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05-19-18, 03:19 PM | #1 |
Sub Test Pilot
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Had a spring clean and found this
Well like many people we tend to hoard normally junk that we don't need any more or broken, well i was doing some cleaning around the house and came across this.
I had the sense to look inside before throwing it out and thank god i did (my dad would never have forgiven me otherwise) Inside lay pictures and items from my Great Great uncle who went down with HMS K13 on January 29th 1917 in the Gereloch during a training dive that went wrong, sadly he was one of the 30 killed in the incident. HMS K13 at her Launch one of very few known pictures of her as K13 HMS K13 was a K class steam powered submarine, a large submarine of the day displacing 2,000ton surfaced, the idea behind steam powered submarines was to allow them to keep up with a battle fleet, great idea in principle terrible in practice as many would find out. Given Aircraft at the time were well in their infancy meant that the air threat wasn't an issue during world war I and so a quick diving time was not really required, that said reasonably quick would have been nice but the K class took a staggering 5 minuets to dive! The K class would be caught up in a lot of tragerdies not just because of the war but because of design problems and the fact steam power was not the best source of propulsion on a submarine, in fact nearly all 300 victims of the entire K class submarines died not as a result of enemy action but because of blunder and accidents probably the best known incident was the battle of may island. This training exercise would see the deployment of 9 K class submarines including the now raised and recommissioned K13 (now called K22), the exercise was a disaster, HMS K4 & K17 had collided and sunk (K4 a year earlier ran aground on Walney island and also collided with HMS K1 the K1 had to be scuttled off the Danish coast). In less than 90 minuets 2 K class submarines were sunk and a further 4 (including HMS K22) had been damaged along with the light cruiser HMS fearless who had been escorting them. Moral among the crews of these class were at best sadistic often dubbing the class and the Kalamity K's or the Killers even the first sea lord Jackie Fisher stated "The most fatal error imaginable would be to put steam engines in submarines" Leading Stoker Frederick James Howard my Great Great Uncle who died on HMS K13 HMS K13 was eventually raised repaired and put back in to service as HMS K22 and would see out the rest of the war being scrapped on December 16th 1926. The box yielded other surprises this time from across the pond in Canada, William James Howard who had previously served on HMS Blonde in the Royal navy had transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy and served on board HMCS Stadacona and also HMCS Niobe. HMCS Niobe 1897 (formally HMS Niobe) transferred to Canada in 1910 she would survive the war being broken up in 1922 I do know that during William's career he spent time in Malta here he has a picture of HMS Barham 1890 which would be over shadowed by the later HMS Barham which exploded in spectacular fashion on camera after being torpedoes by U331 in the second world war. A protected cruiser HMS Barham was launched in 1890 and sold for scrap in 1914 picture is from Malta A christmas card from William to Mother from HMCS Niobe In 1917 William would also disappear we believe in the Halifax explosion he was one of 3 brothers all of which lost their lives in the first world war, oddly despite repeated requests by our family the Canadian government has yet to release his service file to us, the only information we have is that it is extremely large for a serving sailor, this year if all goes well should mark the end for my time in the United Kingdom, i too will be heading to Canada to start a new life i also intend to find out why the Canadian government is holding onto his file over 100 years later. At the top Frederick James Howards Death Penny Below William James Howards Death Penny
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05-19-18, 03:46 PM | #2 |
Eternal Patrol
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Wow! That's a pretty amazing find. It's neat to have stuff like that, reminders not only that our ancestors (direct and collateral) were involved in some great and memorable deeds, but that they were real people with real lives.
I don't know you or your family, but this makes me feel badly for his family's loss (including, if I figured right, your great grandfather). Thanks so much for sharing this. Awesome stuff!
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05-19-18, 03:50 PM | #3 |
Dipped Squirrel Operative
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Man, thanks for sharing! Good that you looked into it.
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05-19-18, 04:08 PM | #4 |
Navy Seal
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Banana Republic of Germany
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Top stories, thanks for sharing.
BTW the Wikipedia page about K13 has no pictures of the submarine. Maybe you can change that now. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_K13
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05-19-18, 05:19 PM | #5 |
Ocean Warrior
Join Date: Feb 2010
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Great find. It is truly a treasure. Thanks for sharing.
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05-20-18, 05:33 AM | #6 |
Chief of the Boat
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~SALUTE~
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02-07-21, 08:40 PM | #7 | ||
Gefallen Engel U-666
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A 'Miles' 2 go discrepancy
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Leading Seaman Charles McMillan Ordinary Seaman Freeman Burnley Nickerson Able Seaman Albert Saunders Wireless Telegraph Operator George Veals Stoker George Roley Yates Additionally, 7 crewmen still aboard the Niobe were killed as the explosion wreaked havoc on the already dilapidated vessel: but no names are available HCMS Niobe after the explosion> Before> Additionally, this site: http://www.forposterityssake.ca/Navy/HMCS_NIOBE.htm Does depict your forebear Quote:
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02-08-21, 01:40 AM | #8 | |
Grey Wolf
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Quote:
That is super cool! Congrats on the save!
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02-08-21, 10:59 AM | #9 |
Officer
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Moscow, Russian Federation
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That's absolutely priceless find and sad but great story behind it!
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02-08-21, 11:02 AM | #10 | |
Sub Test Pilot
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Quote:
Since the post was written we had made a couple of discoveries, William Miles Howard was indeed his proper and full name, also we managed to get a limited draft of his service record which indicates he died in December 1916 so were are confirmed he didn't die in the Halifax explosion. As for posterity sake I informed them and gave them the picture they have helped us out a fair amount. As fort the three that died in a short space of time that is correct there's a memorial too them in Bow London. I can imagine the mistakes made on those pennies though it would have been a very traumatizing experience if they were wrong, I know one of ours is a copy though cant remember which one.
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DONT FORGET if you like a post to nominate it by using the blue diamond Find out about Museum Ships here: https://www.museumships.us/ Flickr for all my pictures: https://www.flickr.com/photos/131313936@N03/ Navy general board articles: https://www.navygeneralboard.com/author/aegis/ |
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