Can anyone help with some historical research?

[MajorArtNZ]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone can help me with some research that I am doing for my next visual art painting series. My newest paintings will be set underwater, and I am giving this series a strong historical context.
The subject matter I am looking for are as many images as possible on the following First World War Royal Navy ships:

HMS Invincible, Indefatigable, Queen Mary
HMS Defence, Warrior and Black Prince
HMS Triumph, Irresistible and Formidable
HMS Audacious, Goliath and Majestic
HMS Aboukir, Hogue and Cressy
HMS Good Hope and Monmouth

For the keen observer, you will notice all of those ships were sunk during the war. Would any of you know, where I could find a wealth of imagery for these ships? In the interest of time, I am flexible on the exact ship- their respective class would be good enough. In an ideal world, close up shots, on the bridge, main deck etc would be the best to work with.
A fair amount of research has already been done, but if there is a site or reference out there that would make this job easier, that would be very handy.

If you would like to see more of what I do, you will find it here; www.major-art.com

Thanks in advance!

[Sailor Steve]

This site should give you everything you could ever dream of.
http://www.photoship.co.uk/Browse%20Ship%20Galleries/

[Jimbuna]

HMS Invincible, Indefatigable, Queen Mary
HMS Defence, Warrior and Black Prince
HMS Triumph, Irresistible and Formidable
HMS Audacious, Goliath and Majestic
HMS Aboukir, Hogue and Cressy
HMS Good Hope and Monmouth

All the above are here:

http://hwww.naval-history.net/OWShips-LogBooksWW1.htm

[MajorArtNZ]

Wow, thanks Jimbuna & Sailor Steve, those are pretty comprehensive. Thanks so much for your help! I can't wait to start these new paintings, I'll be sure to post some to share with you all!

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

All the above are here:

http://hwww.naval-history.net/OWShips-LogBooksWW1.htm

Strangely, HMS Queen Mary seems not to be on the link provided; the more so as she was the only or sole vessel of her class essentially an upgraded, larger and heavier (1000 tons more) Lion class battlecruiser with the same armament..."HMS Queen Mary was the last battlecruiser built by the Royal Navy before World War I. The sole member of her class, Queen Mary shared many features with the Lion-class battlecruisers, including her eight 13.5-inch (343 mm) guns." Hit by Seydlitz and Derfflinger fatally...20 survived of 1,286.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Queen_Mary

[Jimbuna]

HMS Queen Mary:

http://www.naval-history.net/WW1Battle1605Jutland4.htm

[Aktungbby]

TNX! Don't know why it's not in the first one! I poured over everything meticulously. @ OP MajorArtNZ: HMS Lion's Q turret blown partially off during the 'Run to the South' potion of the Jutland battle. Beatty's flagship put out of action but not sunk by multiple hits Hms Lion- heavily damaged.IMHO: SMS Derffinger is the vessel of interest -(pro-Brit that I am). Not only did she inflict damage on HMS Lion but sank HMS Queen Mary and HMS Invincible, with help, and she survived considerable damage herself in the process.During the course of the battle, Derfflinger was hit 17 times by heavy caliber shells including an Elizabeth class Battleship's shell!!! and nine times by secondary guns. Derfflinger fired 385 shells from her main battery, another 235 rounds from her secondary guns, and one torpedo. Her crew suffered 157 men killed and another 26 men wounded; this was the highest casualty rate on any ship not sunk during the battle. Because of her stalwart resistance at Jutland, the British nicknamed her "Iron Dog."[wiki] When you are nicknamed by the Royal Navy... those are battle honors indeed! SMS Derfflinger fires a full broadside ps: pics enlarge http://forum.worldofwarships.com/index.php?/topic/1053-imperial-germanys-sms-derfflinger/

[Eichhörnchen]

Very interesting account, Aktung...

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by Eichhornchen

Very interesting account, Aktung...

