HMS Warspite (03)
Warspite under way in the Indian Ocean, 16 July 1942
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History | |
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United Kingdom | |
Name | Warspite |
Ordered | 1912 |
Builder | HM Dockyard, Devonport |
Cost | £2,524,148[1] |
Laid down | 31 October 1912 |
Launched | 26 November 1913 |
Commissioned | 8 March 1915 |
Decommissioned | 1 February 1945 |
Stricken | 19 April 1947 |
Identification | Pennant number: 03 |
Motto | Belli dura despicio ("I Despise the Hardships of War") |
Nickname(s) | Grand Old Lady |
Honours and awards | 15 battle honours (and 10 inherited honours) |
Fate | Sold for scrap, 1947 |
General characteristics (as built) | |
Class and type | Queen Elizabeth-class battleship |
Displacement | |
Length | 643 ft 9 in (196.2 m) |
Beam | 90 ft 7 in (27.6 m) |
Draught | 33 ft (10.1 m) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion | 4 shafts; 2 steam turbine sets |
Speed | 24 knots (44 km/h; 28 mph) |
Range | 5,000 nmi (9,300 km; 5,800 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
Complement |
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Armament |
|
Armour |
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General characteristics (1937 refit, where different) | |
Displacement |
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Beam | 104 ft (31.7 m) |
Draught | 32 ft 4 in (9.9 m) |
Installed power |
|
Speed | 23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph) |
Range | 7,579 nmi (14,036 km; 8,722 mi) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
Armament |
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Armour |
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Aircraft carried | 4 × amphibious aircraft |
Aviation facilities | 1 × aircraft catapult |
HMS Warspite was one of five
During the
When she was launched in 1913 the use of oil as fuel and untried 15-inch guns were revolutionary concepts in the naval arms race between Britain and Germany, a considerable risk for Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, and Admiral of the Fleet Sir Jackie Fisher, who had advocated the design. However, the new "fast battleships" proved to be an outstanding success during the First World War. Decommissioned in 1945, Warspite ran aground under tow to be scrapped in 1947 on rocks near Prussia Cove, Cornwall, and was eventually broken up nearby.
Warspite was the sixth Royal Navy ship to bear the name. It likely originated from an archaic word for woodpecker, 'speight'; with the implication that, during the age of sail the war-speight would peck holes in her enemies' wooden hulls.[2]
Design and description
The Queen Elizabeth-class ships were designed to form a fast
Warspite had a
The Queen Elizabeth class was equipped with eight
Warspite was completed with two
The
The ship was fitted with flying-off platforms mounted on the roofs of 'B' and 'X' turrets in 1918, from which fighters and reconnaissance aircraft could launch. Exactly when the platforms were removed is unknown, but no later than Warspite's 1934–1937 reconstruction.[9]
Construction and career
Warspite, the sixth warship of the Royal Navy to carry the name, was
First World War
Battle of Jutland (1916)
Following the German raid on Lowestoft in April 1916, Warspite and the 5th Battle Squadron were temporarily assigned to Vice-Admiral David Beatty's Battlecruiser Force.[15] On 31 May, Warspite was deployed with the squadron to fight in the Battle of Jutland, the largest naval encounter between Britain and Germany during the war. Following a signalling error, the battleships were left trailing Beatty's fast ships during the battlecruiser action, and the 5th Battle Squadron was exposed to heavy fire from the German High Seas Fleet as the force turned away to the north,[16] although Warspite was able to score her first hit on the battlecruiser Von der Tann.[17]
The 5th Battle Squadron then headed north, exchanging fire with both Hipper's battlecruiser force and the leading elements of Scheer's battleships, damaging Markgraf.[18] When the squadron turned to join the Grand Fleet, the damage from a shell hitting the port-wing engine room caused Warspite's steering to jam as she attempted to avoid her sister ships Valiant and Malaya.[19] Captain Phillpotts decided to maintain course, in effect circling, rather than come to a halt and reverse. This decision exposed Warspite and made her a tempting target; she was hit multiple times, but inadvertently diverted attention from the armoured cruiser Warrior, which had been critically damaged whilst attacking the leading elements of the German fleet.[19] This action gained her the admiration of Warrior's surviving crew, who believed that Warspite's movement had been intentional.[20]
