US Navy machinist's mate - The black cloud at 7:05 - The stacks were still exhausting smoke as she rolled over. I have to suspect that a boiler or two exploded as the sea reached them. Indicated by the black soot in initial release of the explosive cloud. The over pressurization within the hull would have caused a compressive shock wave in the surrounding spaces with an accompanying adiabatic temperature raise. Any nearby powder stores could have detonated with the ship coming apart as the pressure increased. Insufficient oxygen delayed the fire until the hull had been breached as witnessed at 7:08.
@@AktarusGoldrake-zb8fsif you look closely around the rest of the footage, it seems to indicate that the flash you are seeing is most likely a film error. There are dozens of these flashes appearing in small spots all over the footage in different areas.
My uncle was a sub-lieutenant on HMS Hotspur, one of Barham’s escort ships. He was asleep in his cabin before going on watch and was aroused by a commotion outside, and someone shouted “The Barham has copped it! “ Together with HMS Nizam Hotspur was involved in rescuing survivors, many of whom were badly lacerated from sliding down the barnacle-encrusted hull. One of those they took onboard was the Vice-Admiral, Pridham-Whippel. My uncle was impressed by the care given to the survivors by the toughest hard-cases of Hotspur’s crew. There was very much a sense of “your bad day today could be mine tomorrow”
Life has funny twists. The Kaptain of U-331, Oblt. Freiherr Hans-Diedrich von Tiesenhausen, after his capture (as told in this video) ended up first in a POW camp in the UK but as the war of attrition hammered the Germans and more were captured, he was sent to a POW camp in Bowmanville, Canada. It seems he fell in love with Canada. After the war ended, he along with the thousands of POW's were eventually repatriated back to their home country. Yet von Tiesenhausen, who loved what Canada had to offer, went thru the minimum 5yrs of *LEGALLY* waiting to file papers to immigrate. He first landed in Montreal then made his way to Ontario. Eventually he ended up out HERE on the West Coast, specifically West Vancouver, B.C. And that is where I met him as a client of the bank I worked in.. Along with his very lovely Austrian wife. He was an accomplished and well regarded landscape architect PLUS nature photographer. As I am also a photographer, he & I were always enjoying time to the cameras. Yet I never knew that he was the Kaptain of the U-331 until the internet sent me into researching naval battles etc and sinkings. And that is the rest of the story.
@@johnschofield9496 It was during one of our many chats over photography, Hans had stepped out to the washroom and I remember asking his lovely wife, as to how long they had been in Canada, considering both had very distinct accents. She said due to the war and the results, both had to apply and be vetted. His was a bit longer as of his service. I never pried or asked how long they were together..
@@GuardDog42 He had a very quiet demeaner, soft spoken. His wife was more the businessperson. Other than our mutual interest in photography, only saw him from time to time although before I relocated to Eastern Canada for a few years ( He passed away in August 2000 ).
@@Cdntrvler54 Part of me is afraid that as we lose men who are part of all sides of the conflicts we're losing touch with the human element of it all.. History tends to polarize conflicts in such a way that turns participants into either heroes or villains. The youth who often lack a sense of nuance might not understand that these are men, with families and homes, desires and dreams. People who hurt, bleed, and died to protect the people they loved and what they believed in. We have short memories, don't we?
I've seen the video of the explosion literally hundreds of time, but this is the first account I've seen that truly details what happened. It's a miracle that so many survived !
The way the armoured deck peels back and slams into the superstructure is incredible. I was amazed that anyone survived this, when I first saw the footage, but the fact that so many men did is the the one silver lining.
@@donkeyslayer9879 Hyperbole refers to exagerated statements which are not meant to be taken literally. @jpd4627's statement was not hyperbole; It was a statement of fact.
@donkeyslayer9879 i say that simply because people tend to focus on the ship. Not always the men serving on it. Usually, in videos, casualties are just a one sentence passing mention. When, in fact, they are the ship.
An engaging look at the tragic event that was the loss of HMS Barham. The fact it was caught on film is astounding. Do we know who was the camera operator? They did a remarkable job under the circumstances, I do believe.
My mother was a cypher operator just starting at naval headquarters in Malta having just left school. She was being trained by a retired naval officer's wife named Mrs. Black when a signal came in. Mrs Black deciphered it without comment and handed it to my mother to take it down the corridor to the Admiral (Cunningham?). My mother wasn't meant to read it but did. It was the first news that Barham had been sunk with great loss of life. My mother knew Mrs. Black's son was on board so she told the Admiral this when she handed it over. He went straight to Mrs. Black and asked if she wanted to go home. Mrs. Black replied, "No, I will finish my shift." In those days the "stiff-upper-lip" was still a thing. Today she would instantly have been surrounded by half a dozen "counsellors"
@@markaxworthy2508 Being a non-religious grief councillor is - being non-religious is now far more common too. It used to be taken for granted that you would belong to a church. In some countries like Germany it was legally REQUIRED.
A tragic loss all the more so by being shown in such graphic detail. As dramatic as events were I don't get a feeling of huge panic from the officer who gave his knife to a PO attempting to free a lashing, but more from his determination to retrieve his Burberry - an expensive item that he would have had to buy himself! As ever, thank you for your detailed and considered recounting of the astonishing and tragic event 🙏👏
An incredibly tragic event, her loss has captured my imagination for well over a decade. That Burberry is nothing to sneeze at, I have a similar overcoat that was handed down to me from my father, incredible quality!
we had barely entered the war by the time most of those ships were sunk. Repulse & Price of Whales were sunk only days after pearl harbor. Sad that POW nearly escaped the fate of HMS Hood just a few months prior, only to end up sunk not long after.
its a terrifying thought, but that explosion was probably a mercy for anyone unlucky enough to be left below decks as she capsized... ngl, if i had the choice between being trapped below deck in a capsized ship as she sinks into the black abyss or being trapped below deck during a massive explosion like that, id take the explosion for sure, at least that way theres a pretty good chance that it would be instantaneous.
Look at the footage of Arizona exploding, there were smoke clouds coming out of orifices in the rear hull. That ship’s interior was filled by the brutal flash. All the below deck crew were in a horrific flame. The rear deck only settled hours later, the crew at the rear suffered.
Did anyone else notice that the explosion blew out the bottom of the hull? I would think that would indicate the explosion was also in one of the barbets that extend down to almost the bottom of the ship. The white steam/smoke at the very beginning of the explosion seems to indicate the boiler went as well. Tough day for all involved and sympathies for the lost crew and families.
From my very casual observation, it looks as though ordinance became dislodged and crashed into the fire as she rolled to port. She exploded the moment she exceeded 90 degrees. Look closely and you can see a huge section of what appears to be her deck blow out and fold over.
