Marshal of France André Masséna. Masséna significantly exceeded her design weight and suffered from serious stability problems that inhibited the accurate firing of her guns; as a result, she was considered to be an unsuccessful design.

Masséna served in both the Northern and Mediterranean Squadrons during her career, which included a period as the flagship of the Northern Squadron. She was withdrawn from service before the outbreak of World War I in 1914. The following year, she was hulked at Toulon. She was later towed to Cape Helles at the end of the Gallipoli peninsula where on 9 November 1915 she was scuttled to create a breakwater to protect the evacuation of the Allied expeditionary force withdrawing from the Gallipoli Campaign.

Japanese Battleship Hatsuse

British built Japanese battleship Hatsuse passing the High Level & Swing Bridges moving down the River Tyne shortly after completion, 1901.

The King receives the homage of his fleet as he passes down the lines of the monster assemblage of fighting ships - June 12th 1909

The King receives the homage of his fleet as he passes down the lines of the monster assemblage of fighting ships - June 12th 1909

A general view looking towards the Isle of Wight of the line of warships for the Naval Fleet Review at Spithead. In the foreground is an unnamed ketch-rigged yacht under sail, towing its tender. In the middle distance is the battleship 'Dominion' (1903), partially obscuring the battleship 'Albion' (1898). To the right of the photograph can be seen the stern of the battleship 'Formidable' (1898). The coast of the Isle of Wight is in the background.

SMS Nassau

Rare original photograph, which shows battleship SMS Nassau sailing on the Kaiser - Wilhelm - Kanal (Kiel Canal) in late July 1918. Most likely during operation "Schlusstein", which had the seizure of St. Petersburg as an operational goal. After having reached the Baltic Sea with two other Battleships (Oldenburg and Thueringen) the operation was cancelled, and the units had to sail back to Wilhelmshaven.

HMS Nelson

Calculation the firepower to the Nelson class battleships.

These ships were very well armed by the end of the war. In 1945, HMS Nelson was armed with:

6x 4.7" Anti-Aircraft guns (Six Single Mounts)

16x 40mm Bofors (Four Quad Mounts)

48x Pom-Poms (Six Octuple Mounts)

65x 20mm Oerlikon (Single Mounts)

A total of 135 anti-aircraft guns. By a total number of barrels, that is more than the Iowa class at 129!

USS Oakland (CL-95)

USS Oakland CL-95, a modified Atlanta class light cruiser.  Shown here off San Francisco on August 2, 1943.  Scrapped in 1959.

HMS Malaya

A Sopwith 1 1/2 strutter being loaded on to HMS Malaya. (No date.)

Battleship Division Two

Battleship Division Two

In line abreast formation, 7 June 1954, in the Virginia Capes operating area. The only occasion that all four Iowa class battleships were photographed operating together....

Ship closest to the camera is USS Iowa (BB-61).

The others are (from near to far):

USS Wisconsin (BB-64);

USS Missouri (BB-63)

USS New Jersey (BB-62).

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

HMS Rodney (29)

The battleship HMS Rodney (29) fires at Normandy. The photo, from the "Morris Collection", is courtesy of Iain Ballantyne, who writes:

"... the psychological impact of aerial bombing combined with the guns of the Navy and Army inflicted Hell on earth upon the enemy. Some German troops were literally driven insane and even resorted to shooting themselves, rather than endure further bombardment. In one episode, some 50 out of 127 German tanks massing for an attack were wiped out.

General Paul Hausser, [survivor of the Eastern Front] commander of the II SS Panzer Corps, was forced at the end of June to tell his higher commanders a ‘murderous fire from naval guns’ together with concentrated fire of British Army artillery had ‘destroyed the bulk of our attacking force in its assembly area.’ He continued: ‘The few tanks that did manage to go forward were easily stopped by the British anti-tank guns."

Rodney was able to fire up to 22 miles inland during her Normandy operations.

HMS Rodney (29)

HMS Rodney. Mediterranean, 1942.