The crew regained control of Warspite after two full circles. Their efforts to end the circular motion placed her on a course which took her towards the German fleet.[21] The rangefinders and the transmission station were non-functional and only "A" turret could fire, albeit under local control with 12 salvos falling short of their target. Sub Lieutenant Herbert Annesley Packer was subsequently promoted for his command of "A" turret.[22] Rather than continue, Warspite was stopped for ten minutes so the crew could make repairs. They succeeded in correcting the problem, but the ship would be plagued with steering irregularities for the rest of her naval career. As the light faded the Grand Fleet crossed ahead of the German battle line and opened fire, forcing the High Seas Fleet to retreat and allowing Warspite to slip away.[23]
Warspite was hit fifteen times during the battle,[24] and had 14 killed and 16 wounded; among the latter warrant officer Walter Yeo, who became one of the first men to receive facial reconstruction via plastic surgery.[25] Although she had been extensively damaged, Warspite could still raise steam and was ordered back to Rosyth during the evening of 31 May by Rear-Admiral Hugh Evan-Thomas, commander of the 5th Battle Squadron. Whilst travelling across the North Sea the ship came under attack from a German U-boat. The U-boat fired three torpedoes, all of which missed their target. Warspite later attempted to ram a surfaced U-boat.[26] She signalled ahead for escorts and a squadron of torpedo boats came out to meet her. They were too slow to screen her effectively, but there were no more encounters with German vessels and she reached Rosyth safely on the morning of 1 June, where it took two months to repair the damage.[27]
1916–1918
Upon the completion of her repairs, Warspite rejoined the 5th Battle Squadron. Further misfortune struck soon afterwards, when she collided with Valiant after a night-shooting exercise, necessitating more repair work at Rosyth. Captain Philpotts avoided reprimand on this occasion, but was moved to a shore-based job as Naval Assistant to the new First Sea Lord, Admiral Jellicoe.
Interbellum (1919–1939)
In 1919, Warspite joined the 2nd Battle Squadron, part of the newly formed
Between March 1934 and March 1937, she underwent a major reconstruction in Portsmouth at a cost of £2,363,000. This refit gave the Admiralty a virtually new warship, replacing internal machinery and significantly changing the battleship's appearance and capabilities.[35]
- Propulsion: The reconstruction project replaced her propulsion machinery and installed six individual boiler rooms, with Admiralty three-drum boilers, in place of 24 Yarrow boilers; geared Parsons turbines were fitted in four new engine rooms and gearing rooms. This increased fuel efficiency, reducing fuel consumption from 41 tons per hour to 27 at almost 24 knots, and gave the warship 80,000 shp. The 1,500-long-ton (1,524 t) weight saving on the lighter machinery was used to increase protection and armament.[36]
- Armour: 1,100 long tons (1,118 t) of armour were added, improving coverage forward of A turret and the boiler rooms, as well as an increase to 5 inches over the magazines and 3.5 inches over the machinery.[37] Better sub-division of the engineering rooms strengthened the hull and improved its integrity.[38]
- Armament: The last pair of torpedo tubes were removed and the 6 inch guns had their protection reduced; four guns were removed from the fore and aft ends of the batteries.[36] Eight 4 inch high-angle guns in four twin mountings and two octuple 2 pdr pom-poms were added to her anti-aircraft defences, as well as additional .50 calibre machine guns on two of the main turrets.[36] The original 15-inch turrets were upgraded to increase the elevation of the guns by ten degrees (from 20° to 30°), providing a further 9,000 yards of range to a maximum of 32,300 yd (29.5 km) with a 6crh shell.[39] The fire control was also modernised to include the HACS Mk III* AA fire control system and the Admiralty Fire Control Table Mk VII for surface fire control of the main armament.[36]
