Category Archives: for those lost at sea

109 years on: bottle mail set for delivery

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This interesting piece out of Australia.

Beachcombers along Wharton Beach, southeast of Perth, came across an old bottle. Sealed, it contained two yellowed and deteriorating pencil-written letters.

Carefully retrieved, they were addressed from “somewhere at sea” and detailed an outward-bound leg on the troopship HMAT Ballarat, which departed Adelaide in August 1916, bound for the Great War in Europe.

It turned out they belonged to ANZAC privates Malcolm Alexander Neville (48th Australian Infantry Battalion) and William Kirk Harley (4th Australian Light Horse).

Sadly, Neville would be killed months later in France and remains there with a white cross over his grave. Harley survived and returned home, but passed having never seen his letter again.

The families have been found and are finally set to receive their long-lost sea mail.

The beachcombers are keeping the bottle, though.

Warship Wednesday 5 November 2025: Celebrate the Ram!

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Here at LSOZI, we take a break every Wednesday to explore the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1954 period, profiling a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places.- Christopher Eger

If you enjoy my always ad-free Warship Wednesday content, you can support it by buying me a cup of joe at https://buymeacoffee.com/lsozi As Henk says: “Warship Coffee – no sugar, just a pinch of salt!”

Warship Wednesday 5 November 2025: Celebrate the Ram!

IWM (FL 22661)

Above we see the modified former Brazilian J-class (RN Havant-class) escort destroyer HMS Harvester (H 19) underway during World War II in coastal waters, complete with Western Approaches style disruptive camouflage scheme. True to her name, she was a harvester of men in peril, saving nearly 2,300 men directly from the beaches of Northwestern France and another 244 adrift the sea.

She was also a harvester of steel sharks.

Over the course of no less than 51 North Atlantic convoy runs, she bagged at least two Axis submarines, one of them notably some 85 years ago this week.

The Brazilian Hs

The British Royal Navy would order some 27 assorted “G”, “H” and “I” Class destroyers between 1934 and 1936 as part of the rearmament to safeguard against the growing German, Italian, and Japanese fleets in the uneasy peace leading up to WWII. They were slight ships, of just 1,800 tons and 323 feet overall length with a narrow 33-foot beam, giving them a dagger-like 1:10 length-to-beam ratio. With a speed of 35 knots and a 5,000 nm range at half that, they could keep up with the fleet or operate independently and had long enough legs for North Atlantic convoy work, should such a thing ever be needed in the future.

The differences between the three classes were primarily in engineering fit, minor superstructure changes, and armament. They were typically fitted with a quartet of QF 4.7-inch (120 mm) Mk IX guns, a few AAA mounts, between 8 and 10 anti-ship torpedo tubes, and depth charges for ASW work.

HMS Grenade (H86), a G-class destroyer. Note her layout, which was like all her sisters. Grenade would be sunk in May 1940 off Dunkirk by German Stukas.

The 27th and last of the type delivered to the RN from the ships the Admiralty ordered was HMS Ivanhoe (D16) on 24 August 1937, completing the classes built out in just four years, which is not bad for peacetime production.

The G/H/Is would prove so successful of a design that the British exported it, accepting prewar orders for 19 ships for overseas allies: Argentina (seven Buenos Aires class ships delivered in 1938), Greece (two Georgios class delivered in 1939), Turkey (four desperately needed Inconstant class delivered in 1942, largely to keep Istanbul friendly at a crucial time in the war) and a half-dozen Jurua-class tin cans for the Brazilian Navy.

The Brazilian Navy in early 1938 ordered six modified H-class destroyers, spread across the Vickers, White, and Thornycroft yards. They would be named Jurua, Javary, Jutahy, Juruena, Jaguaribe, and Japura after rivers and towns in Brazil. Construction proceeded along nicely, and all were christened with their intended names by visiting dignitaries from the Latin American country and afloat in the summer of 1939.

Then, with the war in Europe, London made a deal to purchase the six nearly complete Juruas from Rio while they were still fitting out in a deal that would include providing assistance and plans for Brazil to build another six H-class destroyers domestically at the government’s Ilha das Cobras shipyard.

Rather than a fit for four 4.7-inch guns, these six former Brazilian destroyers in British service would carry only three, with the extra deck space freed up to be used for more depth charges– capable of toting as many as 110 ash cans across three rails and eight throwers.

They would enter service between December 1939 and June 1940 as the Havant class (Havant, Handy/Harvester, Havelock, Hearty/Hesperus, Highlander, and Hurricane), keeping with the “H” class naming sequence.

Hesperus is underway at sea, resplendent in her war paint. IWM A 7101

Meet Harvester (aka Handy, aka Jurua)

Ordered from Vickers by the Brazilian government on 6 December 1937 as the future destroyer Jurua, our subject was laid down at the company’s Barrow yard on 3 June 1938 alongside her sister, the planned future Japura. Jurua and Japura were purchased by the British government on 5 September 1939 while still on the builder’s ways and were launched into the water of the Irish Sea 24 days later to complete fitting out for Royal Navy service.

Our Jurua would initially be referred to as the future HMS Handy, while Japura would become HMS Hurricane.

One thing led to another, and Jurua/Handy would be commissioned on 23 May 1940, at the height of the Battle for France, as HMS Harvester, while Hurricane would only break out the white duster and join the fleet on 21 June 1940, well into the Fall of France.

Harvester leaving Barrow, June 1940

Speaking of which…

Dunkirk, et al

Without even the benefit of a proper shakedown cruise, the brand new Harvester, under LCDR Mark Thornton, RN, who had previously commanded the older S-class destroyer HMS Scimitar (H 21) on convoy defense, was rushed to the English Channel to help pull the BEF and Allied soldiers from France.

Harvester took part not only in the famous Operation Dynamo, doing her part with so many others to evacuate 338,226 Allied troops from the beaches and surf line of Dunkirk, but also in the lesser-known Operations Cycle (evacuation of 3,400 Allied troops from Le Havre) and Aerial (191,870 from a range of French Atlantic ports in late June).

She did this in the face of fierce German air and submarine attack, with her sister HMS Havant crippled by Luftwaffe aircraft during the Dunkirk operation, and was scuttled to prevent capture.