Your observation is indeed casual, i suggest some light research into the storage of explosives on warships and how they wouldn't "fall in the fire"". Boiler explosion leading to over pressurisation of the powder magazines is far more likely.
@@railgap It just seems that a roll like that would crash down everything and that massive explosion happened right at that moment. It had to be a massive amount of ordinance going off to peel up that deck like that.
What is kinda surprising is that, in spite of the rapid sinking and very violent explosion, almost 500 of her compliments made it out alive. I know it sunk surrounded by its task force and escorts but still.
Has anybody given any consideration that as she turned over, many of her fuel sprayer for the in service boilers would still be in service. Their is no automatic shut off of fuel oil when capsizing occurs. Also the boilers themselves are hot with heat being added to generate steam. When relatively cold sea water touches this surface, it will cause thermal cracking, possibly causing the first detonation, which in turn led to the major one. Just an informed theory. I was an ex navy stoker on super heated boilers.
Rudolf, you have a much better insight into these events than most other people, so I, for one, give more weight to your experience based comment. Thanks for your comment. Few people today work with steam, much less superheated steam. Most of my knowledge about steam is in relation to generating electricity and comes from my Father. Mark from Melbourne Australia
Jervis actually detected U331 but the contact wasn't certain amidst the peculiar temperature gradient, and the destroyer unfortunately didn't steam over to make sure of it. She would have derailed the torpedo attack and possibly sunk the U Boat. Ironically had Barham not been sunk, as Cunningham implies, 1st battle squadron would have been out in support of the December convoy and likely engaged Littorio, Guilio Caesare and Andrea Doria at First Sirte. A decisive British victory sinking at least one of the Italian battleships at the height of the British counter attack in Libya might have had massive impact, possibly shortening the North African campaign. A tragic event all around...
It is very clear from the video that the explosion took place very far toward the stern, and so the X and Y magazines were the cause, not the 6 inch magazines.
It seems interesting that the explosion occurs directly after the stack starts to take on water in. Wouldn't the cold water on reaching the boilers cause an explosion?
The question of which magazines exploded would be partly answered if an effort was pit into finding and surveying the wreck happened. If only the mid section of the wreck was destroyed, then only the 6-inch magazine exploded. If a large section of aft portion of the ship that contains the x or y magazines is similarly destroyed, then you will have more answers. Like for instance the finding that the rudder of the Hood was at 15°, thus putting the timing of the hit from the Bismarck and resulting explosion at a time the ship was heeling into the final turn, thus angling the deck in such away that the angle of impact between the incoming final salvo increase, thus nullifying the advantage of the immunity zone that existed starting at the point of ordering the turn to clear the rear turrets fire angle. So far, any official naval historians have been either completely mute on this point or completely non-committal when directly informed on the theory. Even when considered been one of the leading experts in naval Ballistics. It seems the 'lucky shot' theory is saving British naval 'face' to explain the penetrating of the Hood's after magazine, rather than been simple Ballistics versus armour arrangement calculation that the deck armour was still vulnerable WHILE THE HOOD WAS TURNING. But no official theory of a 'short shot' slipping under the side armour holds more weight, even when EVERY eyewitness account agrees that the mid aft deck of the Hood was hit near the main mast located just forward of the aft gun sighting position was the penetrating hit that was just prior to the explosion sequence. In NO official historical account does the 'HEELING OF THE HULL' while turning enter the discussion. Understandable before the wreck survey. It is unforgivable after the fact as a true historical record is the ONLY motivating factor a proper historian should seek.
I think there is a key difference here. With Hood, the explosion was the direct cause of the sinking. With Barham (as well as Yamato and Musashi), the explosion was a consequence of the capsize and sinking. For Barham the three torpedoes in almost the same place were more than a World War 1 battleship could survive, even despite the torpedo protection added between the wars. Maybe a King George V class battleship might have survived such a hit, but it would have been in a very sorry state afterwards.
the range simply wasn't sufficient for the 'plunging fire' theory repeated so often. 14 kilometers is rather close in terms of naval engagement, and obviously not enough for the shells to hit the deck as the trajectory isn't that curved
@@user-vd5dg3gg7p Indeed, the incoming shell would have been at a shallow angle of about 10 to 15 degrees. At that angle, a 3 in thick armoured deck is equivalent to many inches of armour. And even if (by some remote chance) the shell penetrated the deck, it would have most likely have missed anything vital.
However, a low angle shot arriving towards the stern could have gone just above the waterline (depressed there on the Hood due to speed and the shape of the hull) and below the armor belt.
There was never a solid 3" armoured deck anywhere on Hood, it was built with a designed 1 1/2" battlecruiser solid armoured deck with a very uneven additional patchwork only laid by the builders on top of the finished deck layout of the plans finalised *before* Jutland. Hood had only a weaker dual 1 1/2" layers deck in specific and limited likely shell paths over the weaker rear hull, there were plenty of shell paths much more vulnerable than if facing 3" of total thickness armour. The detailed armour plans can be found on-line. A picture is worth a thousand words. Lucky one in a million shot lame excuses are far less embarrassing than admitting to having sent 1,500 sailors to their predictable deaths in a ship well known to be unfit for its assigned purpose of facing heavy guns, exactly like what had been done twenty five years earlier.
My dad was on the sister ship Malaya which was hiit by U106 earlier in the year but survived and missed out on this action im glad to say having crossed the Atlantic to New york for repairs .
One should never forget the George Cross island! My father was an officer on HM Submarine Torbay, and berthed in Malta on 3 or 4 occasions during WW2. Postwar he commanded T-Class submarines until 1956, and passed by several times. Which is why he mentioned it to me when I was a small boy. /
6:03 Disclodged ammunition shells perhaps falling freely in the six" magazine? I'm no expert in how ammunition is stored on battleships. If the explosion was "immediately above the funnel" it sounds like it was started by a boiler problem. The HMS Royal Oak was an antique but it was sound naval preparation that they had 15 battleships.
Much like what happened at Jutland, I always assumed that the torpedo hits ignited the cordite stores, which in turn led to an ammunition magazine explosion.
Here you go my friend, about as close as you're going to get. The footage you see is only about 1:30 long. th-cam.com/video/YdrISbwy_zI/w-d-xo.htmlm21s
Feeling a ship is un-lucky because of being damaged now and then does not make the ship un-lucky. If getting damaged is what makes a ship un-lucky then HMS Warspite, and USS Enterprise just to name a couple most have been very un-lucky ships but no one ever calls them that.
Those were my feelings on the subject. However, on the video linked in the description I got some comments suggesting that. I felt I should probably include it and give it the caveat that I did.
