Book Review: The Last Big Gun

Front cover (Author's image)

Regular readers of this blog might remember that in the October 2015 edition of this blog, we broke new ground by printing some book reviews of some new additions to my library. I'm pleased to say that following a positive response that was reflected in comments received via social media and in the readership figures for the blog, I have decided to include a few more reviews in the coming weeks and months as and when new books are received.

The latest new title to arrive on my doormat is another from one of the foremost naval historians of our times, Brian Lavery, entitled The Last Big Gun: At War & At Sea with HMS Belfast and is a 352 page, full narrative 'biography' of the ship, the first such account to be written.

Since 1971, HMS Belfast has been an integral part of the London tourist scene and in the 44 years that she has been berthed in the Upper Pool of London, she has become a familiar sight to Londoners and visitors alike; in fact the imposing and purposeful looking cruiser has served in her current role for longer than she saw active service with the Royal Navy.

In this well written and lavishly illustrated book, Brian Lavery tells the story of the Royal Navy's last surviving 'big gun' cruiser from the inception of her design and building at Belfast's famous Harland & Wolff Shipyard, via her near demise just months after commissioning following massive damage caused by a German magnetic mine, her subsequent repairs that amounted to a major reconstruction at Devonport Dockyard, service on the Arctic Convoys and her part in the Battle of North Cape, in which the German battlecruiser Scharnhorst was sunk. The author then goes on to describe HMS Belfast's role at Normandy in 1944, followed by her service with the British Pacific Fleet in the immediate aftermath of the Japanese surrender.

The cruiser's post war service, which was largely in the Far East, is also well covered. These duties varied from traditional peace time 'showing the flag' duties to further active service during the so-called 'Yangtse Incident' of 1949 and during the Korean War from 1950-52, where she provided invaluable gunfire support to Allied forces. HMS Belfast's second major reconstruction from 1955-59 is also covered as are her final years of service, once again mainly as part of the Far East Fleet before her relegation to the Reserve Fleet in 1964 and what looked the inevitable ignominy of the breaker's yard, a fate shared by so many of the Royal Navy's wartime fleet.

Brian Lavery covers the rescue of the wartime cruiser in some detail and explains that whilst the British have a fine maritime tradition and an enviable array of preserved ships from the age of sail and the early days of steam, such as HMS Victory, HMS Warrior, the Mary Rose, Cutty Sark and the Great Britain, our record of preserving great warships from the more modern era, especially in comparison with the United States, is less than enviable. The saving of HMS Belfast from what looked her certain end in the scrapyard began to at least partially reverse this 'sea blindness' when it came to preserving our historic warships and we do at least now have the destroyer HMS Cavalier and submarine HMS Alliance to swell the ranks a little, although in this reviewer's opinion, it is nothing short of a national scandal that we failed to preserve for future generations at least one of our fleet of battleships at the end of the Second World War.

Of course, the history of any ship would not be complete without the stories of the crew members and this book is as much of a social history of the Royal Navy during the years of HMS Belfast's existence as that of a history of the ship herself as these two facets are intertwined very skillfully by the author. Fortunately though, the personal accounts never become the centre of attention and Brian Lavery has achieved a nice balance between these accounts and the hard facts behind the ship's various activities both in war and peacetime.

Brian Lavery has produced a very readable biography of HMS Belfast, that should appeal to both the serious naval historian and those with a more general interest in the Royal Navy and it's history alike. The book costs a very reasonable £25.00, is published by The Pool of London Press and I highly recommend it to you.

The Last Big Gun: At War & At Sea with HMS Belfast -  Brian Lavery - The Pool of London Press Ltd, 2015. ISBN 9781910860014

http://www.pooloflondon.com

The Battle of The Atlantic: A survivor in London

HQS Wellington today (author's photo)

Last weekend saw the seventy fifth anniversary of the launch of a ship that in more recent years has become something of a London landmark, or rivermark to be more accurate. That ship is the cruiser HMS Belfast which has been a familiar sight in the Upper Pool of London for some 42 years now since her opening as a museum ship in October 1971; in fact she has now been a museum ship for a longer period than she saw active Royal Navy service. We shall look at her career in a future edition of this blog as HMS Belfast has another significant anniversary coming up later in the year.

There is another former Second World War Royal Navy vessel moored a short distance upstream from the Pool of London that is passed by thousands of people every day, without more than a fraction of them realising that the smart little white ship that they see today, is in fact a veteran of the Battle of The Atlantic.