HMS Rodney (pennant number 29) was one of two Nelson-class battleships built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1920s. The ship was named after Admiral Lord Rodney. The Nelsons were unique in British battleship construction, being the only ships to carry a main armament of 16-inch (406 mm) guns, and the only ones to carry all the main armament forward of the superstructure. As her superstructure was located aft of midships like RN fleet oilers whose names carried the ...'ol' suffix, she was sometimes derisively referred to as "Rodnol". Commissioned in 1927, Rodney served extensively in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean during the Second World War.

HMS Rodney at Devonport, 1934: she and her sister Nelson were crudely cut down versions of a larger design in order to comply with the Washington Treaty, losing their stern turrets (and considerable engine power) as a result. Together with HMS King George V, Rodney was one of the final conquerors of Bismarck in May 1941.

Rodney played a major role in the sinking of the German battleship Bismarck in May 1941. During and after Operation Torch and the Normandy landings, Rodney participated in several coastal bombardments. In poor condition from extremely heavy use and lack of refits, she was scrapped in 1948.

Rodney firing on Bismarck, which can be seen burning in the distance

USS Eaton (DD-510) & USS Glennon (DD-840)

USS Eaton (DD-510) and USS Glennon (DD-840) in Aarhus, Denmark during the 1954 N.Europe/Med cruise. From the collection of Wendell Stimets who was the Medical Officer for Escort Division 22 from 1952-1955.

Soviet Orfey class destroyer Engels

Soviet Orfey class destroyer Engels armed with a 305mm recoilless gun, fitted for testing in 1934.

The designer of the gun, Leonid Kurchevsky, had many other gun designs that all mostly had irreparable defects, and thus was arrested, charged with designing poor weapons, and sentenced to death in 1937. The exact date of his execution is still uncertain: various sources claim it to be either November 26, 1937, or January 12, 1939.

Pre-Dreadnought battleship USS Indiana (BB-1)

Pre-Dreadnought battleship USS Indiana

USS Indiana (BB-1) was the lead ship of her class and the first battleship in the United States Navy comparable to foreign battleships of the time. Authorized in 1890 and commissioned five years later, she was a small battleship, though with heavy armour and ordnance. The ship also pioneered the use of an intermediate battery. She was designed for coastal defence and as a result, her decks were not safe from high waves on the open ocean.

Indiana served in the Spanish–American War (1898) as part of the North Atlantic Squadron. She took part in both the blockade of Santiago de Cuba and the battle of Santiago de Cuba, which occurred when the Spanish fleet attempted to break through the blockade. Although unable to join the chase of the escaping Spanish cruisers, she was partly responsible for the destruction of the Spanish destroyers Plutón and Furor. After the war, she quickly became obsolete—despite several modernizations—and spent most of her time in commission as a training ship or in the reserve fleet, with her last commission during World War I as a training ship for gun crews. She was decommissioned for the third and final time in January 1919 and was shortly after reclassified Coast Battleship Number 1 so that the name Indiana could be reused. She was sunk in shallow water as a target in aerial bombing tests in 1920 and her hull was sold for scrap in 1924

Adolf Hitler's Navy

"Adolf Hitler's Navy", 2-page illustration from Life Magazine, Dec 7 1936. All German navy ships afloat or under construction at the time.

The Turret X Explosion of HMS Devonshire 1929

The Turret X Explosion of HMS Devonshire 1929

The 50 calibre BL 8 inch gun Mark VIII was the main battery gun used on the Royal Navy's County-class heavy cruisers, in compliance with the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922.

Similar to other cruisers of that era, the mountings for these weapons were given a high maximum elevation in order to provide an anti-aircraft capability. However, the training and elevation gear was inefficient and both the elevation and training rates were too slow to allow these mountings to be useful in that role.

The complex nature of the early versions of these mountings, the Mark I and Mark I*, gave trouble for a number of years. Considerable attention was paid to these faults, especially in 1927 and 1928, before these ships were accepted into service. After the initial trials, the training and elevation rates were reduced prior to commissioning and reduced still further during the 1930s in an effort to improve the operational performance of the turrets.