One of the former Brazilian RN H-class destroyers at Dover during the Dunkirk evacuation, crowded with Tommies on her deck. This ship is either HMS Harvester or Havant, both of which were active in Dynamo, the latter lost in the process. IWM H1668

The details of Harvester’s evac runs:

  • 29 May, Dunkirk (Op Dynamo), 272 men saved
  • 31 May, Dunkirk (Op Dynamo), 1,341 men saved (two round trips)
  • 9 June, Le Harve (Op Cycle), no troops found
  • 11 June, Saint-Valery-en-Caux (Op Aerial), 78 men saved

She also escorted transports during Aerial, who were evacuating Saint-Nazaire and St. Jean de Luz further down the coastline, and rode shotgun with the cruiser HMS Cumberland on a mission to bombard German positions on the occupied French coast.

It was reported that Harvester suffered at least one strafing from German aircraft and successfully evaded at least two torpedoes. LCDR Thornton, who had cut his teeth as a mid in the 1920s on the Jutland veteran battlewagon HMS Emperor of India, was mentioned in dispatches for his efforts.

The U-boat war

Harvester’s first of many convoy runs was to sanitize the area south of Ireland to clear the way for Halifax-to-Liverpool-bound Convoy HX 054, along with the destroyers HMS Highlander (a sister) and Punjabi on 16 June.

Her next run began on 29 June 1940 at Liverpool, riding shotgun with the inaugural “Winston Special,” Convoy WS.1, which carried some 10,000 British troops aboard the fast liners turned troopships Queen Mary, Mauretania, and Aquitania, to the Middle East. She also made the follow-on WS.2 and WS. 3A.

Then came ASW clearing for outbound Liverpool to Halifax return Convoys OB 194 and OB 199 in August, Liverpool to Gibraltar Convoy OG.43, Liverpool to Suez Convoy AP.3/1, and Freetown to Liverpool SL/MKS.47 in September; escorting inbound Sydney to Liverpool SC.8 in October, and screening OB.252 in November. It was on the latter that Harvester and the Canadian destroyer HMCS Ottawa came across the Italian Marcello class submarine Comandante Faà di Bruno (FB, I.5) on the afternoon of 6 November and likely sank the same, with all hands.

LCDR Thornton received a DSO on 12 January 1941 for the destruction of the enemy submarine and would remain aboard until March 1942, when he shipped out for command of the destroyer HMS Petard. Thornton was replaced by CDR Harold Pitcairn Henderson, RN, and CDR Arthur Andre Tait, DSO, RN, in turn. Of note, Tait had earned his DSO in 1942 while skipper of HMS Hesperus for sinking German U-boat U-93.

As for Harvester, the convoy runs continued, including five further OB runs, another OG run, at least seven outbound Liverpool to NYC/Boston ON convoys, four more SCs, two additional SL/MKS convoys, four Halifax to Clyde TC convoys, and seven more HXs.

She even had a brush with history, escorting HMS Prince of Wales along with sisters Havelock and Hesperus in August 1941 during the battleship’s passage to Newfoundland with Winston Churchill aboard for the Atlantic Charter meeting.

Besides dropping ash cans on contacts, she also saved the lives of those cast to the mercy of the sea. This included 90 survivors from the lost armed merchant cruiser HMS Dunvegan Castle during SL-43, 19 survivors from the British freighter Silverpine on OB.252, and 131 survivors from the ocean boarding vessel HMS Crispin on OB-280.

It was hard, dirty, and unsung work.

The famed American photojournalist Robert Capa, while crossing the Atlantic to North Africa with an eastbound convoy in 1941, caught two striking Kodachrome images of Harvester zipping among her charges, a seagoing greyhound stalking Axis sharks.

On 11 March 1943, while escorting convoy HX-228 west of Ireland, Harvester with LCDR Taite in command and the Free French Flower-class corvette Aconit in support, came across the Type VIIC boat U-444 (Oblt. Albert Langfeld) of Wolfpack Westmark and gave the new boat a hard fight.

In the end, after forcing U-444 to the surface, Taite chose to ram the German at 27 knots and send her back down, leaving 41 dead and 4 survivors to be plucked from the water.

Tragically, with the now-damaged Harvester dead in the water with a snapped shaft, she was twice torpedoed and sunk by U-432 (Kptlt. Hermann Eckhardt), which was in turn brought to the surface by Aconit’s depth charges and finally destroyed by gunfire and ramming. The Admiralty later passed on an order to halt ramming as a tactic after this incident.

The damaged Aconit then picked up five survivors from U-444, 12 from U-432, 12 survivors from the lost American Liberty ship SS William C. Gorgas, and 60 men from Harvester. Among those claimed by the sea were all three skippers from the lost warships, Taite, Eckhardt, and Langfeld.

Three days later, Aconti sailed into Greenock and discharged her motley accumulation of waterlogged sailors from three countries.

“Fighting French corvette sinks two U-boats. 14 March 1943, Greenock, the Fighting French corvette Aconit sank two U-boats by gunfire and ramming while escorting an Atlantic convoy through a U-boat pack on 10 March 1943. The second submarine had just torpedoed the British destroyer HMS Harvester. The Aconit steamed to a British port with survivors from the Harvester and a merchantman, and prisoners from the two U-boats.” IWM (A 15075)

“Survivors of the British Destroyer HMS Harvester fraternizing with the crew of FFS Aconit after the French corvette had avenged them by sinking two U-boats. The survivors are wearing the Aconit’s badge, and the cat is one of the Aconit’s three mascots – two cats and a dog.” IWM (A 15084)

Epilogue

Little remains of Harvester. I cannot even find where her wreck has been located. She no doubt rests very near the shattered U-432 and U-444.

She is best remembered in scale models and box art.

As for her first skipper, Mark Thornton chalked up assists on two additional submarine kill assists while in command of Petard, picking up a DSC, and was on the Combined Operations staff for Overlord. He then returned to destroyer operations post-war and retired as a full commander in 1956. He passed in London in 1982, aged 75.

Only three of the Brazilian destroyers survived the war, sisters Havelock, Hesperus, and Highlander, and were scrapped by 1947.

While the British have not reused the name Harvester, three French warships have since been named Aconit, including the modern La Fayette-class stealth frigate Aconit (F 713). The fourth Aconit flies the Free French jack, and its crew wears twin fouragères as a salute to the old corvette.

Mardi 04 janvier 2022, le capitaine de vaisseau Guillaume Fontarensky, adjoint organique de l’amiral commandant la force d’action navale (ALFAN) de Toulon, fait reconnaître le capitaine de frégate Jean-Bertrand Guyon comme nouveau commandant de la frégate de type Lafayette (FLF) Aconit.

