Sink the Bismarck! HMS Ark Royal, 26 May 1941

[robgizlu]

Agree with the brethren - Great to have you and "It" back.  

Rob

 

 

[Dancona]

Ah, at last the brass (with a few small bits of plastic) Ark returns, all is now well, the universe is now once more in balance...........etc.

Welcome back, we really have missed you over here, particularly the sober level headed carrier bunch (you know, we are the ones that dribble out of both sides of our mouths)   !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Cheers

 

David

[ArnoldAmbrose]

15 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

when I sat down and started a mammoth “Now where the f*ck was I?” planning session

Gidday, I need them after a morning tea break. Like the others, I'm glad you're on the mend. Looking forward to seeing you back in the shipyard. Best wishes, Jeff.

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

I've not spent very much time at all on the forum lately, and virtually zero time actually modelling for one reason or another. This thread here is one which does give me some motivation to do more of both though

[TheBaron]

Splendid to see you back in the water Crisp.

T'ain't the same without you you know.

[ERK]

10 hours ago, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

I've not spent very much time at all on the forum lately, and virtually zero time actually modelling for one reason or another. This thread here is one which does give me some motivation to do more of both though

You motivated me to get back into platic modeling  of ships way back in 2014.

 

Erk.

[Bigdave22014]

Hurrah!

Crisp is out of dry dock and is working up for FOST.

[Brandy]

Great to see this back up and running. Or at least back up and thinking about how to run!

 

I'll try not to dribble too much whilst you sort out the order of battle.

 

Ian

[Modelholic]

Crispin,

I've found this great site.

Just scroll through the 74 pages and you'll find where your up to.

I've got my coat on ready to go!

Tom

[Maginot]

Come on The Ark! It all looks very well organised and ready for a restart. Does this warrant a tot of rum?

 

I have two personal links to this ship.

 

When I was a kid, Dad told me that he had a cousin who was serving aboard HMS Ark Royal when she was sunk. The only other thing I remember being told is that he didn't survive the war, dying of pneumonia. RIP. Whether his fate was related to the sinking or not, I do not know. Alas, I cannot chase up further details as my Dad is long departed this mortal coil and after being transported to Australia at a very young age, I've lost touch with all my rellies.

 

I've had a copy of Dad's Ships of the Royal Navy by Francis E McMurtrie since I was a kid. It's in storage now, so I can't just grab it off the shelf for you. But near the front, it features a full-page photo of HMS Ark Royal maneuvering in Grand Harbour, Malta, with Fort St Angelo in the background. It was always a special photo for me, probably because of what I'd been told about my family member. When I visited Malta in 2004, I was able to arrange a hotel room in Valetta that afforded an almost identical view to that depicted in the photo. I spent 10 glorious days with that view and explored the island's amazing military architecture. One day, I visited a photographer's shop in what may have been The Gut. There, I purchased two prints of armoured cruisers maneuvering in a similar aspect to The Ark, one being of the equally unfortunate HMS Aboukir shown below, the other HMS Bacchante. But I was unable to find the print of the vessel in the location I really wanted.

 

And just to underline how real history fades and stories are lost, most of my notes, photos and souvenirs of this excellent adventure were burned in a fire some years ago, so I have to rely on increasingly unreliable memories.

 

Anyway, come on The Ark!

 

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

On 11/30/2021 at 1:02 PM, Maginot said:

…Dad's Ships of the Royal Navy by Francis E McMurtrie since I was a kid. It's in storage now, so I can't just grab it off the shelf for you. But near the front, it features a full-page photo of HMS Ark Royal maneuvering in Grand Harbour, Malta, with Fort St Angelo in the background. It was always a special photo for me, probably because of what I'd been told about my family member. When I visited Malta in 2004, I was able to arrange a hotel room in Valetta that afforded an almost identical view to that depicted in the photo. I spent 10 glorious days with that view and explored the island's amazing military architecture. One day, I visited a photographer's shop in what may have been The Gut. There, I purchased two prints of armoured cruisers maneuvering in a similar aspect to The Ark, one being of the equally unfortunate HMS Aboukir shown below, the other HMS Bacchante. But I was unable to find the print of the vessel in the location I really wanted.

Would that be this photo?

 

[Maginot]

Oh now! Will you look at that? Yes, that would be the one. It is some years since I've seen it, so I'll take a little time to let my eyes dwell and my mind's eye wonder...