Additionally, her superstructure was radically altered, allowing two cranes and an aircraft hangar to be fitted. This could carry four aircraft, but Warspite typically carried only two: from 1938 to 1941 these were Swordfish floatplanes and from 1942 to 1943 Walrus flying boats. Her tripod mast was removed and a distinctive armoured citadel built up to enclose the bridge and to provide space for her to operate as a flagship.[38]
After completion of the refit, Warspite was recommissioned under the command of Captain
Second World War
Atlantic and Narvik (1939–1940)
Warspite's first task was to escort convoy HX 9 carrying fuel from Nova Scotia to the UK. She was diverted northwards in pursuit of the German battleships
In April 1940, Warspite had started her voyage back to the Mediterranean when the Germans invaded Denmark and Norway; she rejoined the Home Fleet on 10 April and proceeded towards Narvik.[48] On 13 April, Vice-Admiral William Whitworth hoisted his flag in Warspite and led nine destroyers, three sweeping mines and six in an offensive role, into Ofotfjord to neutralise a force of eight German destroyers trapped near the port of Narvik.[49] Her Fairey Swordfish float-plane sank the German U-boat U-64 with 250 lb bombs, becoming the first aircraft to sink a U-boat in the war.[50] The Swordfish continued to provide accurate spotting reports during the early afternoon which were, arguably, more important to the course of the battle than the Warspite's guns.[51] The British destroyers soon opened fire on their counterparts, which had almost exhausted their fuel and ammunition following the First Naval Battle of Narvik. All were sunk during the action. Warspite destroyed the heavily damaged Z13 Erich Koellner with broadsides, while damaging Z17 Diether von Roeder and Z12 Erich Giese. Diether von Roeder had to be scuttled while Erich Giese was sunk in conjunction with destroyers.[52] The Second Naval Battle of Narvik was considered a success. She remained in Norwegian waters, participating in several shore bombardments around Narvik on 24 April, but these proved ineffectual and she returned to Scapa Flow prior to being redeployed to the Mediterranean on 28 April.[53]
Mediterranean (1940–1941)
Calabria
Warspite arrived safely in Alexandria before Italy entered the war on 10 June 1940. Admiral Cunningham took the fleet to sea on 7 July to meet two convoys travelling from Malta to Alexandria, knowing that part of the Italian fleet was escorting its own convoy to Tripoli. Cunningham hoped to draw the Regia Marina into battle by sailing towards the "toe" of Italy to cut them off from their base at Taranto.[54] The two fleets eventually met 30 miles from Punta Stilo at the Battle of Calabria on 9 July 1940. Initially, the Allied cruisers, armed with 6-inch guns, were outranged by the 8-inch guns of their heavier Italian counterparts and disengaged. Seeing that they were under pressure, Cunningham took Warspite ahead to assist his cruisers. The Italian cruisers turned away under a smoke screen while the battleships Giulio Cesare and Conte di Cavour closed on Warspite before Malaya and Royal Sovereign could catch up.[55]
During the battle Warspite achieved one of the longest range gunnery hits from a moving ship to a moving target in history, hitting Giulio Cesare at a range of approximately 24 km (26,000 yd), the other being a shot from Scharnhorst which hit Glorious at approximately the same distance in June 1940.[55][56] The shell pierced Giulio Cesare's rear funnel and detonated inside it, blowing out a hole nearly 6.1 meters (20 ft) across, while fragments started several fires and their smoke was drawn into the boiler rooms, forcing four boilers off-line as their operators could not breathe which reduced the ship's speed to 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph). Uncertain how severe the damage was, Campioni ordered his battleships to turn away in the face of superior British numbers and they disengaged behind a smoke screen laid by Italian destroyers. The destroyers and cruisers on both sides continued shooting for half an hour but with Malaya and Royal Sovereign coming into range, the Italian fleet disengaged. Over 125 aircraft of the Regia Aeronautica attacked the ships over the next three hours but caused no damage.[57] Warspite returned to Alexandria on 13 July.