On 19th March 1929, 17 months after her launch, HMS Devonshire was commissioned into the Royal Navy and on 11th May, after carrying out trials at Portland, she sailed for Gibraltar. Before joining the First Cruiser Squadron of the Mediterranean Fleet Devonshire, together with her sister Sussex, underwent an eight-week work-up period at Gibraltar before, on 8th July, she finally steamed east to Malta, arriving in Grand Harbour three days later.

Eight days after arriving on station, Devonshire and the rest of the Mediterranean Fleet sailed for manoeuvres in the Aegean Sea, off the island of Skiathos. Controlling the exercises was the C-in-C in his Royal Oak flagship and also taking part were Queen Elizabeth London and Sussex, together with units of the Third Destroyer Flotilla. Arriving off Skiathos on 21st July the fleet lay at anchor, and while the senior officers planned the forthcoming manoeuvres the sailors were granted recreational leave for 'picnic and bathing parties'.

When they got underway Devonshire and the destroyers practised torpedo firing, after which there was gunnery practice. At 0800 on Friday 26th, July the fleet weighed anchor, and within minutes London, Sussex and Devonshire had formed single line ahead in order to carry out a full calibre shoot. At 08.45 there was a flurry of manoeuvring as Sussex, which was rejoining the line, almost collided with Devonshire; the latter’s stern did, in fact, touch Sussex's port quarter, but no damage was done and the exercise continued.

At 10.00 exactly Devonshire fired her first broadside, but practically simultaneously a huge explosion shook the ship. A faulty breech mechanism in 'X' turret had caused a shell and some cordite bags to ignite, and the force of the explosion blew the roof off the gun turret and started fires in the gun house and pump room. Fortunately, these were soon extinguished, but the explosion took a heavy toll of the Royal Marines who were manning the turret.

One officer and six men were killed instantly, one of them being blown overboard. Devonshire, meanwhile, made for the Greek port of Volos where 17 injured men were transferred to the hospital ship Maine. However, 11 of these subsequently died and 16 of the victims were buried at Volos with full military honours. Devonshire, with the guns of 'X' turret awry, returned to Malta and from there proceeded to Devonport where, on 14th August 1929, her tragic first commission ended.

As a result of this incident, a new interlock was fitted, which prevented the operator from opening the breach until it had been tripped by the gun firing or manually reset by another operator inside the turret.

Most of the problems seem to have been satisfactorily resolved prior to the start of World War II, but HMS London reported as late as June 1938 that "one would wish that the 8in mountings and torpedoes would behave as they should. The prolonged firing of 20 rounds per gun from London was a disappointment on the material side."

The later Mark II mountings appear to have been much more reliable, with the first gun trials for HMS York in February 1930 being so successful that they took only four hours to complete. As a weight-saving measure, the Mark II* version of this mounting, used only on HMS Exeter, had a significantly reduced maximum elevation.

The original design was A tube, wire, B tube, overlapping jacket, breech ring and breech-bush and these guns were designated as Mark VIII* upon completion. Owing to troubles with the A tube forging, an inner A tube was added to half of the wire-wound guns. After relining with a tapered inner A tube, guns were then designated as Mark VIII. Two prototypes and the last 26 guns built did not use wire and were designated as Mark VIII**. All guns used a Welin breech-block with hydraulic or hand-worked Asbury mechanism and were interchangeable with each other. A total of 168 guns were produced, including the two prototypes built without wire.

The original Naval Staff requirement for these weapons was 12 rounds per minute, an impossibly high figure for the time. The requirement was ultimately reduced to six rounds per minute. However, "British Cruisers of World War Two" states that this rate was never reached during wartime service and that the maximum sustained ROF in action was actually 3 to 4 rounds per minute. During trials, HMS Kent did achieve a ROF of 5 rounds per minute for a brief time.

Australia, Devonshire and Sussex had "X" turret removed during the war as weight compensation for additional light AA, radar and other electronic equipment.