Need to look into the boiler room. The “fire ball “ is likely munition powder, Initial explosion is black… with some white indicating oil/ water …. Enormous amounts of water rushed the boiler room and the “bottom” blew out as expected. The ship was still under power and boiler room in operation the entire time. Old time mariners know the danger of sea water rushing a boiler room. Boom! Take a Tour of the Jeremiah O’Brien - San Francisco.
U-331 fired 4 torpedoes, 3 detonated amidships, who wants to bet the 4th entered the hole made by them, impacted something "soft" enough and didn't detonate, when the ship rolled, the torpedo impacted something hard enough to detonate it.
Merlin Burrows has located HMS Barham. Don't know how close the ship has been inspected. British Battlecruiser Hood and Battleship Barham both suffered lucky hits that lead to catastrophic explosions. Personally would believe the magazine explosion over boiler explosion theory. A study of Hood's sinking would be good comparison for magazine explosion. Hood was hit between the 4 inch and 15 inch magazines which cause the catastrophic explosion. What ship(s) suffering catastrophic boiler explosion do we have to study from?
This was most likely a boiler explosion. The stack gas shows that the boilers are still making steam. The explosion happened just a few seconds after the stack entered the water. The flames were most likely from coal dust igniting.
If you look real hard you see the main explosion take place in the middle of the ship,The boilers exploded?,Other things could have added to the explosion?
@@paulkirkland3263 bruv you need fire for Magazine or a sudden detonation nearby she was torpedoed amidships not bombed or shelled that and while fires can be contained in compartments there was fk all smoke that was catastrophic flooding before they could safe the boilers the speed it goes down you would be hard pressed to tell given she was an Older Boat her Boiler Rooms were huge basically the internal Layout its either her fuel Bunkers igniting or the flooding as admidships all she is is fuel bunkers and boilers. We really splitting hairs on what sent her to chill with Davey but the engineering lay out and impact points of the strikes of that torp spread if it was a fire maybe the fuel bunker but you would see that quite noticeably as she turned turtle means seriously bad rapid flooding which is essentially the enemy of a fire and we are talking super fast time frame here like we know the hood went but that was a magazine yeetage so lit all of their fuses at once but to break it down we dont have the frame rate available given the everything happened inside before the hull plates went flying. like you are correct the Magazines but it wasnt a fire the time frame and hit locations dont match up :P fk im spliittin that hair! Think of a Boiler explosion as like the difference between that eruption in Tonga and say some run of the mill one on land its the super heated steam exploding that makes it all that much more explosive even with the already tremendous pressure the magma is already under which is all to do with boilers and how they function they essentially harness that kinetic energy and play a game of heavily monitored dials and valves etc in a laymans sense and if by some reason an event occurs that prevents the boilers being able to de pressurize in their safe way rather than their spectacular way as we bear witness to in this tragic and very real footage! We Both right but i guarantee ya it was the boilers making it all pop is how that went down as they are directly adjacent to the region that is the boiler compartment not really super compartmentalized by the way rather big cavern inside as refits etc and repairs require some wiggle room so its one of the saftey's the were obliged to forgo placing reliance on engineers and training to fix other issues. basically Barham was a failure and a lesson in design and tactics as it was the worst case scenario not chance to hard turn and dip armor belt or anything she ate them right in the guts deep soft spot they designed those things to hit! come to think of it Early WW2 was a super Harsh Lesson in Hubris for the British Navy because not long after Barham they lost HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales HMS Glorious as well!
The combination of firstly white super heated steam and black sooty smoke coupled with a black voluminous smoke shroud followed less than a split second later by a cataclismic vast brown and black smoked explosion, that all coalesced into one lends me to think her boilers possibly went first due to inversion and massive water ingression into the boilers which blew out catastrophically the shock wave then igniting its closest ammunition magazine hence the massive brown cordite type smoke and black H.E explosion with a large fire flash at the very moment the largest explosion occured half a second later which flame sheet then blew off a huge peice of superstructure on her port bow. or even maybe the magazine ready use rack had a round tip off and detonate on a bulkhead as she went inverted causing the same effect, the last explosion was obviously an H.E explosion all simple unqualified speculation I know but until she is located and dived upon we will never have a cast iron definitive answer.
Ever since I first saw video of Barham's sinking I have have the thought that the first of the internal explosions was due to water reaching the extremely hot boilers. Water in contact with very red iron will split into oxygen and hydrogen, and at those temperatures the hydrogen will explode. This could then have touched off the magazine. Only a thought, but as the explosion appears to have occurred as the funnel dipped into the water it could be a factor.
Maybe the water reached the boiler and this is why the black and white smoke after the explosion..if it was her ordinance it will be more fire explosion...but on the explosion you can see her boiler funnel is under water as after few seconds she exploded..
l have not found any indication that the men who served on Barham considered her unlucky. The Admiralty did seem to take a long time before they informed relatives of her loss.
There was a company in the early 2000s that claimed to have found the wreck (from what I remember). I don’t believe they furnished any photographs or scans, so it is a dubious claim.
I guess the case for it being an unlucky ship is a bit like a half full glass of your favourite drink a optimist would say half full glass good have some drink would also say surviving a hit makes it lucky, but just as a pessimistic person would say only have a half glass to drink they would argue its unlucky as it got hit. It's all about how you look at life. I prefer to say she was a lucky ship to survive dangerous missions for so long. And when she did go she took many brave souls with her.
I don't think we'll ever know the true cause of the explosion that killed so many brave sailors. Sure, it was initiated by the torpedo strikes and the ship was doomed but such a massive explosion? Personally, although I'm no expert, I think the boilers contributed because it occurred just after the stack submerged, but the actual event was far too violent to be just that. These ships carried a HUGE amount of ammunition, especially the 6in and smaller calibres so I would guess that was what blew, no doubt triggering sympathetic destinations in other magazines. Regardless, the loss of life is tragic. May they test in peace!
Has the BARHAM's wreck ever been discovered\explored? It is POSSIBLE that, while it could never be DEFINITIVE, the wreck might point out clues on what cause the explosion (assuming that the explosion even LEFT anything describable as once being a "ship". That explosion might have essentially OBLITERATED her).
That’s a really good question. To which I have only vague answers. There was a company in the early 2000s (if I remember correctly) that claimed to have viewed her wreck, but there’s no footage or scans to back this up, at least to my knowledge.
@@ImportantNavalHistory Rules of thumb: 1. ‘ie‘ is always long like an Englisch ‘ee‘. 2. ‘s‘ between vowels is always soft like an English ’z‘. I really appreciate your efforts to pronounce names correctly; Google‘s crappy pronunciation algorithms are not your fault.
i seriously doubt a boiler explosion would have shattered the hull like this. this was defiantly a magazine most likely a 15 inch mag. but could be a smaller one as im not that familiar with the battle loading on British ships. no magazine on a us ship could do this except for the main mag!