Taranto
In mid-August, she set out to bombard Bardia and on 6 November she sailed from Alexandria to provide cover for the Battle of Taranto, a torpedo-bomber attack on ships in Taranto harbour.[58] As a result of this attack, Warspite and Valiant were able to bombard the Italian supply base in the Adriatic port of Vlorë in mid-December.[59] On 10 January 1941, Warspite was lightly damaged by a bomb while operating with Force A during Operation Excess.[60]
Matapan
In March 1941, to support the planned German
The Battle of Cape Matapan had a paralysing effect on the Regia Marina, providing the Royal Navy with an opportunity to tighten its grip on the Mediterranean, as evidenced by the unequal Battle of the Tarigo Convoy near the Kerkennah Islands on 16 April.[67] This was not enough and the success of the Afrika Korps in North Africa induced Churchill to order a desperate attack on Tripoli to block the Axis supply route by sinking a battleships in the harbour.[68] Cunningham rejected this plan, but on 21 April he sailed with Warspite to bombard the harbour in company with Barham and Valiant, the cruiser Gloucester and several destroyers.[69] The raid was ineffectual, partly because of poor visibility created by dust from an earlier RAF bombing raid;[70] the fleet returned to Alexandria without damage. The futility of the mission and the exposure of his battleships led to a tense exchange of letters between Cunningham and Churchill.[71]
Crete
During the Battle of Crete, Warspite was used as a floating anti-aircraft battery and[72] like many other ships, suffered severe damage from German air attacks on 22 May.[73] A 500 lb bomb damaged her starboard 4-inch and 6-inch batteries,[74] ripped open the ship's side and killed 38 men.[75] The attack was carried out by Jagdgeschwader 77 (JG 77—Fighter Wing 77). Oberleutnant Kurt Ubben, a future flying ace with 110 enemy aircraft shot down, claimed a hit on the warship.[76] She was able to make it back to port under her own steam, but the damage could not be repaired in Alexandria and it was decided that she would have to be sent to Bremerton on the west coast of the United States.[77]
Repair and refit
In June 1941, Warspite departed Alexandria for the
Indian Ocean (1942–1943)
Warspite joined the
During May and June, Warspite continued to act as Somerville's flagship, carrying out exercises with other elements of the fleet and shore-based aircraft in Ceylon. In early June, she was sent to hunt the Japanese auxiliary cruisers Aikoku Maru and Hōkoku Maru near the Chagos Archipelago but failed to find them.[84]
In August, she was involved in
Mediterranean (1943–1944)
She underwent a short refit in May in another attempt to fix her steering problem, then joined
Between 2 and 3 September, Warspite and Valiant covered the
On 14 September, Force H was recalled to the UK to begin preparations for the invasion of France, but Warspite and Valiant were detached to provide support for Allied forces at Salerno.[84] Although the Italians had surrendered, the Germans had anticipated this and moved forces into position to block the Allied landings. The American forces near Battipaglia were in a precarious situation following German counter-attacks. After arriving off Salerno on 15 September, Warspite bombarded an ammunition dump and other positions around Altavilla Silentina, demoralising the German forces and providing time for Allied reinforcements to arrive.[90] Overnight, the fleet came under intense air attack, but she was able to continue bombardment duties the next day. However, early in the afternoon she was attacked by a Luftwaffe squadron of Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter bombers and then, from high altitude, by three Dornier Do 217 bombers from KG 100 armed with an early guided bomb, the Fritz X. She was hit directly once; a second near-miss ripped open the torpedo bulges while the third missed altogether. The bomb that did hit her struck near the funnel, cutting through her decks and making a 20-foot hole in the bottom of her hull, crippling her. Although the damage had been considerable, Warspite's casualties amounted to only nine killed and fourteen wounded.[91]
She was soon on the journey to Malta, escorted by the anti-aircraft cruiser Delhi and four destroyers, while being towed by United States Navy tugs. Towing a ship of Warspite's dimensions proved difficult, and at one stage she broke all tow lines and drifted sideways through the Straits of Messina.[92] She reached Malta on 19 September and undertook emergency repairs before being towed to Gibraltar on 12 November.[84] Warspite returned to Britain in March 1944 to continue her repairs at Rosyth. Captain Packer was mentioned in despatches for his actions bringing the ship to Malta,[93] the second time he had limped into port on board a heavily damaged Warspite.
