The Duke of Edinburghs Revisited

bezobrazov

Post subject: Re: The Duke of Edinburghs Revisited

Posted: December 5th, 2014, 9:35 pm

Posts: 3406
Joined: July 29th, 2010, 2:20 pm

So, here she is, the unfortunate HMS Black Prince, as she probably looked like at about 1830hrs, May 31, 1916 approx 30 nm NNW by N of the German High Seas Fleet and less than 14 nm off the port bow of HMS Iron Duke and 10 nm wide off the port beam of the HMS Defence, about 35 minutes before engaging the crippled SMS Wiesbaden, drifting in between the two enemy battle-lines, which were about to engage.

During the battle which followed their arrival on the scene, the Black Prince seems to have lost contact with the remaining British Fleet; this happened about six hours before a blissfully ignorant Capt. Thomas Bonham steered almost straight across the path of the Imperial German Navy's 1st Battle Squadron under Konteradmiral Erhardt Schmidt, heading for Horn's Reef.

During the day action the cruiser had been the fourth ship astern of HMS Defence as Rear Admiral Sir Robert Arbuthnot commenced his naval 'Death Ride at Balaclava', having his flagship blown up and the Warrior severely damaged till a crippled HMS Warspite came to her succor. The Black Prince, too, seems to have received at least a half dozen quite serious hits, but what actually happened to her after the annihilation of the 1st Cruiser Squadron during the evening hours still remains one of the deepest mysteries of the entire WW1.

She was last heard of at 2048 when she sent off a signal to report there had been a submarine sighting. This was faintly taken in by the Princess Royal and only belatedly, around 2300, relayed by semaphore to Beatty in the Lion It was beginning to get dark by now and so much was happening that other British ships had no time to look out for her. Upon seeing the German battle-line, Capt. Bonham ordered a request to be transmitted by searchlight asking for directions and the head of the British column. Realizing his mistake soon enough, Capt Bonham had the searchlights turned off, but still didn't take evasive action.

The German battle ship SMS Thüringen challenged her, but received no answer. Two more times the Germans repeated this. Then, at about 0100 on June 1st the inferno broke loose as one after the other the German dreadnoughts opened fire at the unknown, presumably, hostile vessel.

At that point the hapless Capt Bonham had taken the proper action, initiating a sharp turn to port, away from the closing line of menacing battle wagons. But now it was too late, far too late.

At between 1,100 and 1,000 yards every shot from the German line told. The German expert gunners had to actually depress their gun muzzles in order for them to find their range and target. But found it they did. Desperately trying to fight back, the poor, unfortunate cruiser fired a few rounds of her port side 6" open-shielded battery before those, too, were blown away. Already nearly all her main batteries had been destroyed, the very first German salvo sending 'a' turret hurling into the seas. Next the two centre stacks were hurled into the water, making her appear like a crippled German battle cruiser to the surviving crew of the destroyer HMS Spitfire, laying stopped in the water, having survived the ramming of a German battleship.
It took 15 frightening minutes for the German Navy to complete their destructive work. Then a dull, still tremendous, explosion was heard onboard her, as the fiercely burning Black Prince was drifting away from the German battle-line. This was followed by several minor ones and then a huge one, and then HMS Black Prince was no more. Nor were 857 tars and officers, including the gallant Capt. Thomas Bonham. As a concluding remark here I would like to insert the German Official Naval History's description of her end:

Quote:

She presented a terrible and awe-inspiring spectacle as she drifted down the line blazing furiously until, after several minor detonations, she disappeared below the surface with whole of her crew in one tremendous explosion.

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My depiction of her in her final moment of glory sees her proudly flying the over-sized White Ensigns which we know Sir David Beatty ordered to be hoisted in the Battle Cruiser Fleet, as well as Hon. Hugh Evan-Thomas' 5th Battle Squadron. We also know that, in order to emulate Beatty, whom he was intensely jealous of, Sir Robert ordered a similar display to be hoisted on his cruisers. Her top-masts have been struck, and a 9ft range-finder have been fitted in a platform high up on the foremast.

The most noticeable change, though, is the complete suppression of her ill-designed secondary battery. Now, instead, there are three 6" open gun mounts between the wing 9.2" turrets, each side. Although woefully exposed to the weather and completely unprotected, they offer a much superior gun position. The misconception, sometimes seen, that the Black Prince sailed at Jutland, essentially in her pre-war configuration, is a myth which hereby can be disabused.
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My Avatar:Петр Алексеевич Безобразов (Petr Alekseevich Bezobrazov), Вице-адмирал , царская ВМФ России(1845-1906) - I sign my drawings as Ari Saarinen

Last edited by bezobrazov on December 6th, 2014, 7:19 am, edited 3 times in total.

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