Meminisse est ad Vivificandum – To Remember is to Keep Alive

***

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Warship Wednesday (on a Thursday) 30 October 2025: End of the Line

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Here at LSOZI, we take a break every Wednesday to explore the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1954 period, profiling a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places.- Christopher Eger

If you enjoy my always ad-free Warship Wednesday content, you can support it by buying me a cup of joe at https://buymeacoffee.com/lsozi As Henk says: “Warship Coffee – no sugar, just a pinch of salt!”

Warship Wednesday (on a Thursday) 30 October 2025: End of the Line

IWM (Q 48273)

Above we see the Italian Conte di Cavour-class dreadnought Giulio Cesare, in a very clean state while at Taranto during the Great War, on 3 June 1917. Note her interesting original five-turret (A-B-Q-X-Y), 13-barrel (3-2-3-2-3) main battery of 12″/46 Model 1909 Elswick pattern guns. She also wears a bow eagle with the Caesarian motto, “Veni. Vis. Vita.”

Following her second world war, she would go on to be the final battleship lost while in active service, under very controversial circumstances, some 70 years ago this week.

The Cavour class

The three-pack of Conte di Cavour–class battleships was designed in 1908 by RADM Engineer Edoardo Masdea, Chief Constructor of the Regia Marina, in the immediate spell after HMS Dreadnought and the French Courbet-class battlewagons. They followed in the wake of Italy’s first dreadnought, Dante Alighieri (19,500t, 551 ft. oal, 22 knots, 12×12″ guns, 10 inch armor plate), but were much heavier, at 24,500 tons.

As built, they carried the previously mentioned 13 12″/46s as well as 18 casemated 4.7″/50s, three torpedo tubes, and assorted tertiary light guns. Their Parsons turbines on 20 Yarrow boilers allowed Cavour to hit 22 knots on trials, but Cesare, even with 21 Babcock boilers installed (later 24), was only able to hit 21.7 knots. Even this came by whittling down the armor belt to where it was only 9.8 inches at its thickest, tapering to as thin as 3 inches near the bow, while the front forward tower and front turret faces were only 11 inches. Still, they were triple bottomed and had 23 watertight sections. While Terni made the armor for Cavour, Cesare’s and Da Vinci’s was imported from Bethlehem in Pennsylvania.

Plan, via the 1914 Jane’s

The three sisters, Cavour, Cesare, and Leonardo da Vinci, were laid down within weeks of each other in the summer of 1910 at three different yards (La Spezia, Gio. Ansaldo, and Odero) to be finished in 1913, one that would slip slightly due to Italy’s war with the Ottoman Empire and a diversion of resources during that period.

Hail, Cesare!

Our subject was named after the legendary Roman general and statesman of Et Tu Brute fame. Laid down at Ansaldo in Genoa on 24 June 1910, she launched on 15 October 1911 to much fanfare, one day after Da Vinci slid down the ways at Odero.

15 October 1911, Sestri-Ponente & Launch of Giulio Cesare, Bain News Service, LC DIG ggbain-09800-09879u

Fitting out would take nearly three full years, but she entered service on 14 May 1914, just 10 weeks before the “lights went out across Europe.”

Placing a 305 mm/12″ gun within Turret 2 of the Italian battleship Giulio Cesare, Genoa, 1912

Battleship Giulio Cesare during sea trials, 9 January 1913.

She was the first of her class commissioned, three days before Da Vinci and a full 11 months ahead of Cavour, which had been delayed due to Terni developing their cemented armor, while Ceasare and Da Vinci benefited from American imports.

Cesare compared to her contemporaries. Imagerie d Epinal Les Flotte de Guerre 

Great War

While the potential of a clash with the British and French loomed at the beginning of WWI, as Italy was officially an ally of Germany and Austria, the country’s quick declaration of neutrality, migrating to a polar shift to join the fight against Berlin and Vienna by May 1915, changed the orientation of the Italian battle fleet.

The Cavours were assigned to RADM Corsi’s 1st Battleship Division and left on seemingly eternal alert, ready to weigh anchor and sortie out within three hours.

Italian battleships of the Cesare Class, showing triple gun turrets, Great War. NH 111474 and IWM Q 19095

With the German Mediterranean Squadron chased to the Black Sea and the Austrian fleet effectively bottled up in the Adriatic, the naval war in the region devolved into four years of small craft and submarine operations as the respective battleships lay in wait for a decisive Tsushima/Battle of Yalu River/Manila Bay/Santiago style sea clash.

This led to a boring war for the Italian battleships as the Austrians decided to ride out the war safely at anchor rather than tempt a Jutland.

Sadly, Da Vinci would be lost to an unexplained magazine explosion while moored at Taranto in August 1916, taking a full quarter of her crew with her.

Da Vinci turned turtle at Taranto, August 1916.

In all, Cesare only spent 418 hours at sea during Italy’s war, 31 hours on combat missions (supporting operations in the islands of the Ionian archipelago in May 1917), and 387 hours in training/exercises, without ever encountering an enemy during the conflict in which her country suffered over 650,000 dead.

Interwar

The remaining sisters saw more sea time in the months just after Versailles than during the entire war, with Cavour heading to the Americas for a flag-waving cruise while Cesare toured the Eastern Med and stood by the Greek-Turkish conflict.

Cesare photographed at Constantinople, Turkey, in August 1919. Note that the ship is flying a Greek National Flag at the mainmast top. NH 47786

Jane’s 1921, with Da Vinci missing.

Following this, she had her first modernization, landing some small guns and her bow crest, picking up some AAA pieces, and changing her mast arrangements.

She also engaged in a bit of battleship diplomacy, being used in the seizure of Corfu in August 1923.

Italian battleship Giulio Cesare in La Spezia, 1925

A 1925 upgrade saw her pick up a Macchi M.18 seaplane over the stern along with a catapult and crane to retrieve it, and, after two years in ordinary, by 1928, she was relegated to use as a gunnery training ship, with the country soon after moving to build four new 40,000-ton Littorio-class battleships.

Jane’s 1929.

Great Rebuild

It was decided by the Italian admiralty in the early 1930s to not only keep on with the construction of a planned quartet of new Littorio-class 30-knot fast battleships, with their impressive 15-inch guns, but also to extensively modernize the two Cavours and the two similar yet slightly younger Andrea Doria-class battleships, giving Mussolini eight battleships in a decade. At least that was the plan, anyway.