North-Western Europe (1944–1945)
At Rosyth, Warspite's 6-inch guns were removed and plated in, and a concrete caisson covered the hole left by the German missile. One of her boiler rooms and the X turret could not be repaired, remaining out of action for the remainder of her career.[94] She left Greenock on 2 June 1944 with six 15-inch guns, eight 4-inch anti-aircraft guns and forty pom poms, joining Bombardment Force D of the Eastern Task Force of the Normandy invasion fleet off Plymouth two days later.[84]
At 0500 on 6 June 1944, Warspite was the first ship to open fire,
Warspite arrived off Ushant on 25 August 1944 and attacked the coastal batteries at Le Conquet and Pointe Saint-Mathieu during the Battle for Brest.[84] The U.S. VIII Corps eventually captured "Festung Brest" on 19 September, but by then Warspite had moved on to the next port. In company with the monitor Erebus, she carried out a preparatory bombardment of targets around Le Havre prior to Operation Astonia on 10 September, leading to the capture of the town two days later. Her final task was to support an Anglo-Canadian operation to open up the port of Antwerp, which had been captured in September, by clearing the Scheldt Estuary of German strongholds and gun emplacements. With the monitors Erebus and Roberts, she bombarded targets on Walcheren Island on 1 November 1944, returning to Deal the next day, having fired her guns for the last time.[97]
Decommissioning
During her service career, Warspite had lived up to her motto, enduring shellfire, bombing, ramming, mines and a guided missile. However, time had taken its toll and more modern ships were required to continue the war in the Far East. Although there were proposals to retain her as a museum ship, the Admiralty approved Warspite's scrapping in July 1946 and she sailed from Spithead into Portsmouth to have her guns removed.[98]
On 19 April 1947, Warspite departed Portsmouth for scrapping at
In 1950, an attempt to re-float her was tried. A large crowd and the media watched on as the salvage crew set to work. Despite the use of 24 compressor tanks pumping air into her tanks, the salvage failed. There was insufficient depth of water to float her clear of the reef in a rising south westerly gale. The salvage boat Barnet, standing guard overnight under the Warspite’s bows was holed in the engine room, towed off and eventually drifted ashore at Long Rock, a few miles to the west. However, by August the battleship was finally beached off
A memorial stone was placed near the sea wall at
Battle honours
This Warspite earned 15 of the 25 battle honours awarded to Royal Navy ships of this name.[110]
First World War
- Jutland 1916
Second World War
- Atlantic 1939
- Narvik 1940
- Norway 1940
- Calabria 1940
- Mediterranean 1940-41-43
- Malta Convoys 1941
- Matapan 1941
- Crete 1941
- Sicily 1943
- Salerno 1943
- English Channel 1944
- Normandy 1944
- Biscay 1944
- Walcheren 1944
Notes
- ^ "Cwt" is the abbreviation for hundredweight, 20 cwt referring to the weight of the gun.
Citations
- ^ Roskill, 1957, p. 87.
- ISBN 978-1-84884-350-9.
- ^ Burt 2012b, p. 277
- ^ Parkes, pp. 560–561
- ^ Burt 2012b, pp. 284–285, 287
- ^ Burt 2012b, pp. 284–285, 288–289
- ^ Raven & Roberts, pp. 20–21, 30
- ^ Raven & Roberts, pp. 21, 26
- ^ Raven & Roberts, pp. 30, 231
- ^ Burt 2012b, p. 284
- ^ a b c Ballantyne, 2013, p. 30.
