Berwick

Berwick

Postby Whickham » Wed Sep 05, 2012 7:11 am

I think this must be HMS BERWICK, broken up at Blyth 12/07/1948

I have her as an early County Class built at Fairfield and completed in 1928.

Photographer unknown

Berwick.jpg
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Re: Berwick

Postby Whickham » Thu Sep 06, 2012 6:57 am

I think this is another shot of the BERWICK

Photographer unknown

Berwick2.jpg
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Re: Berwick

Postby E28 » Sat Aug 02, 2014 8:20 pm

Berwick only paid off for disposal early 1948, being sold to H B that 15th June.
She had a very active war seeing a good deal of action being awarded 4 battle honours.

Both images in the previous posts show her looking remarkably intact, if somewhat forlorn.
All superstructure, funnels, masts, cranes are intact, as are the sites for her secondary and tertiary weapons. That constitutes her 8 - 4" twin mounts, 40mm, 20mm guns and torpedo tubes all which have been removed, together with most of her radar and radio fit.
However all her twin 8" Mk VIII 50 calibre guns on their Mk 1 mounts are intact in A, B, X and Y positions.

Who can name all 5 ( yes, there are five ) tugs though. Not me for certain.
Thats all folks. Sean.
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Re: Berwick

Postby magoonigal » Sun Aug 03, 2014 8:34 pm

Hmmmm Well........

The obvious head Tugs are FRANCIS BATEY and JOFFRE.

Now if the three stern tugs were picked up at Blyth they were probably be EARL OF BEACONSFIELD, STEEL and GREATHAM, but at that distance hard to tell which one is which!
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Re: Berwick

Postby E28 » Sat May 20, 2017 8:18 pm

Iceland was a neutral Country at the outbreak of WW2, the question was for how long could it remain so.
Britain was convinced her location would be of inestimable value to our cause, it was decided to act.

The rather hasty ill planned invasion would eliminate any likelihood of Germany doing so, the plan was hatched and before we knew it, Iceland became a strategic base from which the allies would operate ships and convoys for much of the duration.

On the 8th May 1940 the cruisers HMS Berwick and Glasgow, with two F class destroyers, Fearless and Fortune, embarked Marines of the 2nd Royal Marine Battalion in the Clyde, headed North, arrived off the capital Reykjavik on the 10th and invaded Iceland. There were no casualties.

That is the straightforward manner in which Operation Fork gained this strategic Island for the allies mutual benefit. We simply sailed in.

On completion of Fork, Berwick returned to Liverpool with a few Germans who were detained in the usual manner whilst hostilities took a darker course for a prolonged 5 years during which the outcome of Fork could be evaluated as excellent.

That is a result of the highest order.
Thats all folks. Sean.
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Re: Berwick

Postby northeast » Sun May 21, 2017 6:07 am

Fascinating, I had not appreciated that we took Iceland by force. No wonder they wanted their fish back in the 1970's!

From Wikipedia .... British aplomb!

"Home 8. Dined and worked. Planning conquest of Iceland for next week. Shall probably be too late! Saw several broods of ducklings."
— Alexander Cadogan, British Permanent Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, diary entry for 4 May 1940.[
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