Castles of Steel
HMS Barham, HMS Malaya and HMS Argus, in heavy
seas, while participating in exercises involving the
Atlantic and Mediterranean Fleets near the Balearic
Islands, in the late 1920s, as seen from HMS
Rodney. Barham is followed by the battleship
Malaya and the aircraft carrier Argus.
HMS BARHAM was build at John Brown shipbuilders,
Clydebank and launched 31st December 1914,
Took part at the Battle of Jutland and was hit six
times and was under repair for 5 weeks.
Between
the wars she served in the Mediterranean from
1935 but was attached to the Home Fleet in the
autumn of 1939. On the 28th December 1939 she
was torpedoed by U-30 and was under repair till
April 1940. She took part in the Bombardment of
the French fleet at Mers-el-Kebir in July 1940 and
the Battle of Cape Matapan in March 1941, also at
the Bombardment of Bardia and Tripoli. She was
damaged by a 500KG bomb off Crete on the 27th
May 1941, and repaired at Alexandria by the end of
July 1941. HMS Barham was torpedoed and sunk by
U-331 off Soloum on the 25th November 1941 only
396 of her crew were saved from a compliment of
1,258.
HMS Malaya was built by Armstrong Ship Builders,
and launched 18th March 1915. She took part in
the Battle of Jutland and sustained eight hits, and
took eight weeks for repairs.
During World War
Two, she was in the Mediterranean during 1940
and took part in operations against the Italian Fleet.
She was also involved in Convoy escort duties of
the West African Coast. During these operations she
was torpedoed by U-106 on the 20th March 1941
her repairs were carried out in the USA. From July
1941 to the summer of 1943, she was involved
again in Convoy protection on the UK to Malta and
Cape Town to UK, routes. She was scrapped at
Faslane in Scotland on the 12th April 1948. The
ships bell can be seen in the East India Club,
London.
Compliment 1,124 to 1300 approx. Armament 8
15-inch Guns and 12 6-inch guns and 8 4-inch
A.A Guns 16 2-pdr AA Guns and 1 aircraft. Speed
24 knots, Displacement 31,100 tons.
HMS Argus one of the first Royal Navy aircraft
carriers, she was the first example of a "flush deck"
aircraft carrier, now the standard pattern. She was
commissioned late in WW1 (1917) and also saw
action on the Malta convoys in WW2.
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Artist: T. Lund-Lack
Oil Painting on canvas
Size 70 cm x 50 cm