HMS Devonshire Turret Explosion Casualties:

Marine Fatalities

Captain John Arthur Bath D.S.C.†     Killed Outright

Sergeant William Ernest Snell¤          Missing presumed drowned
Corporal Edward Bacon †                    Killed outright

Corporal Joseph E. Barber†                Died on board Hospital Ship HMS Maine

Corporal James Levins †                      Killed Outright
Marine James W. Blackman †             Died on board HMS Maine
Marine Joseph S. Brindle †                  Died on board HMS Maine
Marine Samuel Goldsmith †                Died on board HMS Maine
Marine Frank Grindle †                         Died on board HMS Maine
Marine Edward C. Harris †                   Died on board HMS Maine
Marine William Ernest Hellyer‡        Died on board HMS Maine
Marine William George Hole†            Died on board HMS Devonshire
Marine Augustus Alexander MacDonald† Died on board HMS Devonshire
Marine John Tossel Old †                    Died on board HMS Maine
Marine Lionel R. Taylor †                   Died on board HMS Maine
Marine Frank Williams †                     Died on board HMS Maine

Sgt. Snell’s body was never recovered, despite HMS Sussex and HMS Frobisher searching the area for the rest of the day.

Fatality -Royal Navy

Ordnance Artificer Arthur C. Edwards  † Died on board HMS Maine

Injuries - Royal Marines

Corporal L.E. Elliott                   Hospitalised on HMS Devonshire
Corporal G.C. Pengelly              Hospitalised on HMS Devonshire
Acting Corporal Charles Percival Wickenden ± Hospitalised on HMS Maine
Marine T. Agar                             Hospitalised on HMS Devonshire
Marine A. Brimblecombe        Hospitalised on HMS Maine
Marine F. Chalice                        Hospitalised on HMS Devonshire
Marine W.J. Elliott                     Hospitalised on HMS Devonshire
Marine J. Hallam                         Hospitalised on HMS Maine
Marine G.H. Harkcom               Hospitalised on HMS Maine
Marine E.F. Hymen                    Hospitalised on HMS Maine
Marine W. Smith                          Hospitalised on HMS Devonshire
Marine Albert Edward Streams°   Hospitalised on HMS Devonshire

Injuries - Royal Navy

Chief Petty Officer R.E. Jenns              Hospitalised on HMS Devonshire
L/S/A W.G. Eason                                    Hospitalised on HMS Devonshire
Able Seaman A.E. Haley                        Hospitalised on HMS Devonshire
Able Seaman [?].J. Smith                      Hospitalised on HMS Maine
O/S O.C. Mason                                         Hospitalised on HMS Devonshire

References:
http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Ships/HMSDevonshire.html

https://www.royalnavymemories.co.uk/turret-explosion/

http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNBR_8-50_mk8.php

HMS Prince of Wales

Winston Churchill pets the ship's cat of HMS Prince of Wales. Behind is USS McDougal. 1941. Part of the  Atlantic Charter meeting. Prince of Wales would be lost just over a year later.

USS Idaho (BB-42)

USS Idaho (BB-42) dropping the hammer on Okinawa at point-blank range.

USS Newport News (CA 148), USS Roanoke (CL 145), & USS Columbus (CA 74)

Three classes of cruisers are shown moored to the pier at Naples, Italy in February 1951. Left to right are the USS Newport News (CA 148), USS Roanoke (CL 145), and USS Columbus (CA 74).

The Philadelphia Navy Yard

The Philadelphia Navy Yard around 1921-22. Most of these ships were scrapped here.  You will see the early turn of the century American Naval Power decommissioned by the Washington Naval Treaty.  South Carolina's, a Maine maybe two, a Connecticut and dozens of other ships.  The big armoured cruiser with the four stacks is possibly a Pennsylvania class armoured cruiser, followed by the smaller St. Louis class armoured cruiser. Next to her is a Kearsarge or a New Jersey with the 8-inch on top of the main turrets.  The round turret looks like it is a Kearsarge class. Torpedo boat destroyers and destroyers as well.

HMS Hood

HMS Hood in European waters during 1931-32. Naval History and Heritage Command Catalog # NH 60792.