So sad... And every one who Joins the Navy of any naval power and all a military personnel of army's should be made to watch how government's use the men in their service...
@@3rwparks3 I am 68 and hold a Class 2 marine engineer steam ticket, plus C/E Part 1. The explosion is far too powerful - expanding steam from a boiler failure isn't going to blow off the armour belt as seen in the film. The Royal Navy has speculated that during the capsizing, shifting 40mm pom-pom ammunition triggered the detonation. We will never know for certain - but that powerful an explosion is not the boilers failing.
7:47 Misleading footage. That's Fregattenkapitän Otto Kretschmer U-99, not Kapitänleutnant Hans-Diedrich Freiherr von Tiesenhausen U-331 Bad footage is a scourge!
@@jeebusk Freiherr von Tiesenhausen didn't smoke cigars? Just kidding: there's no documentary on the Battle Of The Atlantic that doesn't have that footage or even an interview with Fregattenkapitän Kretschmer, who survived the war!
The cause of the explosion was not…repeat not….due to a magazine explosion if that was the case the explosion would had been directly under the forward turrets however as is shown in the footage the forward turrets are intact when the explosion occurred and the explosion was amidships in the location of the boilers. When she rolled over you can clearly see smoke out of her funnels this meaning that her boilers were still lite….when she rolled over sea water flooded her stack and entered the boiler room causing the explosion as seen in the footage.
What you are saying is not consensus. The magazine you’re describing is the 15” magazine. What you’re forgetting (probably because you’re speculating rather than taking your hypothesis from an expert source in naval history) are the 4” magazines, located aft and outboard of the main turrets. The widely accepted consensus is that those exploded first causing secondary explosions of the main rounds located under those turrets. This is the conclusion of the Board of Inquiry itself- frankly it is inconceivable that they simply overlooked the possibility of seawater triggering an explosion of the boilers. They with their vast expertise in naval construction and their real world experience in the middle of a war, must have considered that idea and rejected it. Probably because the explosion is absolutely massive. It’s gargantuan. There’s no way boilers under steam pressure and fuel oil caused that type of mammoth detonation. Those are explosives within the ship blowing up. For some reason TH-cam won’t let me link to the original BOI, but you can find tons of websites that reference it if you search Google. I usually take the position that experts know vastly more than I do, and that my intuition alone is nowhere near enough to unilaterally contradict accepted consensus from the scientific and/or expert community.
Well said. Your last paragraph is logical and sensible. I heartily agree; however, the way most people on earth suddenly fancied themselves epidemiologists in 2020 proves that we are in a minority.
19:41 @matthewnewton8812 I'm no expert on steam explosions. Especially in naval use. I have seen a lot of accounts of steam engine (trains and farm) boiler explosions. They can be quite powerful. I imagine in ships boiler room it would be a cascade. One boiler going and consequently causing others to. With has to be hundreds if not thousands of gallons flashing to steam. Such an explosion could cause the magazines to detonate as well. Just from the temperature change. My guess is it was most likely a little of column A and a little of column B.
@@brookeonmaui ex royal Navy submariner here I agree that it was a magazine explosion I was fortunate to have read confidential admiralty records on catastrophic internal explosions on his majesty's warships I laid a wreath over the wreck of HMS BULWARK 2 days ago she blew up on the 26th of November 1914 River Medway 4 survived out of over 700 it's worth a research it was and still is the second biggest explosion in the UK
Ive heard from other sources that there was a lot of problems with bad habits & following the correct procedures in the navy with bulk heads doors being left open & gun powder charges being left in the walk ways etc which caused explosions & quicker flooding when the ships was hit
Ridiculous comment. Those lax procedures resulted in the loss of several ships in the battle of Jutland, in WWI. Are you seriously suggesting that the RN didn't correct the faults?
And we’re supposed to believe this same type of explosion happened on the uss Arizona. I encourage everyone to compare the two explosions, and the aftermath of the Arizona. You should begin to realize that Pearl Harbor was not what we’ve been told. You should realize that Japan never attacked us, and like 9/11, nobody was killed or injured that day.
So...coming at this with a little more knowledge than I normally would on this topic. I have a theory, and based on the evidence that is known, its very much plausible. I have been doing a lot of research into Great Lake shipwrecks, and there is one in particular that rings a sort of bell. That being the sinking of SS Carl D. Bradley. In her story, it is stated that after she broke apart, her boilers exploded. This could be the same case for Barham. It would explain the sudden and very violent explosion. Because if those boilers hadn't been shut down, once they hit water, they would have exploded. It would explain why she blew up so violently because not only would the Boilers explode, but they would have taken out sourse of ammunition close to them.
@ImportantNavalHistory You're welcome. It's a theory that's almost impossible to prove. Honestly, I think it would be a situation that is similar to that of the SS Daniel J. Morrell. We know the how, but the why is a question that will remain unanswered.
I have seen this directly after the explosion in so many WW2 movies that have nothing to do with the actual explosion that I have lost count. Being a Marine, I have seen all kinds of explosions, but that was the most extreme ship explosion that I have ever seen or hope to see (or not see). Except for if the Russian carrier Admiral Kuznetsov ever happens to explode. Hopefully, with no one onboard, but what are the chances of that occurring, if that were to happen ... Of course, I am not counting in the experimental nuclear bombs going off underwater, because that would be under a different set of circumstances and outcomes.
I am of the thought that if the Royal Navy had used the 1st world war idea of long pole outriggers that held a anti-torpedo metal nets and the Barham had those out in place at this time the torpedoes would have hit that net and exploded instead of hitting the Barham! If you look at photos of the battleships of the 1st world war you will see those poles along the sides of the ships either out or folded up when not in use! Now yes they stopped using them most likely because of the drag in the water of the nets slowed down the ships? But those would have saved the Barham. Also what about the anti-torpedo bulges and heavy thick armor belt of the Battleship! Why did that not save her? Okay it would not stopped three torpedoes, But it would have stopped maybe two of them and the third would have done less damage. Thereby saving the ship. the ship should have had all the watertight bulkhead doors sealed when underway as the captains know that there could be enemy subs around? The screening destroyers sure let them down, they should have detected the sub as they do sonar scanning for subs as they move along the route. also some of them are meant to be staying along the two sides of the battleships to stop torpedoes from hitting the battleships. So they did not do that this time!
Those nets only worked with the slower torpedoes used at that time. They were ineffective against the faster, heavier torpedoes developed by WW2. Instead, torpedo defence bulges were incorporated in WW2 battleships, and retro-fitted to some earlier vessels. Not sure what mods had been done to Barham.
The British navy had a bad habit of unfastening ammo and powder lining it up for sending to the guns when they knew action was coming. That's what got the Hood they figure. Then with loose fuzed rounds then the ship tips sending fuzes towards the ceiling it's bad.