Following the design by Gen. Francesco Rotundi, the Cavours and Dorias were rearming with more capable 12.6″/44 Model 1934 guns on upgraded mounts, with the middle Q mount deleted, giving them 10 new guns in place of 13 older ones, with a modern fire control house atop the conning tower.

Naples during the great 5 May 1938 naval review, showing the modernized Cavour followed by the similarly modernized Cesare and a heavy cruiser. NH 86147

The modernization also added armor, replaced the boilers and machinery, and deleted the casemate guns for more modern  3.9″/47 M1928 twin AA guns in high-angle turrets.

Cesare carried 12 of these 100 mm/47 (3.9″) Model 1928 AA guns in six twin turrets. These art deco-looking mounts were also used on the Trento, Zara, and Condotteri class cruisers.

They also picked up an assortment of twin Breda 37mm and Breda M31 13.2mm guns, landed the circa 1914 torpedo tubes, and lengthened the hull for added stability. Powered by eight more efficient Yarrow boilers and with 75,000shp on tap compared to the old 30,000shp, the class could make 27 knots, making them, at age 20, the fastest they had ever been.

Cesare underwent modernization at the Cantieri del Tirreno shipyard in Genoa from 25 October 1933 to 1 October 1937. Tellingly, the rebuild was one month longer than her original construction.

The U.S. Navy’s ONI, with war on the horizon, made sure to get several nice images of her in the late 1930s, essentially a new ship built around the upcycled bones of a circa 1914 dreadnought.

Cesare photographed during the late 1930s after her 1933-37 reconstruction. NH 86124

Cesare was photographed in 1938 following her 1933-37 reconstruction. NH 86127

Cesare photographed before World War II. The photograph has been retouched. NH 86590

Cesare at sea, 1938, photographed before World War II. NH 86588

Many shots endure from the epic May 1938 Naples Naval Review.

Italian battleship, either Cavour or Cesare, probably photographed during the 5 May 1938 naval review off Naples. Cant Z.501 flying boats be seen overhead. NH 86141

Cesare, 5 May 1938, at the Naval review off Naples. The torpedo boats Spica and Aldebaran appear in the background, NH 86142

Italian battleships Cavour and Cesare seen in column at the May 1938 Naval review off Naples. NH 86153

Italian battleships Cavour and Cesare seen in column at the May 1938 Naval review off Naples, followed by two Zara class cruisers. NH 86154

Cavour and Cesare seen in column at the May 1938 Naval review off Naples. NH 86151

5 May 1938, battleships Cavour and Cesare as seen from the fantail of a destroyer-type ship. Two cruisers appear in the right background, and a paravane for minesweeping can be seen on the ship’s stern in the foreground. NH 86148

Late 1930s, two Italian battleships and about nine or ten torpedo boats, the Cavour and Cesare, appear in the foreground, and the torpedo boat Altair can be identified in the background by her hull letters “AT.” NH 86140

A Second War

Cavour-class battleships as rebuilt, circa 1939. Luce archives via NHHC NH 111400

Giulio Cesare – San Giorgio, NH 111420

ONI 202 sheet on Cavour and Cesare.

Soon after Italy joined Germany in World War II, Cavour and Cesare, as the 5th Battleship Division, were part of a 14-cruiser/16 destroyer covering force running a convoy from Taranto across the Med to the country’s Libyan colony under the overall command of ADM Ingio Pola.

On the return trip, they crashed into a trio of Royal Navy task groups, Force A (five cruisers), Force B (battleship HMS Warspite and six destroyers), and Force C (battleships HMS Malaya and Royal Sovereign, carrier Eagle, 10 destroyers) on 9 July 1940, and the Battle of Calabria/Battle of Punta Stilo ensued.

During that clash, in which no ships were ultimately sunk on either side, Cesare opened fire on Warspite at an impressive 29,000 yards and, while her shells fell long, damaged two of the British battlewagon’s escorting destroyers. In return, the closing Warspite fired at and eventually hit Cesare with a 15-inch shell from 26,000 yards, exploding one of the Italian ship’s funnels and damaging four boilers, causing her to fall out of the battle line and reduce speed as Cavour took over. Cesare made it to Messina safely and took a month to repair.

Italian battleships at the Battle of Punta Stilo, July 9, 1940. Cavour opens fire with her 12.6-inch main battery during the battle. Photograph taken from aboard her sister ship Cesare. NH 86586

Italian battleship Giulio Cesare, seen from her sister Conte di Cavour, firing at HMS Warspite with her 320 mm guns, waters off Punta Stilo (Calabria), around 1555 h, 9 July 1940

Warspite hit on Cesare

Warspite hit on Cesare

Warspite hit on Cesare

Italian battleship Giulio Cesare after a hit from the HMS Warspite during the Battle of Calabria, 9 July 1940. The 15-inch shell hit the Italian ship from around 13nm. IWM HU 52333.

Then came the dramatic pre-Pearl Harbor night attack by a handful of British Fleet Air Arm Swordfish torpedo bombers from the carrier HMS Illustrious on the Italian battleship anchorage of Taranto on 11 November 1940.

Cobb, Charles David; Taranto Harbour, Swordfish from ‘Illustrious’ Cripple the Italian Fleet, 11 November 1940; National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/taranto-harbour-swordfish-from-illustrious-cripple-the-italian-fleet-11-november-1940-116445

While Cesare was spared damage, one torpedo sank sister Conte di Cavour in shallow water and effectively took her out of the war.

Cesare would strike out against the British again at the Battle of Cape Spartivento/Cape Teulada in November, without giving or receiving much damage, and in convoy work, including what is remembered by the Brits as the First Battle of Sirte off Malta in December 1941.

With the Med becoming less and less friendly to Italian capital ships due to British submarines and land-based bombers, Cesare was largely port-bound by 1942 and was eventually withdrawn up the Adriatic to a safer anchorage at Pola (Pula) and reduced to training status. It would seem her war was effectively over.

During the 1940–1943 campaign, Cesare made 38 combat sorties, covering 16,947 miles in 912 sailing hours, and consumed 12,697 tons of oil in the process.