That ship is HQS Wellington, a Grimsby class sloop and the only survivor, at least in UK waters, of the Battle of The Atlantic. Originally one of a class of eight ships for Royal Navy service, HMS Wellington as she was christened, was built by HM Dockyard, Devonport and completed on 24th January 1935. As built, she was armed with two 4.7 inch guns, one 3 inch anti-aircraft and was capable of 16.5 knots. The raison d'etre of these sloops was primarily as patrol and escort vessels, with some vessels being capable of minesweeping duties. In keeping with other Royal Navy sloops of the time, the Grimsby class were all named after British coastal towns and seaports. However, an exception was made for Wellington, the final ship of the class. Destined for service on the New Zealand Station, she was named after the capital city of that country and following her commissioning and working up exercises, she sailed for New Zealand and arrived at her namesake city on 13th May 1935.

HMS Wellington in 1943 (Convoyweb)

The remaining years of peacetime service saw Wellington settling into a routine of patrols around the New Zealand coast and the South Pacific, with occasional visits to Sydney for her annual docking and refit. On the outbreak of war on 3rd September 1939, she sailed from Auckland for her wartime station of Singapore, where she arrived on the 19th of that month. She was then based at Penang until 2nd November, when she sailed for the United Kingdom. En route home, Wellington was diverted to Freetown where she collected convoy SL13 bound for Liverpool. Following safe delivery of the convoy on 6th January 1940, Wellington sailed to Cardiff, where she arrived on 9th January.

On completion of this refit, Wellington joined Western Approaches Command based at Devonport and later at Liverpool, from where she escorted many Atlantic and Gibraltar convoys. In May and June 1940, her escort duties were interrupted whilst she was involved in the evacuation of British troops from Le Havre and St Valery. She then resumed her Atlantic and Gibraltar escort duties until the middle of 1941, when she joined the long distance escorts on the Freetown route. She remained on this route until November 1942, when she became involved in the escorting of the fast troop convoys to and from North Africa following Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of North Africa, after which she returned to Freetown to escort convoys from there to ports on the Nigerian coast. During this period, one of her commanding officers was John Treasure-Jones, who would become famous as the final captain of the Cunard liner Queen Mary, but then serving as a Lieutenant Commander in the Royal Naval Reserve.

Lt.Cdr John Treasure-Jones in 1943

What must have been a welcome respite for the men of HMS Wellington came in May 1944, when she was sent to Bermuda for a two month refit, after which the ship was sent to the Clyde for further work. On completion of the refit, Wellington returned to Freetown in September 1944 and transferred to Gibraltar in January 1945 to serve out the remainder of the war. A satisfying moment for HMS Wellington came right at the end of the war, when the German U-Boat U-541 surrendered to the elderly sloop. Her war over, HMS Wellington returned to the UK in June 1946 and following de-storing, paid off into reserve at Milford Haven on 6th August 1945.

Normally, this would have been the end of the line for Wellington and it could reasonably have been expected that she would join the long line of tired fighting ships heading for the scrapyard but after nearly two years of languishing in reserve, this proud vessel earned an unexpected reprieve when she was purchased by the Honourable Company of Master Mariners to serve as their floating Livery Hall in King's Reach on the River Thames. During a major refit at Chatham Dockyard, her engines and boilers were removed and the large space vacated became the Livery Hall with fine wood panelling and a sweeping staircase, all salvaged from passenger vessels being scrapped. Re-christened HQS Wellington (for Headquarters Ship) this remarkable survivor arrived at her new berth in December 1948 and apart from a drydocking at Sheerness in 1991, has been a permanent feature of the London scene ever since.

On July 1st 2005, the ship's ownership was transferred to The Wellington Trust, a charitable body established to ensure the continued survival of this historic vessel.

As a working ship, HQS Wellington is not normally open to the public but is available to hire for weddings, conferences and parties and is usually a participant in the London Open House Weekend, which this year is taking place over the weekend of 21st/22nd September 2013. An excellent chance to visit the ship outside of this weekend is a special exhibition being held this year to mark the seventieth anniversary of the climax of the Battle of The Atlantic. This free exhibition, entitled 'CONVOY: The Battle of The Atlantic' runs from 12th May to 16th December 2013 and is open from 11:00 to 17:00 on Sundays and Mondays only during this time.

Next time you are walking or driving along Victoria Embankment past this trim white ship, remember the part played in keeping open our sea lanes not only by the Wellington but by all of the ships and men of the Allied navies and merchant fleets.



Published Sources:

BEF Ships before, at and after Dunkirk - John de S Winser, World Ship Society 1999
Sloops - Arnold Hague, World Ship Society 1993
Warships of World War II - HT Lenton and JJ Colledge, Ian Allan 1973

Web Resources:

Arnold Hague Convoy Database
The Wellington Trust Official Website