Whatever 'rings yer bell" BBY! Worth a visit to the Outer Hebrides IMHO Isle of Eriskay-all that's left(salvaged) after her scuttling; re-raising; and scrapping...
14:45 6/21/1919

[MajorArtNZ]

Thanks everyone for all the information. While I have done lots of research on Jutland, and the other 1st world war naval engagements, imagery is surprisingly hard to come by. Clearly you are all well clued up on the ships, technical details etc, but has anyone ever seen good quality images of the wrecks themselves? I know it's pretty murky in the North sea, but surely there'd be something out there?

Also while I'm thinking about it.. did they ever find the wrecks of the HMS Monmouth and HMS Good Hope at Coronel? It feels like that is a forgotten battle sometimes..

Thanks again for all the help guys! It's much appreciated.

[MGR1]

Nobody's gone and looked for Good Hope and Monmouth, so they haven't been surveyed. From what I've read on Coronel I doubt that either wreck would be in good condition - Good Hope's forward magazine went up and the Nurnberg pummeled the Monmouth prior to the latter sinking.

As for the Jutland wrecks, there isn't much left of Indefatigable as the wreck was heavily salvaged sometime in the 50's. Queen Mary's in two halves and upside down whilst the bow of the Invincible is upside down whilst the stern is upright, but heavily collapsed. I haven't seen any good images of Defence, but from various sources the bow and stern are gone whilst the middle part of the ship is in reasonably good condition. Warrior doesn't seem to have been found whilst the Black Prince appears to be in very poor condition.

Aboukir, Hogue and Cressy no longer exist as they've been demolished in order to improve the channel into Ostend.

For the Dardanelles wrecks, Majestic has been very heavily salvaged whilst Triumph and Irresistible are upside down and in reasonably good condition.

Formidable is also upside down and split in two just forward of the bridge.

Mike.

[Aktungbby]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innes_McCartney A useful site perhaps for it's bibliography on WWI naval marine archaeology. Dr. Innes McCartney gets out there and finds these wrecks.

[MajorArtNZ]

Yeah, I was under the impression that nobody had gone to search for them. It would no doubt be massively expensive, and they would have a reasonably large area to search in at Coronel. It would make a good documentary coupled with the Falklands island battle that followed. Presumably nobody has found or knows the exact location of the Sharnhorst and Gneisenau?

I'll admit, things like salvaging wrecks kind of upsets me. Especially war graves. You would like to think they would just be left be, but guess that too much to ask sometimes.

I'm surprised that they demolished the wrecks of the Aboukir, Hogue and Cressy. When did that happen?

[Torplexed]

Originally Posted by MajorArtNZ

I'm surprised that they demolished the wrecks of the Aboukir, Hogue and Cressy. When did that happen?

2011, I believe. We had a thread about it a few years back....

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=191364

Needless to say, no one was particularly pleased.

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by MajorArtNZ

Presumably nobody has found or knows the exact location of the Sharnhorst and Gneisenau?

In September 2000, a joint expedition to find the sunken battleship conducted by the BBC, NRK, and the Royal Norwegian Navy began. The underwater survey vessel Sverdrup II, operated by the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment, was used to scan the sea floor. After locating a large submerged object, the research team then used the Royal Norwegian Navy's underwater recovery vessel HNoMS Tyr to examine the object visually. The wreck was positively identified by an ROV on 10 September, which located armament consistent with that of Scharnhorst. The ship sank in approximately 290 m (950 ft) of water The hull lies upside down on the seabed, with debris, including the main mast and rangefinders, scattered around the wreck. Extensive damage from shellfire and torpedoes is evident; the bow was blown off, presumably from a magazine explosion in the forward turrets, and lies in a tangled mass of steel some distance from the rest of the hull. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/scharnhorst_01.shtml Gneisenau scuttled and raised in 1949 was scrapped> <after raising. http://www.scharnhorst-class.dk/gneisenau/gallery/gallgneisethe_end.html