USS Oregon (BB-3)

USS Oregon (BB-3) as a Museum Ship in Portland Oregon where she was on display from 1925-1942

In February of 1942, she was sold for scrap for $35,000. After the superstructure, masts, and guns were removed the scrapping company tried to sell the hull back to the Navy for $150,000! The Navy took the company to court, regained possession, and converted Oregon into an ammunition storage barge

Designated IX-22, she was anchored at Guam during the battle to retake the island and remained there until 1956 when she was towed to Japan and scrapped

On a side note, in November of 1948, she broke loose from her moorings during a typhoon and was AWOL for three weeks before being located by planes 500 miles from Guam, and towed back

HMS Natal

Warrior-class armoured cruiser HMS Natal.

HMS Natal was a Warrior-class armoured cruiser built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. She escorted the royal yacht in 1911–1912 for the newly crowned King George V's trip to India to attend the Delhi Durbar. During World War I the ship was assigned to the 2nd Cruiser Squadron of the Grand Fleet but did not participate in any battles. Natal was sunk by an internal explosion near Cromarty on 30 December 1915

Natal was lying in the Cromarty Firth with her squadron, under the command of Captain Eric Back. The captain was hosting a film party aboard and had invited the wives and children of his officers, one civilian friend and his family, and nurses from the nearby hospital ship Drina to attend. Shortly after 15:25, and without warning, a series of violent explosions tore through the rear part of the ship. She capsized five minutes later.

The Admiralty court-martial into the causes of her loss concluded that it was caused by an internal ammunition explosion, possibly due to faulty cordite, a common occurrence at the time.

Losses are listed from 390 to 421 crewmen and civilians.

Most of her wreck was slowly salvaged over the decades until the remnants were demolished in the 1970s so they were no longer a hazard to navigation. The remains of her wreck are designated as a protected place under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 as a war grave.

HMS Centurion (1911)

HMS Centurion (1911), masqueraded as HMS Anson in 1942 for operations in the Mediterranean. These never happened, and the veteran was scuttled as "Mullberry breakwater" in Arromanches, 2 years later.

HMS Centurion was the second of four King George V-class dreadnought battleships built for the Royal Navy in the early 1910s. She spent the bulk of her career assigned to the Home and Grand Fleets. Aside from participating in the failed attempt to intercept the German ships that had bombarded Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby in late 1914, and the Battle of Jutland in May 1916, her service during the First World War generally consisted of routine patrols and training in the North Sea.

By the end of 1919, Centurion had been transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet. Although she spent much of her time in reserve, she had a peripheral role in the Allied Intervention in the Russian Civil War. After her return home in 1924, the ship became the flagship of the Reserve Fleet. In 1926 Centurion was converted into a target ship and participated in trials evaluating the effectiveness of aerial bombing in addition to her normal duties. During the Second World War, the ship was rearmed with light weapons and was converted into a blockship in 1941. When that operation was cancelled, she was then modified into a decoy with dummy gun turrets in an attempt to fool the Axis powers. Centurion was sent to the Mediterranean in 1942 to escort a convoy to Malta, although the Italians quickly figured out the deception. The ship was deliberately sunk during the Invasion of Normandy in 1944 to form a breakwater.

HMS Centurion between 1918 and March 1919.

HMNZS Leander

Light cruiser HMNZS Leander, the lead ship of the Leander-class. She was commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS Leander on 24 March 1933. Along with Achilles she served in the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy.

Returned to the Royal Navy on 27 August 1945, she was involved in the Corfu Channel Incident the next year. She was scrapped in 1950.

USS Brooklyn (CL-40)

USS Brooklyn CL-40 in an Atlantic Convoy in Early-Mid 1942, picture taken from either the USS New York or USS Texas - LIFE Magazine - Frank Scherschel Photographer

SMS Prinzregent Luitpold

A photo-postcard from Wilhelmshaven. The closest ship is the SMS Prinzregent Luitpold followed by the SMS Von der Tann, SMS Derrflinger, and possibly the SMS Seydlitz.  In the background, a Helgoland class battleship with several other battleships.

Brazilian Battleship Sao Paulo

Brazilian Battleship Sao Paulo Circa 1942

São Paulo was a dreadnought battleship designed and built by the British companies Armstrong Whitworth and Vickers, respectively, for the Brazilian Navy. It was the second of two ships in the Minas Geraes class and was named after the state and city of São Paulo.