Not true. It was a bad habit used in WW1, which led to several losses in the battle of Jutland. Procedures were tightened up after that. Hood sank due to a freak shot hitting right where water level dipped about mid way along her hull.
As with HMS HOOD, it is virtually impossible to set down a complete sequence of events. My own opinion on HOOD's demise is one I rarely see repeated - that she was hit at both ends at the same time, resulting in complete disintegration. BARHAM's 'main event' was arguably a 15-inch magazine explosion, possibly with volatile cordite being compressed, falling into fire, or coming into contact with broken wiring. Couple of things of note: The entire quarterdeck is clearly seen peeling forward, as 1 deck's after apex was interrupted by the forward perimeter of X turret's barbette. The shape thus indicates it is all of the after-deck from stern to Y turret. The force of the explosion is so great, the entire ship is briefly pushed in the direction of the bow, as can be seen by the water's disturbance at the point of the explosion. This is pretty clear if one frame advances the footage either side of the blast. The ship's stern is almost certainly non-existent post-eruption, because the bow is pointing skyward seconds after, indicating very rapid flooding of the central area of the ship. Plus, it is highly likely A and B turrets have now dropped out, leaving a relatively buoyant bow section. The explosion shows areas of very fast-moving debris in front of sheets or linear streaks of smoke, and the rather more 'puffy' and blossom-like clouds of dark smoke seen to the left and centre of the picture. This is almost certainly 15-inch cordite exploding with the added compression of the blast meeting water, and starboard side 6-inch magazine cordite going off in flight more slowly as it is ejected from a ruptured hull. I have studied this for years and it still upsets me, not least because the ships side is covered in men, many of whom would have instinctively been moving aft.
Magazine (propellant) explosion, or boiler explosion? The fact that the explosion happened at the exact time water started going down the stack into the boilers leads me to believe it’s a boiler blast.
Sorry HMS Barham was a old ship and the older ships had a known history of cordite explosions. HMS Invincible, HMS Indefatigable, HMS Queen Mary and others fell to cordite explosions, many were thus destroyed by cordite handling problems. The charges were transported to the guns without being in non-inflammable cases, and there was an open path from the magazine to the gun. There was evidence of impropper storage to. If the torpedoes hit and started a fire it would not take much to chain react to the magazines and thus the exposion.
Silly comment, those handling problems were highlighted in the battle of Jutland in WWI. Do you honestly think the RN didn't review all handling procedures and correct things after that?
Don't worry, all wars are financed on both sides by a group of elite bankers who actually rule the world, so there's not really any such thing as German or English.
The real question is why does it take you 20 minutes to get to the point? This is UNFORGIVEABLE because 1) you don't have a cool british accent 2) you're not drachinifel you can be a youtube STAR if you get one of those ai voiceover tools to give you a british accent.
Thank you all for watching! A truly tragic event for those involved. Do let me know what you think about the loss of Barham!
US Navy machinist's mate - The black cloud at 7:05 - The stacks were still exhausting smoke as she rolled over. I have to suspect that a boiler or two exploded as the sea reached them. Indicated by the black soot in initial release of the explosive cloud. The over pressurization within the hull would have caused a compressive shock wave in the surrounding spaces with an accompanying adiabatic temperature raise. Any nearby powder stores could have detonated with the ship coming apart as the pressure increased. Insufficient oxygen delayed the fire until the hull had been breached as witnessed at 7:08.
at 7:03 you can see a small flash near where all the sailors are trying to jump into the sea...you have any thoughts on that?
@@AktarusGoldrake-zb8fsif you look closely around the rest of the footage, it seems to indicate that the flash you are seeing is most likely a film error. There are dozens of these flashes appearing in small spots all over the footage in different areas.
@@karldergrosse-333 I got it now, thank you....at first I thought that was some sort of ignition spark
My uncle was a sub-lieutenant on HMS Hotspur, one of Barham’s escort ships. He was asleep in his cabin before going on watch and was aroused by a commotion outside, and someone shouted “The Barham has copped it! “ Together with HMS Nizam Hotspur was involved in rescuing survivors, many of whom were badly lacerated from sliding down the barnacle-encrusted hull. One of those they took onboard was the Vice-Admiral, Pridham-Whippel. My uncle was impressed by the care given to the survivors by the toughest hard-cases of Hotspur’s crew. There was very much a sense of “your bad day today could be mine tomorrow”
Life has funny twists. The Kaptain of U-331, Oblt. Freiherr Hans-Diedrich von Tiesenhausen, after his capture (as told in this video) ended up first in a POW camp in the UK but as the war of attrition hammered the Germans and more were captured, he was sent to a POW camp in Bowmanville, Canada. It seems he fell in love with Canada. After the war ended, he along with the thousands of POW's were eventually repatriated back to their home country. Yet von Tiesenhausen, who loved what Canada had to offer, went thru the minimum 5yrs of *LEGALLY* waiting to file papers to immigrate. He first landed in Montreal then made his way to Ontario. Eventually he ended up out HERE on the West Coast, specifically West Vancouver, B.C. And that is where I met him as a client of the bank I worked in.. Along with his very lovely Austrian wife. He was an accomplished and well regarded landscape architect PLUS nature photographer. As I am also a photographer, he & I were always enjoying time to the cameras. Yet I never knew that he was the Kaptain of the U-331 until the internet sent me into researching naval battles etc and sinkings. And that is the rest of the story.
I appreciate your note that he LEGALLY went through the system to become a citizen.
@@johnschofield9496 It was during one of our many chats over photography, Hans had stepped out to the washroom and I remember asking his lovely wife, as to how long they had been in Canada, considering both had very distinct accents. She said due to the war and the results, both had to apply and be vetted. His was a bit longer as of his service. I never pried or asked how long they were together..
@@Cdntrvler54That's an incredible story. Is there anything else that stood out to you about the man? Anything else you feel comfortable sharing?
@@GuardDog42 He had a very quiet demeaner, soft spoken. His wife was more the businessperson. Other than our mutual interest in photography, only saw him from time to time although before I relocated to Eastern Canada for a few years ( He passed away in August 2000 ).
@@Cdntrvler54 Part of me is afraid that as we lose men who are part of all sides of the conflicts we're losing touch with the human element of it all.. History tends to polarize conflicts in such a way that turns participants into either heroes or villains. The youth who often lack a sense of nuance might not understand that these are men, with families and homes, desires and dreams. People who hurt, bleed, and died to protect the people they loved and what they believed in.
We have short memories, don't we?
I've seen the video of the explosion literally hundreds of time, but this is the first account I've seen that truly details what happened. It's a miracle that so many survived !
