Where is HMS Warspite now?
Death Of HMS Warspite
Battleships
31st July 1950: Black smoke drifts skyward from a tug off the stern of Warspite as it helps to tow the partially scrapped battleship to Marazion Beach. It is often stated in publications and sites that the gallant HMS Warspite was scrapped in situ at Prussia Cove.
However, though much of her upper works were removed her hull was refloated and she was towed to Marazion beach by St Michael’s Mount in July 1950.
The job of blasting her to pieces continued over the next seven sad years.
The saga started when Warspite left Spithead under tow to the Gareloch by the tugs Melinda III and Bustler.
On 20th April 1947 she was off Land’s End. Caught in the full fury of an Atlantic storm, she bucked and struggled so violently the tow line to one of the attendant tugs, Bustler, parted and Melinda III was forced to slip the tow. A Daily Telegraph eyewitness account stated:
“I flew over the Warspite and her escort last night as they crept slowly along the Channel through heavy weather within sight of the shore twenty miles west of the Lizard.
The tugs were straining at the tow ropes fore and aft. Pulling almost at right angles to starboard, with the ship’s bows to the coast. Their position hardly changed as we circled. And the tugs appeared to be doing little more than hold the great battleship in the heavy seas. Both tugs were pitching so steeply that at times their screws were out of the water.”
Fresh lines from the tugs were made fast and the decision was taken to tow her into the shelter of Mount’s Bay. Located near Penzance, where she dropped anchor to ride out the storm. Furthermore, on 23rd April the savage power of the continuing storm saw her break free of her anchor.
The defenceless old lady, with but a skeleton crew of eight men aboard, was powerless to resit the rolling waves.
Warspite became swept across the bay to run aground as the storm drove her onto Mount Mopus Ledge near Cudden Point.
She refused to go quietly, however, and she refloated herself only to crash into dangerous rocks at Prussia Cove. She went down by her bow on the rocks and stuck fast.
In conclusion, surviving veterans of the Warspite Association make an annual journey to Cornwall to pay homage to their old ship, at a memorial to her on the shore at Marazion.
Warspite April 1947
Warspite October 1947
Lastly, the stone was unveiled by Admiral Sir Charles Madden and prayers were read by a former crew member.
Mari Buckley / Warspite Memorial, Prussia Cove / CC BY-SA 2.0
Death Of HMS Warspite
By Bass Moog
Queen Elizabeth Class Battleships
The Shipbuilding Plunderer of Scotland & England
HMS Inflexible : The Thickest Armored Belt Ever Fitted
Where is HMS Warspite now?
Greatest Dreadnought Battleship : Could the HMS Warspite lay historical claim to being the greatest Dreadnought battleship to ever sail the seas?
She wasn’t the biggest, the most advanced nor the most powerful, but she served long past her theoretical obsolescence.
Warspite engaging shore batteries during the Second Battle of Narvik
HMS Warspite & the Second Battle of Narvik
The Royal Navy’s Epic Win at the Battle Of Taranto : The Battle That Changed Warfare
However, it is tough to think of another battleship that comes close to her war record.
Whether HMS Warspite was slugging it out on the High Seas Fleet at Jutland, heading up a fjord to sink a flotilla’s worth of destroyers, showing the Italians a thing or two in the Mediterranean, to having a Fritz X blow a big hole in her bottom, or to pounding the beaches of Normandy.
The Failure of the German Fleet
HMS Warspite, HMS Illustrious, HMS Resolution & HMS Royal Sovereign
The HMS Warspite gave sterling service for over three decades. HMS Warspite possessed the same 15″/42 guns as the HMS Hood, HMS Repulse, HMS Renown, R-class ships and other Queen Elizabeth class boats.
Battleships Vs Aircraft Carriers: Why Did Japan Lose The Pacific Theater?
This class of guns were an old medium velocity wire-wound design that was technically obsolete by the mid 1920s.
However, it was arguably the best capital ship gun ever to see action in terms of the great service they gave over three decades. HMS Vanguard, the last battleship ever built for the Royal Navy was armed with them.
Was Bismarck A Failure?
HMS Warspite during the the D-Day landings
All four of HMS Warspite’s turrets and her guns came from the HMS Glorious and the HMS Courageous.
The Royal Navy modernized these guns extensively, including cutting the opening for the guns to extend higher, allowing them to elevate more and therefore have greater range.
HMS Warspite during the the D-Day landings
Furthermore, the 15/42 gun was older technology. Built using the wire wound method, shorter barrel, a medium velocity gun firing a heavy shell.
The 14/45 gun required more modern construction since the gun tube’s construction from several pieces. Moreover, called ‘built up’ construction. Which meant the barrel was more rigid and allowed higher velocities and better accuracy as the gun tube was more rigid and thus suffered less droop.
Another advantage over the older wire wound guns was the ability to refurbish the guns by simply replacing the barrel liner.
The 14/45 was a very good gun too. But suffered from treaty restrictions. In addition, faced overmatched guns built without regard for the treaty. Such as the Italian 15/50 on the Littorios and the Japanese 18/46 on the Yamatos.
Britain did design and build a more powerful gun in the mkII 16 inch pieces intended for the Lions that were never built due to the war starting.
Of course, ‘’Best’ is a moot point!
The HMS Warspite had the best service record, so if you are wondering which carrier had the best service record, you will have to do some digging. One would expect it would be a carrier that served throughout WW2 without getting sunk and participated in many battles.
Why did Titanic Sink?
HMS Warspite passing HMS Hood at port
HMS Illustrious also fought right through the war and survived, so it’s probably a choice between USS Enterprise CV-6 and the HMS Illustrious for best war service record, bearing in mind that the HMS Illustrious fought for nearly two years before the US entered the war.
But, the HMS Illustrious had a lengthy repair in the middle after being hit with 2,200 lb bombs, so he actual time in active service during the war might be about the same as Enterprise.
HMS Warspite being scrapped (early 1950s).
Sadly, Britain was bankrupt after the war so almost everything that could be scrapped was. That’s why there are so few wartime aircraft or ships left in preservation – they melted them all down for the aluminum.
Where is HMS Warspite now?