Russia-bound

Spared the indignity suffered by most other post-1942 Axis capital ships, which were sunk at their moorings by Allied bombers, when Italy switched sides on 8 September 1943, Cesare overcame a small mutiny by Mussolini-inclined crew and made it safely to Malta by the interned under British guns. She fought off German air attacks along the way and managed not to be sunk by her former allies, such as the Littorio-class battlewagon Roma, which was sunk by German Fritz X radio-controlled bombs launched by Do 217s on 9 September, taking over 1,300 of her crew to the bottom.

Cesare was the last Italian capital ship to arrive at Malta.

As the invasion of Italy pushed the Germans and the rump of the Italian socialist republic further and further up the country’s “boot,” Cesare and the two Dorias were released to return to Taranto in June 1944, where they languished in ordinary.

Post VE-Day, Cesare was one of a list of ex-Italian vessels held by an Allied commission to be handed out as trophies.

Cesare in the 1946 Jane’s.

This process dragged on for years as Stalin’s iron curtain descended across Eastern Europe and the Western Allies were in no hurry to keep giving his war machine new toys. It was only in December 1948 that she was moved to Sicily and finally removed from the Italian naval list, ending her 34 years of service to Rome.

Ex-Cesare was turned over to the very happy Soviets under ADM Gordey Ivanovich Levchenko on 6 February 1949.

While Stalin wanted the newer Littoros, Cesare was arguably the nicest battleship the Russians had at the time, despite her age and the fact that she had basically been in reserve for six years and had not been dry-docked in eight.

Soviet battleship Novorossiysk, formerly Italian Giulio Cesare, from Vlorë (Albania) to the Black Sea in late February 1949.

After Cesare departed for a Soviet port, the loaned Arkhangelsk (HMS Royal Sovereign) was returned to England for scrapping.

Dubbed originally Z11 and moved to Communist allied Albania for a quick two-week refit with an Italian adviser crew aboard, then departed for Sevastopol. By order of the Black Sea Fleet dated 5 March 1949, the Italian battleship was renamed Novorossiysk.

Reportedly in extremely poor condition, with inoperable diesel generators, leaking pipes, broken fittings, and suffering signs of purposeful Italian neglect and sabotage, the Russians spent the next several years trying to reshoe their gift horse.

Although the Italians had delivered a library of technical manuals and books on the ship’s systems, a handful of Russian Italian translators on hand lacked experience in the specialized terminology used in the tomes, particularly when it came to handwritten notes and abbreviations, and the books ultimately proved an alien language.

Soviet battleship Novorossiysk (the former Royal Italian Navy Giulio Cesare

After six weeks in dry dock at Sevastopol, Cesare/Novorossiysk sailed (briefly) as Black Sea Fleet flagship on maneuvers in July 1949. Over the next five years, she had five shipyard overhauls (July 1950, April-June 1951, June 1952, November 1954, and February-March 1955) in an attempt to bring old systems back online and add new ones.

Battleship Novorossiysk (Giulio Cesare) April 13, 1955

The Soviets added several new AAA batteries (24 twin 37mm V-11 guns, six 37mm 70-K automatic cannons) and a Zalp-M radar.

It was planned to put the elderly battlewagon into her second rebuild (first Russian), which would include new Soviet-made turbine engines and Russian Obukhovskii 12″/52 Pattern 1907 guns left over from the Tsarist Gangut, Imperatritsa Maria, and Imperator Nikolai I battleship classes.

She never made that grand overhaul.

Tragedy in Sevastopol

On the night of 28 October 1955, the 41-year-old Cesare/Novorossiysk returned from a cruise marking the 100th anniversary of the defense of Sevastopol and tied up at Buoy No. 3 near the Naval Hospital.

At 0131 on 29 October 29, a massive explosion under the ship’s starboard bow pierced the battleship’s hull, blew out part of the forecastle deck, and created a cavernous 1,600 sq. ft underwater hole.

Within a minute, a second explosion on the port side created what was later found to be a 2,000 sq. ft. hole in her hull.

The warship didn’t stand a chance and was settling on the harbor floor in minutes, and began to list, eventually turning turtle by the following evening.

At least 557 of the battleship’s crew were lost, along with some 60 men from the rest of the fleet who were lost in the attempt to save the ship and rescue trapped sailors.

We won’t get into the myriad of theories as to what killed Cesare/Novorossiysk, but suggestions have ranged from the far-fetched, such as Italian frogmen of the long-disbanded Xª MAS and long-dormant scuttling charges left aboard in 1948, to German bottom mines left over in the harbor’s silty bottom from their occupation of the port in WWII and assorted internal magazine explosions. Lingering mines seem the most likely cause, as extensive sweeps later found 32 mines on the bottom of Sevastopol’s harbor, some dating to the Great War.

In the end, with Stalin long gone and the Red Banner Fleet moving towards a more submarine and missile-borne strategy, the age of the Russian battleship came to an end as Cesare/Novorossiysk was raised over the course of the next 18 months and scrapped.

The final Soviet dreadnought, the circa 1911 Gangut/Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya, was stricken on 17 February 1956 and slowly scrapped over the next two years.

After that, the handful of Turkish, French, British, and American battleships still on naval lists in NATO were soon taken out of service, with the Iowas staging a return in the 1980s-90s.

But gratefully, Cesare/Novorossiysk was the last one to go down with her flags flying.

Meminisse est ad Vivificandum – To Remember is to Keep Alive

***

If you like this column, please consider joining the International Naval Research Organization (INRO), Publishers of Warship International

They are possibly one of the best sources of naval study, images, and fellowship you can find. http://www.warship.org/membership.htm

The International Naval Research Organization is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the encouragement of the study of naval vessels and their histories, principally in the era of iron and steel warships (about 1860 to date). Its purpose is to provide information and a means of contact for those interested in warships.

With more than 50 years of scholarship, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO, has published hundreds of articles, most of which are unique in their sweep and subject.

PRINT still has its place. If you LOVE warships, you should belong.

I’m a member, so should you be!

Korean Privateers

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How about this great circa 1952 Kodachrome of an airstrip “somewhere in Korea” (likely Taegu Air Base, K-9) showing a USAF RF-51D photo Mustang (s/n 44-84775; c/n 44631, formerly F-6D) of the 45th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron with a second RF-51D to its left while in the distance to the right you see two huge dark blue Navy Convair PB4Y-2 Privateers of VP-871 and a USAF Douglas R-4D1 Skytrain.

