H. M. S. Gloucestor during the 1916: Is it in any museum now

upncmnhistori

Is the H. M. S. Gloucester that was firing from Galway Bay during the Easter Rising 1916 housed in any museum or is it well gone?

Judgement Day

upncmnhistori wrote: »

Is the H. M. S. Gloucester that was firing from Galway Bay during the Easter Rising 1916 housed in any museum or is it well gone?

Sold for scrap in 1921 according to Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Gloucester_(1909)

upncmnhistori

I wonder does any of that scrap exist? Its one of those items that seems to disappear straight after '16.

pedroeibar1

upncmnhistori wrote: »

I wonder does any of that scrap exist? Its one of those items that seems to disappear straight after '16.

Of course it does; it has been recycled so many times now there probaby is a bit in your kitchen, enfolding some phaseolus vulgaris in a sauce of Lycopersicon esculentum.

gobnaitolunacy

Ships tend to have short-ish working lives, esp. naval vessels that at that time became obsolete pretty quickly.

Maybe some maritime museum or the Imperial War Museum has preserved the bell, crest plaque or nameplate, that's about all that's gonna be left.

gobnaitolunacy

I'm pretty sure I saw the nameplate from HMY Helga in Collins Barracks a while back, probably on loan from the IWM.

Sertus

Semi related : HMS Caroline (1914), berthed at Belfast docks, and formally used as a Naval Reserve training vessel until the 1990's, is now the only surviving ship from the 1916 Battle of Jutland, and as far as I know, one of the very last warships from WWI still in existence and afloat. It’s planned to restore her as a tourist attraction.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/9615493/HMS-Caroline-to-become-a-tourist-attraction.html

BFDCH.

It was sold for scrap but never made it to Dublin to be scrapped, it sunk off the coast of Waterford I think, I read about this yesterday in an Irish dive site book..... Will try to sort out some pics

pedroeibar1

BFDCH. wrote: »

it sunk off the coast of Waterford I think, I read about this yesterday in an Irish dive site book.....s

It's not in Vol 1 or 2 of E J Bourke's books on Irish shipwrecks - I don't have Vol 3.

johnny_doyle

in "Danger Zone : The Queenstown Command" Edward Keeble Chatterton indicates that it was the sloop HMS Laburnam that fired in 1916 rather than HMS Gloucester.

The log book of HMS Zinnia contains references to shelling by the Laburnam.

The shelling by the Laburnam is mentioned in the witness statement of Galway Volunteer Frank Hardiman who was on board at the time

http://95.45.178.102/reels/bmh/BMH.WS0406.pdf

nuac

It is amazing that the Royal Navy had to be called to shell the Galway volunteers

johnny_doyle

gobnaitolunacy wrote: »

I'm pretty sure I saw the nameplate from HMY Helga in Collins Barracks a while back, probably on loan from the IWM.

it is indeed on display in the museum in Collins Barracks but I don't think it's on loan from the IWM.

"The Sea Hound : The Story of an Irish Ship" is a good read re the Helga/Muirchú

Fratton Fred

nuac wrote: »

It is amazing that the Royal Navy had to be called to shell the Galway volunteers

Gun boat diplomacy. The RN was a show of strength.

nuac

OK, I can understand bring the Hecla up the Liffey to attempt to dislodge the volunteers from teh GPO - Altho politically a bad move - having to call the Navy in to shell the second city of the empire. I can't understand shelling Mellows and his men in Galaway. The British would have troops in Athlone and Galway, and afaik the volunteers there didn't hold any major building

johnny_doyle

HMS Gloucester landed Royal Marines while the transport Great Southern landed Royal Munster Fusiliers from Cork to supplement the small draft of Army recruits and training staff present in Galway.

As the telephone lines from Galway to Dublin (and on to London) had been cut, the Royal Navy commander in Galway was originally communicating by telephone to Clifden, across the transatlantic wires to America, back then to London (and on to Dublin and Queenstown). HMS Adventure was sent to Kingstown to aid wireless communications between Dublin and London and I believe that HMS Gloucester was in a position to aid with wireless communications for Galway.

