HMS Barham 1941
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Marker: recorded wreck position (Second World War).
Key facts
| Name | HMS Barham | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Year lost | 1941 | Wikidata P793 significant event, point-in-time qualifier |
| Era | Second World War | derived from year |
| Ship type | dreadnought | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Cause of loss | Collision | Keyword match in English Wikipedia lead sentence |
| Nationality / flag | United Kingdom | Wikidata P137 operator → P17 country |
| Operator | Royal Navy | Wikidata P137 operator |
| Conflict | World War I, World War II | Wikidata P607 conflict |
| Sea / ocean | Mediterranean Sea | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Nearest coast | Egypt | Natural Earth (public domain); approx. 117 km from land |
| Position | 32.5667, 26.4000 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
HMS Barham was one of five Queen Elizabeth-class battleships built for the Royal Navy during the early 1910s. Completed in 1915, she was often used as a flagship and participated in the Battle of Jutland during the First World War as part of the Grand Fleet. For the rest of the war, except for the inconclusive action of 19 August 1916, her service generally consisted of routine patrols and training in the North Sea.
During the 1920s and 1930s, the ship was assigned to the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Home Fleets. Barham played a minor role in quelling the 1929 Palestine riots and the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine. The ship was in the Mediterranean when the Second World War began in September 1939, on her voyage home three months later, she accidentally collided with and sank one of her escorting destroyers, HMS Duchess.
She participated in the Battle of Dakar in mid-1940, where she damaged a Vichy French battleship and was slightly damaged in return. Barham was then transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet, where she covered multiple Malta convoys.
Diving & visiting
The waterline belt of the Queen Elizabeth class consisted of Krupp cemented armour (KC) that was 13 inches (330 mm) thick over the ships' vitals. The gun turrets were protected by 11 to 13 inches (279 to 330 mm) of KC armour and were supported by barbettes 7–10 inches (178–254 mm) thick. The ships had multiple armoured decks that ranged from 1 to 3 inches (25 to 76 mm) in thickness. The main conning tower was protected by 13 inches (330 mm) of armour. After the Battle of Jutland, 1 inch (25 mm) of high-tensile steel was added to the main deck over the magazines and additional anti-flash equipment was added in the magazines.
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.
Location
- Recorded position: 32.5667, 26.4000 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- Sea / ocean: Mediterranean Sea
- Nearest coast: Egypt
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article HMS Barham (04) (revision 1374709711), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “Protection and aircraft”; condensed by selecting paragraphs and trimming at sentence boundaries; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby wrecks
- HMS Jervis 10 km
- HMS Jackal 1942 · 10 km
- HMS Kipling 28 km
- U-577 1942 · 57 km
- HMS Naiad 1942 · 61 km
- HMS Imperial 1941 · 72 km
Other wrecks of the World War I
- Japanese cruiser Nisshin 1936
- HMS Calypso 1940
- HMS Curlew 1940
- HMS Wakeful 1940
- HMS Warrior 1940
- HMAS Waterhen 1941
- HMS Calcutta 1941
- HMS Repulse 1941
- HMS Terror 1941
- HMT Force 1941
All 163 wrecks of the World War I →
Browse more: Africa wrecks · wrecks off Egypt · Mediterranean Sea · Second World War