342-FH-4A39909-K90259, National Archives Identifier 176889420

The legendary Privateers weren’t a fluke, as no less than 22 Navy VP squadrons made 38 deployments to support the Korean War between 16 July 1950 and December 1953.

While most of these were with the new P2V-3/3W/5/6 Neptune (7 squadrons, 14 deployments) or PBM-5/5S/5S2 Mariner flying boats (8 squadrons, 14 deployments), at least seven squadrons of WWII-era PB4Y-2S Privateers (VP-9, VP-17, VP-22, VP-28, VP-42, VP-772, and VP-871) made 10 deployments. The last two Privateer squadrons mentioned (VP-772 and VP-871) were USNR units that were activated and rushed to the theatre, with planes often taken out of long-term storage.

PB4Y Privateer patrol planes of VP-23, in formation over Miami, Florida, July 1949. PB4Y-2 in foreground is Bu. no. 60006. Note that by this time, their dorsal gun mounts had been removed. 80-G-440193

The Privateers served in sea patrol, SAR, and night interdiction missions as well as supporting combat ashore. Of note, the reservists of VP-871, which is now VUP-19, earned its “Big Red” nickname during Korea for its role in night missions, dropping hundreds of red illumination flares to support allied air and ground units.

These “Lamp Lighter” or “Firefly” missions typically saw a P4Y rendezvous with four attack aircraft, search for truck convoys, and illuminate the targets for the attack aircraft, with each long-legged patrol bomber carrying as many as 250 flares.

During Korea, 5 PBMs and 6 P2Vs were lost in the conflict (including 16 KIA and 2 POW in combat-related crewmember losses), while only two Privateers were seriously attacked. Both of these were PB4Y-2Ss of VP-28, jumped off the coast of Red China by PRC MiG-15s on 20 September and 23 November 1952, respectively. Neither were lost, although one had to make an emergency landing in Okinawa.

All Navy PB4Y-2s were retired by 1954, though unarmed PB4Y-2G Privateers served until 1958 with the Coast Guard before being auctioned off for salvage, with many of those going on to work in the Western States as firebombers well into the 2000s.

USCG Coast Guard PB4Y-2G Privateers over San Francisco, 026-g-024-031-001

Warship Wednesday, September 24, 2025: Low Lying

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Here at LSOZI, we take a break every Wednesday to explore the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1954 period, profiling a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places.- Christopher Eger

If you enjoy my always ad-free Warship Wednesday content, you can support it by buying me a cup of joe at https://buymeacoffee.com/lsozi As Henk says: “Warship Coffee – no sugar, just a pinch of salt!”

Warship Wednesday, September 24, 2025: Low Lying

Fotoafdrukken Koninklijke Marine, Objectnummer 2158_002096

Above, we see the Dutch Heiligerlee-class deckhouse monitor 2de klasse Zr.Ms. Krokodil between 1887 and 1900. Note her myriad of topside shielded 37mm 1-pounder Hotchkiss QF guns, including two covered 5-garreled Gatling style Krupp-Gruson Revolverkanone looking over her stern and two singles crowding her forward military mast, from where they had a great enfilade angle on approaching small craft. This augmented her single 11.4-inch L22 Krupp No.1 breechloading rifle in her turret.

One of a group of interesting ironclads built for the Netherlands to a British design, she had a quiet career.

Dutch monitors

Keen to learn from the naval developments coming out of the U.S. during the Civil War, the Koninklijke Marine, then as now one of the most professional sea services in the world, was quick to upgrade. From the mid-1860s to the late 1870s, the Dutch navy rushed to complete a fleet of armored monitors for coastal defense.

These included the two large domestically-built Rammonitor 1ste klasse vessels, the Rijkswerf-built Zr.Ms. Draak (2,234 t, 201 ft. oal, 8.4 knots, 2×11.4″/22 guns, ƒ1,311,715 cost) and the Fijenoord-built Matador (2,000 t, 209 ft. oal, 7.5 knots, 2×11.4″/22, ƒ1,039,529) that entered service in 1877.

Rammonitor Zr.Ms. Matador NIMH 2158_006466

These beasts were preceded by 11 Monitors 2de klasse, led by six bow ram-equipped Adder-class vessels (Zr.Ms. Hyena, Panter, Haai, Adder, Wesp, and Luipaard), delivered by Rijkswerf and Fijenoord between 1870 and 1876. Running 1,500 tons and some 192 feet long, they carried two 9-inch Armstrong/EOC RML guns and were protected with between 5.5 and 11 inches of iron plate armor. Speed was 7 or 8 knots, depending on the vessel, as none of the six appeared to have been 100 percent identical. These ships ran between ƒ755,955 (Adder) and ƒ920,343 (Luipaard).

This leaves us with the other five 2de klasse monitors, which kicked off the Dutch monitor race.

These vessels, the Laird Brothers-designed Heiligerlee class, included Zr.Ms.Cerberus, Bloedhond, Tijger, and our primary subject, Krokodil. All ordered in 1867 as the ink was still drying at Appomattox and the smoke was still in the air from Lissa, these five ships were built at two different British yards (Laird and Napier) as well as at Rijkswerf.

Heiligerlee model, via Rijksmuseum

While they were roughly the same design, they varied from hull to hull but generally ran 1,500 tons and 192 feet overall. Carrying two 9-inch Armstrong/EOC RML guns, they were protected with between 5.5 and 11 inches of iron plate armor. Speed was between 7 and 9 knots, depending on the vessel.

Zr. Ms. Luipaard

Zr. Ms. Luipaard

As you may have guessed, the Heiligerlee design would prove the basis for the follow-on Adders as described above.

Meet Krokodil

Laid down at Laird Brothers, Birkenhead, within days of her class-leading sister Heiligerlee, Krokodil was launched 13 Feb 1868 and entered service 21 July 1870. She cost ƒ765,115 compared to Heiligerlee’s ƒ788,348

Monitor  Zr.Ms. Krokodil in Birkenhead, England, in 1868, showing her original twin turret. NIMH Objectnummer 2158_002092

Krokodil was well-documented in the British press at the time, with a well-known line drawing appearing in the Illustrated News and a description in the Engineer.

A circa 1868 print of Krokodil. NIMH Objectnummer 2158_002093

Krokodil print, Illustrated News

Dutch Harbor Defense Ironclad Monitor Krokodil, Illustrated London News, September 5, 1868,

With a draft of just under 10 feet, these monitors were well-suited for inland service, defending the sea inlets along the extensive canals of their home country.