 

I'd say the pic was taken from atop Lascaris Bastion or the adjacent Marina Curtain in Valletta. Pre or early war before the intensive bombing started? I don't see any QF 4.5 barrels pointed skyward in readiness for an air raid, no damage amongst the stone architecture. What a contrast between the massive HMS Ark Royal and the tiny local gondolas, called dgħajjes. It all looks so peaceful. The calm before the storm? Is that an early surface or air search radar housing on the mast to aid dating the pic?

 

It is almost a landing Swordfish pilot's eye view of the ship. Interesting to note the arrestor wires strung across the deck in readiness. I wonder if there are Swordfish tucked away in the hangars, wings folded and waiting quietly, or being worked on feverishly, or whether their crews had flown them ashore to Hal Far?  I wonder whether my Dad's cousin is one of those smartly turned out fellas arrayed on deck for entering (?) harbour (perhaps too early in the war).

 

Thanks to visiting via Google Earth, I can tell you that my fabulous little room was on the 5th floor of the Grand Harbour Hotel, Triq Il-Batterija (Battery Street), Valletta, with a similar breathtaking view over the harbour (higher aspect). Highly recommended and very affordable... twenty years ago (not now). It was recommended to me by the then Superintendent of Fortifications, with whom I had a professional connection (I was working in archaeology on Cyprus at the time). It is a wonderful place and the Maltese are very hospitable. I've never had so many lengthy conversations with strangers in my life. I was quite upset when I left, thinking it unlikely I'd wander its streets again.

 

Thanks a heap, @Ex-FAAWAFU.

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

5 hours ago, Maginot said:

 Is that an early surface or air search radar housing on the mast to aid dating the pic?

 

I think that's just the Radio Direction Finder beacon?

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

It is indeed just an aircraft homing beacon - Ark had it throughout her life.  According to Neil McCart’s excellent “Three Ark Royals” book, the photo was taken on 19 January 1939 on her arrival in Malta for the first time - so you’re right that it is pre-War.

 

I too love Malta; a stunning and atmospheric place

[Terry1954]

35 minutes ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

I too love Malta; a stunning and atmospheric place

 

Same here. Spent over 3 months there as a child. We lived in Sliema, loved every minute. 

 

Went back in 2008, and obvs it had changed a lot, but I was still able to find the apartment we lived in back in 1960!

 

Terry

[Iceman 29]

https://www.zona-militar.com/foros/threads/portaaviones.21376/page-34

 

 

 

[Maginot]

Miraculous, @Iceman 29. I think the first one is The Pic. Like I said, it's been a few years since I looked at it.. 16 years at least.

 

I know you haven't got to the deck yet Crispin, but I hope the all important howdah will be featured, if HMS Ark Royal had a howdah. Maybe a jet-age thing? I just learned what the howdah is/was.

 

 

johnh

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Ark 3 didn’t have a Howdah - definitely a jet age thing, plus the more powerful steam catapults associated with much heavier aircraft.  In the late-30s the RN distinguished between “catapults” [explosive-powered, fitted to battleships & cruisers for their Walrus etc.] and “accelerators” [hydraulic powered, fitted to Ark Royal and other carriers, but at this stage only really used in very still weather].  Most of the time the accelerators weren’t needed, she could generate more than enough wind speed over the deck using her power - though that might mean steaming in the wrong direction for 30 minutes to launch aircraft, so by no means invariable.  
 

For my purposes, definitely no accelerator; there was a full gale blowing during the Bismarck attacks, so there was easily enough wind to get a Swordfish airborne without assistance (even with a heavy torpedo under the belly and a full deck range); by all accounts most of them were already off the deck before they passed the front of the island.

[Maginot]

"A good pilot that keeps his head will still have a future before him." Deck Landing A Royal Navy Instructional Film 1942. Much more relevant to aircraft operations aboard HMS Ark Royal III. Features operation of the accelerator and terrific Swordfish sequences.

 

 

[S-boat 55]

I'd not appreciated quite how some pilots landing would have little to no view of the deck in the final stages pre landing, just a touch nerve racking to begin with I should imagine 

[heloman1]

Some interesting historic input there Crisp. I never got to Malta, we sailed straight past on our way to Singapore via the canal.

 

Colin

[Iceman 29]

@Ex-FAAWAFU

 

I thought it might bring back memories of this old report:

 

HMS Ark Royal (R09). The Squadrons are Coming (1970`s).

 

 

 

[RAF4EVER]

Found this,thought it would be interesting:

 

 

[perdu]

I have enjoyed a nostalgic catch up today, even at time giving 'likes' and the like to the odd occasional chapters I missed in the past.

 

I commend a reprise of this to enliven the modeller's jaded spirits some time...

[RAF4EVER]

Any updates on this?