The smaller ships still had their normal anti submarine, rescue and minesweeping patrol work to do. U-19 was still in the area somewhere and there was always the possibility that the Aud had laid mines along the coast. U-19 sank 6 ships off Ireland between 21st and 25th April 1916. U-45 was operating further south and sank 4 ships between 27th April and 2nd May. U-67 sank 3 ships between 16th and 22nd April 1916. U-Boats based in Germany tended to avoid going through the Dover Straits and travelled around Ireland/Scotland. It was a missed opportunity not having torpedo or mine laying u-boats in the area around Kingstown/Dublin given the number of re-inforcements coming from England by sea.

Troops in Athlone (including the 4 x 18pounder artillery pieces used to shell the GPO and other buildings) were sent to Dublin.

It's unlikely that the Helga shelled the GPO - it's gun was fired by line of sight and wouldn't have had the elevation or the command and control to deliver shells over the riverside buildings and onto the GPO. It's log book records shells fired into Liberty Hall and into a building near Bolands Mill but not the GPO. There is a shell in Collins Barracks that was found in the GPO (in 1926 I think) and labelled as being from the Helga but it looks like an 18pounder artillery shell rather than a 12pounder naval shell which is what the Helga fired.

HMS Laburnum ended up in Singapore (where there had been a Rising against the British in 1915) and was scuttled when the Japanese invaded in 1942. Later raised.

upncmnhistori

johnny_doyle wrote: »

HMS Gloucester landed Royal Marines while the transport Great Southern landed Royal Munster Fusiliers from Cork to supplement the small draft of Army recruits and training staff present in Galway.

As the telephone lines from Galway to Dublin (and on to London) had been cut, the Royal Navy commander in Galway was originally communicating by telephone to Clifden, across the transatlantic wires to America, back then to London (and on to Dublin and Queenstown). HMS Adventure was sent to Kingstown to aid wireless communications between Dublin and London and I believe that HMS Gloucester was in a position to aid with wireless communications for Galway.

The smaller ships still had their normal anti submarine, rescue and minesweeping patrol work to do. U-19 was still in the area somewhere and there was always the possibility that the Aud had laid mines along the coast. U-19 sank 6 ships off Ireland between 21st and 25th April 1916. U-45 was operating further south and sank 4 ships between 27th April and 2nd May. U-67 sank 3 ships between 16th and 22nd April 1916. U-Boats based in Germany tended to avoid going through the Dover Straits and travelled around Ireland/Scotland. It was a missed opportunity not having torpedo or mine laying u-boats in the area around Kingstown/Dublin given the number of re-inforcements coming from England by sea.

Troops in Athlone (including the 4 x 18pounder artillery pieces used to shell the GPO and other buildings) were sent to Dublin.

It's unlikely that the Helga shelled the GPO - it's gun was fired by line of sight and wouldn't have had the elevation or the command and control to deliver shells over the riverside buildings and onto the GPO. It's log book records shells fired into Liberty Hall and into a building near Bolands Mill but not the GPO. There is a shell in Collins Barracks that was found in the GPO (in 1926 I think) and labelled as being from the Helga but it looks like an 18pounder artillery shell rather than a 12pounder naval shell which is what the Helga fired.

HMS Laburnum ended up in Singapore (where there had been a Rising against the British in 1915) and was scuttled when the Japanese invaded in 1942. Later raised.

Thanks for that but may I ask for the book references you used please?

nuac

thanks Up - very interesting, especially the comms between Clifden to London

johnny_doyle

upncmnhistori wrote: »

Thanks for that but may I ask for the book references you used please?

I've listed some of the books I've been going through re 1916 etc at this link

http://johnny-doyle.blogspot.co.uk/

The Sea Hound
Secret Victory
Danger Zone
My Mystery Ships

are probably the best with regards the Royal Navy around Ireland. The other books have snippets (not always correct).

pedroeibar1

johnny_doyle wrote: »

My Mystery Ships

Good book. I remember dipping into it to check details of the 'Farnborough'. Must go back to it. BTW In full agmt with you on GPO and Liberty Hall / long guns-v-howitzers.