Krokodil, 1871, via Rijksmuseum

However, their low freeboard made them lethal to their crews in any sort of chop, as witnessed by the original USS Monitor, which went to the bottom early in her career.

Hauntingly, Adder capsized near Scheveningen with all 65 crew members on board in 1882.

With the rapid advancement in naval guns, the standard Dutch monitor big gun, the muzzle-loading Armstrong 9-incher, was soon made obsolete and, starting with the Luipaard in 1877, would instead carry 11.4″/22 Krupp No.1 breechloaders.

The Krupp gun, besides being about 15 percent cheaper than the British RML, was also more effective, capable of firing a 560-pound AP shell to 9,000 yards instead of the 249-pound “pointed bullet” (puntkogel), which had a 6,000-yard range. However, as a single Krupp gun weighed more than two Armstrongs, this meant the twin-gun turrets on the Heiligerlees and Adders were eventually converted to a single gun.

The brown-powder fired Krupp 28cm L22 C76 Nr. 1 kanon as used by Dutch ironclad monitors starting in 1877.

Krokodil only received her Krupp upgrade in 1884, making it easy to date images of her. As small torpedo boats had become a threat by that time, she also picked up a smaller 3-inch gun and four Hotchkiss 1-pounders as described in the first image of this post.

Zr.Ms. Heiligerlee class monitor 2de klasse 2158_005033

Heiligerlee class monitor with 28 cm A No. 1 gun after 1884, Amsterdam. Afbeeldingsbestand: PBKD00201000009 G

Monitor Hr.Ms. Krokodil in Harlingen on laundry day, circa 1887-1900. NIMH Objectnummer 2158_002094

By the late 1890s, after international naval lessons learned in the Sino-Japanese War in 1894 and the Spanish-American War in 1898, the age of the iron-sheathed monitor was clearly passed.

On 16 March 1900, Krokodil was decommissioned and, after a few years of service as a hulk, was sold for ƒ32.257 worth of scrap in 1906 to J.G. van der Linden of Woerden.

All of her sisters were similarly disposed of, with Heiligerlee surviving the latest, being scrapped in 1910. The larger and more advanced Draak was the last Dutch monitor in service, but even she left in 1914. The age of steel and electricity had come.

All that remains are their builders’ models and the wreck of Adder.

Model monitor Tijger, in full rigged arrangement. Heiligerlee class, via Rijksmuseum

Meminisse est ad Vivificandum – To Remember is to Keep Alive

***

If you like this column, please consider joining the International Naval Research Organization (INRO), Publishers of Warship International

They are possibly one of the best sources of naval study, images, and fellowship you can find. http://www.warship.org/membership.htm

The International Naval Research Organization is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the encouragement of the study of naval vessels and their histories, principally in the era of iron and steel warships (about 1860 to date). Its purpose is to provide information and a means of contact for those interested in warships.

With more than 50 years of scholarship, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO, has published hundreds of articles, most of which are unique in their sweep and subject.

PRINT still has its place. If you LOVE warships, you should belong.

I’m a member, so should you be!

Vale, McLane

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The fourth cutter to bear the name McLane (after vessels commissioned in 1832, 1845, and 1865) was commissioned in 1927 as WSC-146 (later WMEC-146).

A 125-foot “Buck and a Quarter,” she was built to take on rumrunners during Prohibition.

Five 125-foot cutters at Charleston Navy Yard, Boston, late 1920s. Boston Public Library Leslie Jones Collection.

Five 125-foot cutters at the Charleston Navy Yard, Boston, in the late 1920s, including, from the outside, the USCGC Fredrick Lee, General Green, and Jackson. Boston Public Library Leslie Jones Collection.

Painted haze grey and with her armament significantly stepped up, she served on the Bering Sea Patrol during WWII.

Heavily occupied with convoy escort work, anti-submarine patrols, screening duties, and rescuing both vessels and aircraft in distress, the McLane and her crew are often credited with sinking the Japanese submarine Ro-32 (or possibly the Soviet sub Shch-138!) in July 1942 and a multiple-person rescue of a downed Lockheed Electra in February 1943, among several other notable actions.

Original caption: Coast Guard Lieut. Ralph Burns (right) of Ketchikan, Alaska, is presented the Legion of Merit Medal by Coast Guard Capt. F.A. Zeusler (left), commanding officer of the Alaskan Coast Guard District, in ceremonies at Ketchikan. Coast Guard Commander G.F. Hicks (center), Ketchikan base commander, witnessed the presentation. The award was made by Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox on behalf of the President. The medal was awarded for “exceptionally meritorious conduct” during an action in North Pacific waters in which the U.S. Coast Guard cutter McLane, with Lieutenant Burns in command, eliminated a Japanese submarine with depth charges. It was the first Japanese sub sunk in Alaskan waters.” National Archives Identifier 205588237

McLane was awarded one Battle Star for her World War II service.

125 ft. Active-class “Buck and a Quarters,” via 1946 Janes

Switching back to her white and buff scheme post-war, she was based in California until decommissioned in December 1968, capping 41 years in the service.

125-foot “buck and a quarter” USCGC McLane (W146) in her post-WWII scheme. Note her 40mm Bofors, circa 1962

Mothballed at the US Coast Guard Yard for less than a year, the McLane was sold to the Marine Navigation and Training Association of Chicago in November 1969, who operated her as a school and instruction ship for Sea Scouts on the waters of Lake Michigan into the early 1990s. She was then acquired by the Great Lakes Naval Memorial and Museum in 1993 (now known as the USS Silversides Submarine Museum) and began her third career as a museum ship in Muskegon.

That final chapter has now closed, and with her 98-year-old hull increasingly unstable, the museum has “de-assessed” McLane, towing her off to the breakers last week.

As noted by the museum:

The vessel, which had been closed to the public since spring 2025 due to ongoing maintenance concerns, was towed away with the support of dedicated community partners. After nearly a century of service in both salt and fresh water, the McLane’s condition had deteriorated to the point of being inaccessible for public touring and beyond the scope of feasible preservation.

Despite efforts to explore alternative preservation options, the museum ultimately determined that continued stewardship of the McLane was no longer sustainable. With the cold season approaching, the combination of time, weather, and structural decline made timely action necessary to ensure the safety of the vessel and the surrounding environment.