I see this clip quite a,lot. It is misused lot just to illustrate the sinking of some other ship, often a merchant one
That was my first thought, 400 survived THAT!!!! 😳
@GarySpeight-cv5sw YEAH INCLUDING ADMIRAL PRIDHAM-WHIPELL
The way the armoured deck peels back and slams into the superstructure is incredible. I was amazed that anyone survived this, when I first saw the footage, but the fact that so many men did is the the one silver lining.
The thing to remember is that when you see this ship explode you are literally watching hundreds of men die.
I see no reason for that hyperbole.
@@donkeyslayer9879 Hyperbole refers to exagerated statements which are not meant to be taken literally. @jpd4627's statement was not hyperbole; It was a statement of fact.
@@donkeyslayer9879where's the hyperbole? That's exactly what's happening.
@donkeyslayer9879 i say that simply because people tend to focus on the ship. Not always the men serving on it. Usually, in videos, casualties are just a one sentence passing mention. When, in fact, they are the ship.
Truly haunting
An engaging look at the tragic event that was the loss of HMS Barham. The fact it was caught on film is astounding. Do we know who was the camera operator? They did a remarkable job under the circumstances, I do believe.
I did actually find out who filmed it aboard Valiant, John Turner, a cameraman for Gaumont British News. An incredible film.
@ImportantNavalHistory thanks for the extra info!
My mother was a cypher operator just starting at naval headquarters in Malta having just left school. She was being trained by a retired naval officer's wife named Mrs. Black when a signal came in. Mrs Black deciphered it without comment and handed it to my mother to take it down the corridor to the Admiral (Cunningham?). My mother wasn't meant to read it but did. It was the first news that Barham had been sunk with great loss of life. My mother knew Mrs. Black's son was on board so she told the Admiral this when she handed it over. He went straight to Mrs. Black and asked if she wanted to go home. Mrs. Black replied, "No, I will finish my shift."
In those days the "stiff-upper-lip" was still a thing. Today she would instantly have been surrounded by half a dozen "counsellors"
In WW2 death messages were delivered by the local clergy…
@@allangibson8494 Even if true, what is the point of your post here?
@@markaxworthy2508 Having “grief counselling” isn’t new…
@@allangibson8494 It is as a profession.
@@markaxworthy2508 Being a non-religious grief councillor is - being non-religious is now far more common too.
It used to be taken for granted that you would belong to a church. In some countries like Germany it was legally REQUIRED.
A tragic loss all the more so by being shown in such graphic detail. As dramatic as events were I don't get a feeling of huge panic from the officer who gave his knife to a PO attempting to free a lashing, but more from his determination to retrieve his Burberry - an expensive item that he would have had to buy himself!
As ever, thank you for your detailed and considered recounting of the astonishing and tragic event 🙏👏
An incredibly tragic event, her loss has captured my imagination for well over a decade. That Burberry is nothing to sneeze at, I have a similar overcoat that was handed down to me from my father, incredible quality!
@@ImportantNavalHistoryguard it well especially from marauding moths. My Aquascutum went west some time ago, eaten 😢!
1941 was a brutal year for the Royal Navy.
HMS Hood, Barham, Prince of Wales, Repulse, Ark Royal, and all those light and heavy cruisers off of Crete…
we had barely entered the war by the time most of those ships were sunk. Repulse & Price of Whales were sunk only days after pearl harbor. Sad that POW nearly escaped the fate of HMS Hood just a few months prior, only to end up sunk not long after.
My late dad was a survivor he served from 1938 to 1953 Barham was his first ship after leaving training at HMS Caledonia
its a terrifying thought, but that explosion was probably a mercy for anyone unlucky enough to be left below decks as she capsized... ngl, if i had the choice between being trapped below deck in a capsized ship as she sinks into the black abyss or being trapped below deck during a massive explosion like that, id take the explosion for sure, at least that way theres a pretty good chance that it would be instantaneous.
Look at the footage of Arizona exploding, there were smoke clouds coming out of orifices in the rear hull. That ship’s interior was filled by the brutal flash. All the below deck crew were in a horrific flame. The rear deck only settled hours later, the crew at the rear suffered.
Did anyone else notice that the explosion blew out the bottom of the hull? I would think that would indicate the explosion was also in one of the barbets that extend down to almost the bottom of the ship. The white steam/smoke at the very beginning of the explosion seems to indicate the boiler went as well. Tough day for all involved and sympathies for the lost crew and families.
Those men who got on the hull must have thought they barely escaped the worse and then.......
Thank you for this story! I’d seen that dramatic clip several times but I never had any context until now.
Excellent video on such a tragic event, all the more poignant for having been captured on film.
Not as poignant as it was for the crew of the Barham.
Good summation of the Sinking. Thank you.
From my very casual observation, it looks as though ordinance became dislodged and crashed into the fire as she rolled to port. She exploded the moment she exceeded 90 degrees. Look closely and you can see a huge section of what appears to be her deck blow out and fold over.
Your observation is indeed casual, i suggest some light research into the storage of explosives on warships and how they wouldn't "fall in the fire"".
Boiler explosion leading to over pressurisation of the powder magazines is far more likely.
Torpedo hits do not usually cause a fire because of all the water.
How are you able to see through the hull?
@@railgap It just seems that a roll like that would crash down everything and that massive explosion happened right at that moment. It had to be a massive amount of ordinance going off to peel up that deck like that.
my casual observation suggests that the explosion was caused by champagne bottles being opened carelessly. This happened at my sisters wedding.
Thanks for an excellent presentation
What is kinda surprising is that, in spite of the rapid sinking and very violent explosion, almost 500 of her compliments made it out alive. I know it sunk surrounded by its task force and escorts but still.
Has anybody given any consideration that as she turned over, many of her fuel sprayer for the in service boilers would still be in service. Their is no automatic shut off of fuel oil when capsizing occurs. Also the boilers themselves are hot with heat being added to generate steam. When relatively cold sea water touches this surface, it will cause thermal cracking, possibly causing the first detonation, which in turn led to the major one. Just an informed theory. I was an ex navy stoker on super heated boilers.
Not the best place to be in such cicumstances.
/
Rudolf, you have a much better insight into these events than most other people, so I, for one, give more weight to your experience based comment. Thanks for your comment. Few people today work with steam, much less superheated steam. Most of my knowledge about steam is in relation to generating electricity and comes from my Father.
Mark from Melbourne Australia
As a qualified marine engineer, I have to disagree with your theory on the boilers exploding.
The unbelievable violence that men will face in the course of duty and responsibility. Sadness, pride and awe.
What a helpless feeling I am sure for those who witnessed this event.
Jervis actually detected U331 but the contact wasn't certain amidst the peculiar temperature gradient, and the destroyer unfortunately didn't steam over to make sure of it. She would have derailed the torpedo attack and possibly sunk the U Boat.
