Maritime and Military News – Page 230 – JCs Royal New Zealand Navy Ships and New Zealand Defence, Also other World Defence Updates

HMS Vanguard was a British fast battleship built during World War II and commissioned after the war. She was the only ship of her class and was the biggest, fastest and last of the Royal Navy’s battleships,[2] and the final battleship to be launched in the world. Work on the ship’s design commenced before the war because the Royal Navy anticipated being outnumbered by the combined German and Japanese battleships in the early 1940s. The British had enough 15-inch (380 mm) guns and turrets in storage to allow one ship of a modified Lion-class battleship design to be completed faster than the ships of that class that had already been laid down. Work on Vanguard was started and stopped several times during the war and even after construction had begun, her design was revised several times to reflect war experience. These stoppages and changes prevented her from being completed during the war. Vanguard ‘s first task after completing her sea trial at the end of 1946 was, early the next year, to convey King George VI and his family on the first Royal Tour of South Africa by a reigning monarch.[3] While refitting after her return, she was selected for another Royal Tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1948. This was cancelled, however, by King George’s declining health, and Vanguard briefly became flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet in early 1949. After her return home in mid-1949, she became flagship of the Home Fleet Training Squadron. Throughout her career, the battleship usually served as the flagship of whichever unit she was assigned to. During the early 1950s, Vanguard was involved in a number of training exercises with NATO forces. In 1953 she participated in Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation Review. While she was refitting in 1955, the Admiralty announced that the ship was going to be put into reserve upon completion of the work. Vanguard was sold for scrap and was broken up beginning in 1960.

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USS PERRY 1964 – USS Perry (DD-844) was a Gearing-class destroyer of the United States Navy, the fourth Navy ship of that name and the fifth named for Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry (1785–1819), victor of the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812 and one of the early heroes of the U.S. Navy. Perry was laid down on 14 May 1945 by the Bath Iron Works Corp., Bath, Maine; launched on 25 October 1945; sponsored by Mrs. George Tilton; and commissioned on 17 January 1946, Commander Clyde J. Van Arsdall, Jr., in command. https://ift.tt/2wJYb4a

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HMS Birmingham was a member of the first group of five ships of the “Town” class of light cruisers. She was built at Devonport Dockyard (Plymouth, U.K), and launched on 1 September 1936.

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HMS MALAYA at Scapa 1943 – HMS Malaya was a Queen Elizabeth-class battleship of the British Royal Navy, built by Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth and Company at High Walker and launched in March 1915. She was named in honour of the Federated Malay States in British Malaya, whose government paid for her construction. Unlike her sisters Queen Elizabeth, Warspite and Valiant, Malaya did not undergo a significant rebuilding between the wars.

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HMS DIOMEDE, 1940 –

HMS Diomede was a Danae class cruiser of the Royal Navy. Constructed at Vickers Armstrong, Barrow, she was constructed too late to take part in World War I and was consequently completed at the Royal Dockyard, Portsmouth. Between the wars, she served on the China Station, Pacific waters, East Indies Waters and from 1936 onwards,Continue reading “HMS DIOMEDE, 1940 –”