São Paulo was launched on 19 April 1909 and commissioned on 12 July 1910. Soon after, it was involved in the Revolt of the Lash (Revolta de Chibata), in which crews on four Brazilian warships mutinied over poor pay and harsh punishments for even minor offences. After entering the First World War, Brazil offered to send São Paulo and its sister Minas Geraes to Britain for service with the Grand Fleet, but Britain declined since both vessels were in poor condition and lacked the latest fire control technology. In June 1918, Brazil sent São Paulo to the United States for a full refit that was not completed until 7 January 1920, well after the war had ended. On 6 July 1922, São Paulo fired its guns in anger for the first time when it attacked a fort that had been taken during the Tenente revolts. Two years later, mutineers took control of the ship and sailed it to Montevideo in Uruguay, where they obtained asylum.

In the 1930s, São Paulo was passed over for modernization due to its poor condition—it could only reach a top speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph), less than half its design speed. For the rest of its career, the ship was reduced to a reserve coastal defence role. When Brazil entered the Second World War, São Paulo sailed to Recife and remained there as the port's main defence for the duration of the war. Stricken in 1947, the dreadnought remained as a training vessel until 1951, when it was taken under tow to be scrapped in the United Kingdom. The tow lines broke during a strong gale on 6 November, when the ships were 150 nmi (280 km; 170 mi) north of the Azores, and São Paulo was lost.

Ierax

Ierax ("Hawk") was an Aetos-class destroyer which served in the Royal Hellenic Navy from 1912 to 1946.

The four ships of the class, Aetos, Ierax, Panthir and Leon had originally been ordered as the San Luis class by Argentina from the English shipyard Cammell Laird. They were purchased in 1912 by Greece, ready for delivery when the Balkan Wars seemed likely.

Greece belatedly entered World War I on the side of the Triple Entente. Due to its neutrality, the four Aetos-class ships were seized by the Allies in October 1916. They were taken over by France in November, serving in the French Navy from 1917-18. In 1918, they were returned to Greece and served on escort duty, mainly in the Aegean Sea.

39th Destroyer Division

Ships of the 39th Destroyer Division moored together, probably in San Diego Harbor, California, in 1921. These ships are (from left to right): USS Edsall (DD-219); USS McCormick (DD-223); USS Bulmer (DD-222); USS Simpson (DD-221); USS MacLeish (DD-220); and USS Parrott (DD-218). Moored in the right distance are USS Mackenzie (DD-175) and USS Hogan (DD-178).              Courtesy of L.C. Lupin, 1978. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

USS Enterprise (CV-6)

Aircraft Elevator from the Hangar Deck of an unidentified US Aircraft Carrier in the Pacific, USS Enterprise (CV-6).     LIFE magazine by Peter Stackpole, 1941.

USS New Jersey (BB-62)

16” three-gun turret longitudinal section (New Jersey, 1968 reactivation).

USS Arkansas (BB-33)

Another detail view of a US Dreadnought. The space around the after turrets and positioning of the cage mast relative to the funnel suggests Wyoming or Arkansas. I believe it to be USS Arkansas The turrets are superimposed and pointing in the same direction. Note the crowd of men in the mast top

Austro-Hungarian dreadnought Szent István

The Austro-Hungarian dreadnought Szent István sinking after torpedoed by an Italian torpedo boat during the Otranto Raid of 11th June 1918. Her sister ship Tegetthoff can be seen floating by at right. She took 89 sailors and officers with her to the bottom of the Adriatic Sea out of a complement of
1,094 men.

 The K.u.K Marine, unlike a lot of navies in that day, competent swimming abilities was a requirement.  So when her captain gave the order to abandon ship, the process was calm and orderly.  That saved a lot of lives, and certainly minimised the death toll

HrMs de Zeven Provinciën

This is not directly a story about naval battles or heroism at sea. But one of the heroism of shipyard workers who delayed the construction of a ship so that it could not be deployed by the enemy.

