Barham had extra torpedo protection fitted when she was modernized in the early 1930s, in the form of bulges along the sides of the hull. However I would imagine captain of U-331, H. D. Freiherr von Tiesenhausen, would have been well aware of that, and probably set his torpedoes to explode under the keel. There's never much in the way of armour along the bottom of a warship. :(

:) Hello all, I have researched the sinking of the Barham. I revised the single player mission to multiplayer in SH3 ( so that more people could enjoy the mission ) and corrected some flaws with the mission to make it historically correct. Each ship involved with the battle is now more accurately portrayed. Most of the time the battleship rolls over now and explodes underwater. All we need is a mod to make it really explode above the surface and this mission would be totally complete. Good Hunting, Erich Topp U-552

Hmm, but she shouldn't have listed to Port if the torpedoes had exploded under the keel...
And Tiesenhausen didn't even know which battleship he had attacked, so he couldn't have been aware of the "upgrading" of HMS Barham.

Take a look over here for excellent info about this tragic event, inluding the eyewitness account of battery gun “Sight setter� Bryan Samuels, who was "hurled into space" by the explosion and was rescued after 2 1/2 hours in the water ...must have been one hell of a nightmare... :o

Fair enough Seeteufel. I was speculating that the torpedoes were set to run underneath, more than stating it as fact.

However, you're wrong in assuming that the ship wouldn't have capsized. The Barham, in common with all battleships, had a broad beamed flat-bottomed hull for much of its length, when viewed from either ahead or astern.

If the torpedo was set to run 1 meter below the keel's depth it would been within that 1 metre distance as soon as it passed the bilge radius, and would have exploded before it reached the ships centre line.

Also, while Tiesenhausen might not have known which battleship she was, she would have been in the recognition manual as a Queen Elizabeth class vessel, all of which were modernized in the 1930s with torpedo bulges.

Aye Ginger Beer, a salute to you and your good arguments! :up:

Nice info - but to point out a trivial mistake on that page, the picture captioned as 'Captain G. C. Cooke ' is actually King George VI :know:

And a salute right back, Seeteufel. All the best to you. :)