One of 33 Active-class cutters, McLane’s only remaining sister afloat, the former USCGC Morris (WPC-147/WSC-147/WMEC-147), was saved from the scrappers by the Vietnam War Flight Museum in Galveston, Texas, in 2021 and is being restored to sailing condition.

Two of the class, USCGC Jackson (WSC-142) and Bedloe (WSC-128), capsized going to the aid of a torpedoed freighter in the Great Atlantic Hurricane of September 1944.

U.S. Army Chaplain Corps Looks Back on 250 Years of Service

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There are a lot of 250th anniversaries this year, looking back at 1775. One of the most overlooked is the Semiquincentennial of the founding of the Army’s Chaplain Corps (DACH).

Established during the Revolution, the Corps was created on 29 July 1775, when the Continental Congress authorized a Chaplain for each of the Continental Army’s 38 regiments.

In the shadow of Chaplain headstones and the four memorials to Chaplains’ service and sacrifice in our nation’s wars, Arlington National Cemetery’s Senior Army Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Ludovic Foyou recently welcomed a crowd of Chaplains, family members, and well-wishers, saying the cemetery was “where the legacy of our Corps is not just remembered, it is buried into the very soil we stand on.”

Foyou highlighted the significance of the memorials behind him, explaining their tributes:

One honors Chaplains killed in World War I.

Another commemorates 134 Protestant Chaplains who died in both world wars.

A third memorializes 83 Catholic Chaplains who lost their lives in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam.

And the most recent honors 14 Jewish Chaplains who died while serving their country.

“These stones do not simply remember the dead,” he said. “We follow in the footsteps that walked through the mud, fire and fear to reach those in need.”

 

Cleaning Little Potato Slough

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USCG contractors have been busy cleaning out the derelicts from the waters of the Little Potato Slough near Stockton, California.

This included the World War II-era Woban-class Navy tug ex-USS Mazapeta (YTM-181) and the 140-foot Bay class minesweeper ex-HMCS Chaleur (MCB 164).

Chaleur was fairly modern, having been built in 1956-57 and only decommissioned in 1998.

HMCS Chaleur (MCB 164) in better days

She was used in a variety of commercial and private tasks until she ended up at the Stockton Maritime Museum and sank at her moorings back in 2021.

Chaleur was tied up alongside the old and very well-traveled MV Aurora (ex-Wappen Von Hamburg, ex-Delos, ex-Pacific Star, ex-Polar Star, ex-Xanadu, ex-Expex, and ex-Faithful) for years before she sank.

As Aurora was scrapped last December, all that is left now is the sheen.

Vale, Vestal

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HMS Vesta (J215) IWM FL 21022

Some 80 years ago today, on 26 July 1945, the humble 255-foot Algerine-class minesweeper HMS Vestal (J215) earned two unenviable distinctions.

As part of Operation Livery, while about 55 nautical miles south-west of Phuket, Siam, clearing enemy minefields as part of Force 63, she was hit by a Japanese kamikaze aircraft that killed 14 of her 130-member crew and left her too damaged for economical repair. That afternoon, in 72 meters of water and unmanned, she was finished by gunfire from R-class destroyer HMS Racehorse (H 11).

Vestal, ship loss:

  • CUTHBERTSON, Robert A, Act/Leading Stoker, P/KX 109403, MPK
  • FRENCH, William, Stoker 1c, P/KX 710345, DOW
  • GOODY, Henry A, Stoker 1c, P/KX 88619, MPK
  • HOPGOOD, Leslie R F, Stoker 1c, P/KX 152396, MPK
  • JORDAN, Jack, Stoker 1c, P/KX 600989, MPK
  • KING, Frank W, Leading Wireman, C/MX 97190, MPK
  • MCLEOD, Henry N, Act/Petty Officer Stoker, P/KX 89871, MPK
  • OAKLEY, Roy C, Stoker 1c, P/KX 160385, MPK
  • PALING, Maurice J, Engine Room Artificer 4c, P/MX 117299, MPK
  • STUBBS, James, Act/Engine Room Artificer 4c, P/MX 79900, MPK
  • TILLING, Alfred W J, Engine Room Artificer 3c, P/MX 59689, MPK
  • WALKER, Percy, Able Seaman, P/JX 189030, MPK
  • WILSON, Derrick B, Act/Leading Stoker, P/KX 137209, MPK
  • WOOD, Stanley, Cook (S), C/MX 536782, DOW

This made Vestal the sole British ship to be sunk by a kamikaze attack and the final Royal Navy ship to be lost in the Second World War. Further, the clearing operation by Force 63, which returned to Ceylon after Vestal’s loss, was the last offensive operation by ships of the British Eastern Fleet.

Vestal has since become a destination of sorts for respectful Trimix divers.

Nottingham, found

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The 5,400-ton Town-class cruiser HMS Nottingham was the Royal Navy’s only remaining lost cruiser from the Great War era, whose wreck was previously undocumented.

Was.

Lost to three torpedoes from U-52 (Kptlt. Hans Walther, Pour le Mérite) on 19 August 1916 during a missed connection between the RN’s Grand Fleet and the Kaiserliche Marine’s High Seas Fleet, HMS Nottingham had an extensive service record.

She served in most of the key fleet actions, including the battles of Heligoland Bight (1914), Dogger Bank (1915) and Jutland (1916) where, at the latter, Nottingham was heavily engaged, alongside her fellow light cruisers of the 2nd Squadron, HMS Birmingham, Southampton and Dublin, in a major close-quarters battle with the cruisers of Germany’s 4th Scouting Group –SMS Stettin, München, Frauenlob, Stuttgart and Hamburg. On 20 June 1915, she even missed two torpedoes from U-6.

In April 2025, ProjectXplore divers Dan McMullen, Leo Fielding, and Dom Willis, supported by skipper Iain Easingwood of MarineQuest, loaded the dive charter MV Jacob George with a C-MAX CM2 side scan sonar and 300m or armored towing cable and documented the wreck they believed to be Nottingham on the bottom at 262 feet, 60 miles off the coast of Scotland.

Earlier this month, 10 divers from the UK, Germany, and Spain gathered, and outfitted with JJ-CCR rebreathers on trimix/O2 fills, dove the wreck, clearly documenting “Nottingham” on her stern, as well as her four distinctive funnels, which are intact, as well as gun arrangement, and other facets that solidified the discovery.

And thus we remember:

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