The cruiser under construction at Feynoord in Rotterdam HrMs de Zeven Provinciën became spoils of war in the early days of 1940. The German supreme command ordered the dismantling of the ship and it was to be ready in 1942. The ship was renamed KH-1 (Kreuzer Holland). In 1944 the ship was still not ready, because the shipyard personnel continuously delayed the construction process. The German supreme command then decided to sink the ship as a blockship in the Nieuwe Waterweg. But that plan also failed. In May 1945, for example, the ship was still on the shipyard and when it was liberated it came back into Dutch hands. It was completed and served as the flagship of the Dutch navy for twenty years, alongside the brand new cruiser HrMs De Ruyter and the aircraft carrier HrMs Karel Doorman.

Source:
https://marineschepen.nl/schepen/kruisers-de-ruyter-de-zeven-provincien.html

HMS Belfast

The Royal Navy supporting allied forces in Normandy, June1944

Starboard 4 inch guns of HMS Belfast open fire on German positions around Ver-sur-Mer on the night of 27 June 1944.

Creator: Parnall C H (Lt), Royal Navy official photographer

Source: © IWM (A 24325)

German heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper

A photograph was taken from German heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper during Operation Juno On 7 June 1940. The flagship German battleship Gneisenau can be seen in the centre of the photo, and her sistership Scharnhorst behind her port beam.

HMS Suffolk

The 8-inch cruiser HMS Suffolk limped home with a list to port and her quarterdeck awash after being bombed off Norway in April 1940. She was under repair until February 1941.

USS Saratoga (CV-3)

The crews of the French battleship Richelieu and the USS Saratoga (CV-3) manning the rails as the Saratoga ended operations with the Royal Navy's Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean on May 18, 1944. NNAM.1977.031.085.017.

IJN Battleship Ise

Japanese battleship Ise, speed trials 1936

HMS Terror

HMS Terror was an Erebus-class monitor built for the Royal Navy in 1915-1916 at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
She served in the Dover Patrol during the First World War and operated mainly off the coast of Belgium. She participated in the Zeebrugge raid of April 1918 and provided gunnery support for the Fourth Battle of Ypres in September of the same year.
After the war she was attached to HMS Excellent, the Royal Navy's gunnery school in Portsmouth and participated in gunnery trials in the 1920s. In January 1934 she became the base ship at Sembawang Naval Base in Singapore where she remained for the rest of the decade.
In 1940 she served in the Mediterranean where she defended Malta from Italian air raids before supporting the land-based assault of Italian positions in North Africa. In January 1941 she assisted with the capture of Bardia and Tobruk before she attempted to defend Benghazi from German air attacks in February. Suffering damage from two air attacks and two mines on 22 and 23 February she sank off the coast of Libya in the early hours of 24 February. The crew were evacuated to HMS Fareham and Salvia prior to her sinking.
The photo below is circa 1919.

HMS Royal Oak

 Battleship HMS Royal Oak, circa 1930's.

HMS Glowworm (H92) & KMS Admiral Hipper

British Destroyer HMS Glowworm (H92) Come Out From Smoke Before Ramming German Heavy Cruiser KMS Admiral Hipper, 8 April 1940

HMS Glowworm was a G-class destroyer built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1930s. During the Spanish Civil War, the ship spent part of 1936 and 1937 in Spanish waters, enforcing the arms blockade imposed by Britain and France on both sides of the conflict. Glowworm was transferred from the Mediterranean Fleet shortly after the beginning of World War II to the British Isles, to escort shipping in local waters. In March 1940, she was transferred to the Home Fleet, just in time to participate in the opening stages of the Norwegian Campaign. On 8 April 1940 Glowworm encountered German destroyers transporting troops to invade Norway in Operation Weserübung. The destroyers attempted to disengage while calling for help from the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper. Glowworm was heavily damaged by Admiral Hipper but still attempted to torpedo the German ship. In the chaos of the battle, the heavily damaged Glowworm ended up ramming Admiral Hipper, which broke the bow off Glowworm, and she sank shortly afterwards.

Russian battleship Peresviet

A dead giant, Russian battleship 'Peresviet' wrecked by Japanese shells at Port Arthur, 1905. Captured by the Japanese and pressed into service as "Sagami" years later was sold back to Russia!