- ^ Sutherland and Canwell, 2010, p. 62.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 29.
- ^ Watton, 1986, p. 8.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 32.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 42–43.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 41.
- ^ Campbell, 1998, p. 134–145.
- ^ a b Ballantyne, 2013, p. 50.
- ^ Marder, 1978, p. 97–98.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 51.
- ^ "No. 29751". The London Gazette (Supplement). 15 September 1916. p. 9079.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, pp. 51–52.
- ^ Campbell, 1998, p. 354.
- ^ "Walter Ernest O'Neil Yeo". Yeo Society. 2009. Retrieved 23 September 2009.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 53–56.
- ^ Watton, 1986, pp. 7–8.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, pp. 65–66.
- ^ a b c d Watton, 1996, p. 8.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 67.
- ^ a b c Ballantyne, 2013, p. 71.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 72.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 73.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 77.
- ^ a b Ballantyne, 2013, p. 79.
- ^ a b c d Ballantyne, 2013, p. 80.
- ^ Raven & Roberts, 1976, p. 234.
- ^ a b c Ballantyne, 2013, p. 81.
- ^ Brown 2012, p. 151–152.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 84.
- ^ Roskill, 1957, p. 187.
- ^ Plevy, 2001, p. 105.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 85.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 89.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 91.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 92.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 93.
- ^ Churchill, 1948, p. 543.
- ^ O'Hara, 2013, p. 43.
- ^ O'Hara, 2013, p. 45.
- ^ O'Hara, 2013, p. 54.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 98–100.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 104.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 107.
- ^ a b Ballantyne, 2013, p. 110.
- ^ Garzke & Dulin, 1985, p. 154.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 111.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 113–114.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 116.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 117.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 118.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 119.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 122.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 124–125.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 126.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 126–127.
- ^ Miller, 1997, p. 132.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 128–129.
- ^ Churchill, 1950, p. 214.
- ^ Churchill, 1950, p. 215.
- ^ Churchill, 1950, p. 213–215.
- ^ Miller, 1997, p. 135.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 131.
- ^ Churchill, 1950, p. 257.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 133.
- ^ Angolia & Bender, 1981, p. 81.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 138.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 138–139.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 140.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 143.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 145.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 148.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, pp. 73, 150, 153, 160.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Mason, Geoffrey B; Mike Simmonds. "Service Histories of Royal Navy Warships in World War 2". Retrieved 27 October 2013.
- ^ Sandler, 2001, p. 728.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 164.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 165.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, pp. 167–168.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, pp. 173–176.
- ^ Hoyt, 2006, pp. 82–83.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, pp. 180–181.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, pp. 182–183.
- ^ "No. 36334". The London Gazette (Supplement). 18 January 1944. p. 356.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, pp. 186–187.
- ^ a b Ballantyne, 2013, p. 188.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 193.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 195.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 197.
- ^ Larn, R. & Larn, B. (1991) Shipwrecks around Mounts Bay. Penryn: Tor Mark Press.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 198.
- ISBN 0-9533028-0-6.
- ^ "HMS Warspite. - Submerged". www.submerged.co.uk. Retrieved 2 December 2021. "By now it was obvious that the Warspite would never be taken to the Clyde for scrapping so it was decided to cut her up where she lay. For ease of access they manage to move her the short distance to a beach alongside St. Michael’s Mount. Over the next five years she was chopped up, until she disappeared from view."
- ^ "The history of Macsalvors". www.macsalvors.com. Archived from the original on 21 November 2016. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 200.
- ^ "HMS Warspite Chapel Door". RNA Norwich. 14 November 2017. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
- ^ "Official gun tompion of HMS Warspite". Royal Museums Greenwich. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
- ^ Plevy 2001, p. 240.
- ^ "Rattet kom i 1947". 12 October 2009.
- ^ "HMS Warspite in the Second World War 1939-1945 - The Wartime Memories Project -". wartimememoriesproject.com. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
- ^ Ballantyne, 2013, p. 6.
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