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Saturday, 9 March 2019

Mystery Early Twentieth Century RN Ship Identities, Help Sought

I would appreciate any help or commentary on these photographs, the digital scans of which were passed onto me by a family friend. They will have been probably taken in Rosyth, Edinburgh between the wars.

Picture 1:
A "gun boat" or "armoured cruiser"?
Bob Cordery's spotted these as: "looks very like the side view of one of the Brazilian river gunboats built by Vickers and taken into RN service after the outbreak of WWI. Two of them were used to destroy the SMS Koenigsberg when it was trapped up the Rifuji River. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humber-class_monitor"


Picture 2:
A Jack Tar relaxing on the banks of the Forth, perhaps near Arthur's Seat?


Picture 3:
A part from a family/friends photo in the foreground, do I spy a surviving "Splendid Cat" in the background (HMS Tiger?).
Bob Cordery spotted it better, it's a Queen Elizabeth class "fast" super-dreadnought battleship (that has the right number funnels [two] and the Fifth Battle Squadron was based in Rosyth!  


Picture 4:
An early RNAS - Fleet Air Arm plane?
Bob Cordery spotted this as: "looks like it might be a Fleet Air Arm Blackburn Ripon torpedo bomber (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackburn_Ripon"

Picture 5:
Edinburgh businessmen?


Picture 6:
RN auxiliary cruiser, depot ship or transport?


Picture 7:
Edinburgh street scene?


Picture 8:
Thinking cruiser ... looks older than a light cruiser, perhaps a protected cruiser?
Bob Cordery spotted this as:  "looks as if it might be one of the Astraea-class Protected Cruisers. 8 were built and they all had tall, thin funnels and a spotting top on their foremast. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astraea-class_cruiser)."


Picture 9:
Rosyth dockyard scene?


Any thoughts on the above appreciated. I am off to see if Conway or Janes can be any help to me. Thanks in advance for taking the time to leave a comment.

8 comments:

  1. Picture 1 looks very like the side view of one of the Brazilian river gunboats built by Vickers and taken into RN service after the outbreak of WWI. Two of them were used to destroy the SMS Koenigsberg when it was trapped up the Rifuji River.

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete
  2. I should have added the following link to my previous comment: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humber-class_monitor

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete
  3. Picture 3 has a Queen Elizabeth-class battleship in the background.

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete
  4. Picture 4 looks like it might be a Fleet Air Arm Blackburn Ripon torpedo bomber (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackburn_Ripon).

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete
  5. Picture 8 looks as if it might be one of the Astraea-class Protected Cruisers. 8 were built and they all had tall, thin funnels and a spotting top on their foremast. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astraea-class_cruiser).

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete
  6. Of course the home of the 5th Battle Squadron and only two funnels to boot! Nice spot Bob I feel a bit of a newbie on that one! The "Splendid Cats" had three funnels!

    Cheers

    ReplyDelete
  7. Really appreciate your help Bob
    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  8. The "protected cruiser" is a little bit freaky IMHO all those funnels remind me of a swarm of Meercats on their hind legs ... or perhaps its my weird imagination ;)

    Does this mean you have your Internet back

    ReplyDelete