
First Battle-Cruiser Squadron in 1915, in line of battle against the setting sun. Oil on canvas by by William Lionel Wyllie, 1915. In collection of National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.
First Battle-Cruiser Squadron in 1915, in line of battle against the setting sun. Oil on canvas by by William Lionel Wyllie, 1915. In collection of National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.
HMS Dido, HMS Ajax, and HMS Orion in action off Crete, 21st May 1941. The three cruisers and four destroyers (Janus, Hasty, Hereward, Kimberley) formed “Force D” under Rear-Admiral I.G.Glennie. On the night of 21st May, an Axis convoy of twenty caïques escorted by the Italian destroyer-escort Lupo attempted to land German troops at Maleme.
HMS Formidable named and launched at Portsmouth 1898. The battleship served in the Royal Navy until 1915 when she was torpedoed and sunk by the German U-boat U.24 in the English Channel. Print in collection of National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.
Casualty and survivor lists courtesy of the incomparable naval-history.net.
The Great Western Riding a Tidal Wave, 11 December 1844. Painting by Joseph Walter in collection of National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (via BBC Your Paintings).
A portrait of the wooden paddle steamer ‘The Great Western’. Built by Brunel, she was the first of his three steamships and pioneered the steam deep water passenger trade. She was launched at Patterson & Mercer’s yard in Bristol on 19 July 1837 and sailed to London later that month to be fitted out.
The ‘Great Western’ sailed from Bristol on her maiden voyage on 8 April 1838, arriving at New York on 23 April. She completed 45 Atlantic voyages to New York for her original owners, the Great Western Steamship Company, before being sold to the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company for its service between Britain and the West Indies. The sale was forced in order to raise funds to salvage the company’s other ship, the ‘Great Britain’ (1843), from Dundrum Bay. Following service to the West Indies, the ‘Great Western’ was employed as a troop transport during the Crimean War. She was broken up at Castle’s Yard on the Thames in August 1856.
The painting is signed ‘J Walter’, and is a smaller version of a painting in the Bristol City Art Gallery and Museum.