Film of the sinking of HMS Barham

[AG124]

The Yamato's magazine exploded as she was sinking, too. I don't think there is a video available, but if you look at a picture of the wreck, you can imagine how big the explosion must have been.

http://www.warship.get.net.pl/Japoni..._wreck_01.html

And here's a diagram as well.

[img] http://www.finescale.com/fsm/communi...?TOPIC_ID=6350 [/img]

Imagine the explosion of the world's biggest battleship.

[Ginger Beer]

Originally Posted by JayW.

I am a former member of Titanic Historical Society and as a amateaur expert, the Braham exploded from her forward magzines.

Every article I can find on the Barham's loss states the aft magazine exploded, not the forward one.

[andy_311]

I wish the BB's ingame could explode like that.

[iambecomelife]

IIRC 800-plus crew were killed, including the captain. Escorts rescued the admiral on board and a few hundred officers and men. It's always been a bit surprising to me that the ship sank so fast and then exploded. She was a WWI battleship but I thought she was much better protected than, say, the "Hood" and the capital ships lost at Jutland. I guess even the best armored WWI ships just didn't have enough armor, or maybe the design neglected underwater protection.

[Saukko]

I don't remember ever seeing that clip, I have seen pictures, but never actual film. Wow, she was over 200 meters in lenght, it gives you the scale of the explosion.
About the cause... to me, it looks like she exploded soon after she rolled over to her side, and first thing I though that the boiler room explosion caused her magazine to explode.

Well, ships do explode in SH3, not just that magnitude. SH3 runs smoothly in my computer but explosion are frame-rate killers.

Originally Posted by iambecomelife

I guess even the best armored WWI ships just didn't have enough armor, or maybe the design neglected underwater protection.

I remember reading that in Jutland, many ships exploded like that.

[Ginger Beer]

Originally Posted by iambecomelife

I guess even the best armored WWI ships just didn't have enough armor, or maybe the design neglected underwater protection.

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

[Seeteufel]

Originally Posted by Ginger Beer

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.

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.

...It was approximately 16.00hrs (English teatime) when the torpedoes where released and most of the officers and men of the Barham were below decks enjoying the tradition break in the day. Three of the torpedoes hit the port side of the ship just below the water line causing it to take on water. The forth torpedo hit the port 4inch magazine causing a fire that subsequently spread to the main magazines. Within moments the magazines began to explode. After the torpedoes had struck, the internal lighting and communication systems failed causing panic and confusion to follow amongst the crew. The Barham at the time was operating the correct degree of watertight subdivision for cruising, but she listed too quickly for any effective countermeasures to be carried out...

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...

[Ginger Beer]

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.

[Seeteufel]

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

[lesrae]

Originally Posted by Seeteufel

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...

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

[Ginger Beer]

Originally Posted by Seeteufel

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

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