Ironically had Barham not been sunk, as Cunningham implies, 1st battle squadron would have been out in support of the December convoy and likely engaged Littorio, Guilio Caesare and Andrea Doria at First Sirte. A decisive British victory sinking at least one of the Italian battleships at the height of the British counter attack in Libya might have had massive impact, possibly shortening the North African campaign.
A tragic event all around...
Cold water hitting boilers
It is very clear from the video that the explosion took place very far toward the stern, and so the X and Y magazines were the cause, not the 6 inch magazines.
It seems interesting that the explosion occurs directly after the stack starts to take on water in. Wouldn't the cold water on reaching the boilers cause an explosion?
The question of which magazines exploded would be partly answered if an effort was pit into finding and surveying the wreck happened.
If only the mid section of the wreck was destroyed, then only the 6-inch magazine exploded.
If a large section of aft portion of the ship that contains the x or y magazines is similarly destroyed, then you will have more answers.
Like for instance the finding that the rudder of the Hood was at 15°, thus putting the timing of the hit from the Bismarck and resulting explosion at a time the ship was heeling into the final turn, thus angling the deck in such away that the angle of impact between the incoming final salvo increase, thus nullifying the advantage of the immunity zone that existed starting at the point of ordering the turn to clear the rear turrets fire angle.
So far, any official naval historians have been either completely mute on this point or completely non-committal when directly informed on the theory.
Even when considered been one of the leading experts in naval Ballistics.
It seems the 'lucky shot' theory is saving British naval 'face' to explain the penetrating of the Hood's after magazine, rather than been simple Ballistics versus armour arrangement calculation that the deck armour was still vulnerable WHILE THE HOOD WAS TURNING.
But no official theory of a 'short shot' slipping under the side armour holds more weight, even when EVERY eyewitness account agrees that the mid aft deck of the Hood was hit near the main mast located just forward of the aft gun sighting position was the penetrating hit that was just prior to the explosion sequence.
In NO official historical account does the 'HEELING OF THE HULL' while turning enter the discussion.
Understandable before the wreck survey.
It is unforgivable after the fact as a true historical record is the ONLY motivating factor a proper historian should seek.
I think there is a key difference here. With Hood, the explosion was the direct cause of the sinking. With Barham (as well as Yamato and Musashi), the explosion was a consequence of the capsize and sinking. For Barham the three torpedoes in almost the same place were more than a World War 1 battleship could survive, even despite the torpedo protection added between the wars. Maybe a King George V class battleship might have survived such a hit, but it would have been in a very sorry state afterwards.
the range simply wasn't sufficient for the 'plunging fire' theory repeated so often. 14 kilometers is rather close in terms of naval engagement, and obviously not enough for the shells to hit the deck as the trajectory isn't that curved
@@user-vd5dg3gg7p Indeed, the incoming shell would have been at a shallow angle of about 10 to 15 degrees. At that angle, a 3 in thick armoured deck is equivalent to many inches of armour. And even if (by some remote chance) the shell penetrated the deck, it would have most likely have missed anything vital.
However, a low angle shot arriving towards the stern could have gone just above the waterline (depressed there on the Hood due to speed and the shape of the hull) and below the armor belt.
There was never a solid 3" armoured deck anywhere on Hood, it was built with a designed 1 1/2" battlecruiser solid armoured deck with a very uneven additional patchwork only laid by the builders on top of the finished deck layout of the plans finalised *before* Jutland.
Hood had only a weaker dual 1 1/2" layers deck in specific and limited likely shell paths over the weaker rear hull, there were plenty of shell paths much more vulnerable than if facing 3" of total thickness armour.
The detailed armour plans can be found on-line. A picture is worth a thousand words.
Lucky one in a million shot lame excuses are far less embarrassing than admitting to having sent 1,500 sailors to their predictable deaths in a ship well known to be unfit for its assigned purpose of facing heavy guns, exactly like what had been done twenty five years earlier.
Excellent video. I appreciate that you can put so much information in a short video. Keep up the great videos.
Excellent 👌
My dad was on the sister ship Malaya which was hiit by U106 earlier in the year but survived and missed out on this action im glad to say having crossed the Atlantic to New york for repairs .
My old dad`s cousin went down with the Barham, he was in the boiler room; he never stood a chance.
This definitely was a boiler explosion first, then magazine’s second
Interesting!
9:47 you can see what looks like the deck flop forwards which could indicate a x y magazine explosion
Not forgetting the dock workers from Malta who sailed with her due to the urgent call. RIP all nationalities lost at sea.
One should never forget the George Cross island!
My father was an officer on HM Submarine Torbay,
and berthed in Malta on 3 or 4 occasions during WW2.
Postwar he commanded T-Class submarines until 1956,
and passed by several times.
Which is why he mentioned it to me
when I was a small boy.
/
If you watch closely a huge rectangular piece of presumably the rear of the hull slams into the mid section of the ship, it’s terrifying.
6:03 Disclodged ammunition shells perhaps falling freely in the six" magazine? I'm no expert in how ammunition is stored on battleships. If the explosion was "immediately above the funnel" it sounds like it was started by a boiler problem. The HMS Royal Oak was an antique but it was sound naval preparation that they had 15 battleships.
Much like what happened at Jutland, I always assumed that the torpedo hits ignited the cordite stores, which in turn led to an ammunition magazine explosion.
Is there a full video from beginning to end that was recorded?
Here you go my friend, about as close as you're going to get. The footage you see is only about 1:30 long. th-cam.com/video/YdrISbwy_zI/w-d-xo.htmlm21s
Feeling a ship is un-lucky because of being damaged now and then does not make the ship un-lucky. If getting damaged is what makes a ship un-lucky then HMS Warspite, and USS Enterprise just to name a couple most have been very un-lucky ships but no one ever calls them that.
Those were my feelings on the subject. However, on the video linked in the description I got some comments suggesting that. I felt I should probably include it and give it the caveat that I did.
Need to look into the boiler room.
The “fire ball “ is likely munition powder,
Initial explosion is black… with some white indicating oil/ water ….
Enormous amounts of water rushed the boiler room and the “bottom” blew out as expected.
The ship was still under power and boiler room in operation the entire time.
Old time mariners know the danger of sea water rushing a boiler room. Boom!
Take a Tour of the Jeremiah O’Brien - San Francisco.
U-331 fired 4 torpedoes, 3 detonated amidships, who wants to bet the 4th entered the hole made by them, impacted something "soft" enough and didn't detonate, when the ship rolled, the torpedo impacted something hard enough to detonate it.
I'd bet that the first three blew a big enough breach in the armor for the 4th to go unimpeded straight into one of her boilers
Has the wreck ever been found and explored?
No sir, not to my knowledge.
