Hi Ted,
Terriffic shot of the RN at work thanks for posting it
Looking at that mast and the crane I feel pretty sure this is one of the Cavendish class heavy cruisers - Cavendish ( later Vindictive),Frobisher, Effingham, Hawkins or Raleigh.
The Raleigh was wrecked off the Labrador coast in 1922 so she can be discounted, the Vindictive was built as an early aircraft carrier and on conversion to a cruiser is a possibility but I am inclined to think this is Hawkins or Effingham
If you have the names of your fathers ( I presume these are your Fathers pics) old ships this may tell you which ship this is
Hi Steve
Have to agree with you on this. The badge of HMS Lion had an identical lion but as a Battleship/Battlecruiser this was circular, whereas the shape for cruisers was as the shape on the small boat. Unfortunately, I don't have access to my RN crests books at the moment, so cannot help further. There is an identical crest to the one on the boat on a website but its too small to see the name.
Regards
Peter4447
I am at an early stage in my research but I can dimly remeber my father talking about the Vindictive so it could have been her. Will let you know if find out more.
Regards,
Ted
Hi Ted
Referring to the crest on the original photo, is it possible to see if there is a star (possibly it will appear as a small black mark) in the empty space above the raised front paw of the Lion? If so then this would point to the ship being the cruiser HMS Enterprise.
The crests of Hawkins, Frobisher and Raleigh were all completely different to the one on the small boat so I think we can discount these.
Regards
Peter4447(Thumb)
Hi Peter,
I have looked at the original photo and there does not appear to be a star. The "lion" is fairly styalised and could just as easily be a stag or other horned animal. In the other photo odf the aircraft on board the ship the inboard boat appears to have a cross where the animal appears on the outer boat, if you understand my woeful non-nautical terminology.
Sorry Peter4447 I have to disagree this cannot be the ENTERPRISE, she carried her plane forward of the after mast and lifted by a mast-mounted derrick until 1934 when she came home for a major-ish refit when the mast was moved forward of the No 3 funnel initially a pole mast this became a tripod sometime after 1939 and the plane was lifted lifted by a crane fitted aft of the No3 funnel and well aft of the after mast - neither of those masts resembled the mast in this pic. Arround 1938 'E' lost her plane altogether
Examine Teds fathers pic again and the direction of the boats indicates we are looking aft and the crane is forward of the mast - definitely not the E
I fully accept your findings Steve. Clearly we are both coming at this from different angles, you are working on the actual layout of the ship as the clue to her identity and I am working on the ships badge to try and narrow down what ship she could be. I am quite happy to discount Raleigh, Frobisher and Hawkins. Although Ted has mentioned Vindictive I have my doubts as I think her badge was an arm and I believe another device was, unusually, added to this after the Zeebrugge raid. Between us I am sure we will find the identity of her for Ted, although I must be honest and say that the search itself is certainly giving me a great deal of pleasure.
I am beginning to think that this could be HMS Effingham although the gun is causing me some problems. It appears to be a 6" but my understanding is that although it is in the right place they were all in shields.
Ive tried the 'badge' route and drawn a blank I just cannot find a website on them.
Vindictives badge was an arm held out horizontal with a scimitar held vertically and the arm has a ruff / frill arround it and a crown mounted on the top with Vindictive below - I'm not ex navy Peter did the Andrew paint tjhe ships badge on its boats and if so would it be a professional replika or would an amateurish splodge be permitted without keelhauling
I am now following a different lead - the gun I have a fair bit of info on these so maybe this will help - gotta admit I enjoy the detective work!!
Hi Steve
All the official badges always had to be to a very 'posh' standard and what was carried on the ship's boats would be to the same high quality as that on the tampions and onboard badges. A lot of unofficial badges were in use prior to 1920 and then when Harry Tate's Navy came into being in the Second World War many of the badges adopted by the small ships of "the Navy within a Navy" would have given their Lordships of the Admiralty nightmares. The RN, however, has always been sticklers when it comes to ships' badges and this would certainly be true of the pre-WW2 era.
Sending PM to you Steve.
Peter4447
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