@@ImportantNavalHistory It was found years ago before rov's were common. The hull is in two pieces. The stern section is the smallest.
@@MrDarcykampe Ah, thank you sir!
I've been wondering about this ship's name forever.
Merlin Burrows has located HMS Barham. Don't know how close the ship has been inspected.
British Battlecruiser Hood and Battleship Barham both suffered lucky hits that lead to catastrophic explosions.
Personally would believe the magazine explosion over boiler explosion theory.
A study of Hood's sinking would be good comparison for magazine explosion. Hood was hit between the 4 inch and 15 inch magazines which cause the catastrophic explosion.
What ship(s) suffering catastrophic boiler explosion do we have to study from?
This was most likely a boiler explosion. The stack gas shows that the boilers are still making steam. The explosion happened just a few seconds after the stack entered the water. The flames were most likely from coal dust igniting.
Were you expecting a gentle explosion?
boilers can cause a catastrophic explosion of that nature especially with rapid flooding!
If you look real hard you see the main explosion take place in the middle of the ship,The boilers exploded?,Other things could have added to the explosion?
Barham was always considered an "unlucky" (jinxed) ship, no one volunteered for duty on it.
Ah, could you prove some sources for that? I’d love to look into more.
blogs.city.ac.uk/communicate/hms-barham-by-id/#:~:text=So%20was%20HMS%20Barham%20an,had%20now%20been%20sunk%20herself.
Magazines exploded 😮
It's unbelievable how even these huge battleships couldn't survive torpedoe hits!!!
You would think that the sides would be torpedo proof!!!
No ship ever built could withstand three or four torpedoes hitting the same place at once
Boilers
Magazine.
@@paulkirkland3263 bruv you need fire for Magazine or a sudden detonation nearby she was torpedoed amidships not bombed or shelled that and while fires can be contained in compartments there was fk all smoke that was catastrophic flooding before they could safe the boilers the speed it goes down you would be hard pressed to tell given she was an Older Boat her Boiler Rooms were huge basically the internal Layout its either her fuel Bunkers igniting or the flooding as admidships all she is is fuel bunkers and boilers.
We really splitting hairs on what sent her to chill with Davey but the engineering lay out and impact points of the strikes of that torp spread if it was a fire maybe the fuel bunker but you would see that quite noticeably as she turned turtle means seriously bad rapid flooding which is essentially the enemy of a fire and we are talking super fast time frame here like we know the hood went but that was a magazine yeetage so lit all of their fuses at once but to break it down we dont have the frame rate available given the everything happened inside before the hull plates went flying. like you are correct the Magazines but it wasnt a fire the time frame and hit locations dont match up :P fk im spliittin that hair!
Think of a Boiler explosion as like the difference between that eruption in Tonga and say some run of the mill one on land its the super heated steam exploding that makes it all that much more explosive even with the already tremendous pressure the magma is already under which is all to do with boilers and how they function they essentially harness that kinetic energy and play a game of heavily monitored dials and valves etc in a laymans sense and if by some reason an event occurs that prevents the boilers being able to de pressurize in their safe way rather than their spectacular way as we bear witness to in this tragic and very real footage!
We Both right but i guarantee ya it was the boilers making it all pop is how that went down as they are directly adjacent to the region that is the boiler compartment not really super compartmentalized by the way rather big cavern inside as refits etc and repairs require some wiggle room so its one of the saftey's the were obliged to forgo placing reliance on engineers and training to fix other issues. basically Barham was a failure and a lesson in design and tactics as it was the worst case scenario not chance to hard turn and dip armor belt or anything she ate them right in the guts deep soft spot they designed those things to hit!
come to think of it Early WW2 was a super Harsh Lesson in Hubris for the British Navy because not long after Barham they lost HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales HMS Glorious as well!
The combination of firstly white super heated steam and black sooty smoke coupled with a black voluminous smoke shroud followed less than a split second later by a cataclismic vast brown and black smoked explosion, that all coalesced into one lends me to think her boilers possibly went first due to inversion and massive water ingression into the boilers which blew out catastrophically the shock wave then igniting its closest ammunition magazine hence the massive brown cordite type smoke and black H.E explosion with a large fire flash at the very moment the largest explosion occured half a second later which flame sheet then blew off a huge peice of superstructure on her port bow. or even maybe the magazine ready use rack had a round tip off and detonate on a bulkhead as she went inverted causing the same effect, the last explosion was obviously an H.E explosion all simple unqualified speculation I know but until she is located and dived upon we will never have a cast iron definitive answer.
Ever since I first saw video of Barham's sinking I have have the thought that the first of the internal explosions was due to water reaching the extremely hot boilers. Water in contact with very red iron will split into oxygen and hydrogen, and at those temperatures the hydrogen will explode. This could then have touched off the magazine. Only a thought, but as the explosion appears to have occurred as the funnel dipped into the water it could be a factor.
Maybe the water reached the boiler and this is why the black and white smoke after the explosion..if it was her ordinance it will be more fire explosion...but on the explosion you can see her boiler funnel is under water as after few seconds she exploded..
I've had that thought myself. Hundreds of tons of cold water rushing down the funnel to the boiler?
I would have thought that would be catastrophic.
l have not found any indication that the men who served on Barham considered her unlucky. The Admiralty did seem to take a long time before they informed relatives of her loss.
So thats how the name is pronounced. Ever since i call it BAR-HAM.
Have they ever tried to find her wreck?
There was a company in the early 2000s that claimed to have found the wreck (from what I remember). I don’t believe they furnished any photographs or scans, so it is a dubious claim.
I guess the case for it being an unlucky ship is a bit like a half full glass of your favourite drink a optimist would say half full glass good have some drink would also say surviving a hit makes it lucky, but just as a pessimistic person would say only have a half glass to drink they would argue its unlucky as it got hit. It's all about how you look at life. I prefer to say she was a lucky ship to survive dangerous missions for so long. And when she did go she took many brave souls with her.
Disturbing to see people getting killed.
It looks to me like all the smoke and debris came from one spot, but I can't tell for sure on this little phone screen.
My great-uncle sank the ship. he was on the u331.
I don't think we'll ever know the true cause of the explosion that killed so many brave sailors. Sure, it was initiated by the torpedo strikes and the ship was doomed but such a massive explosion?
Personally, although I'm no expert, I think the boilers contributed because it occurred just after the stack submerged, but the actual event was far too violent to be just that. These ships carried a HUGE amount of ammunition, especially the 6in and smaller calibres so I would guess that was what blew, no doubt triggering sympathetic destinations in other magazines.
Regardless, the loss of life is tragic. May they test in peace!
Steam explosion, the boilers obviously exploded when the cold sea water hit the steam
All those men.... :-(
As featured on MTV's The Headbangers Ball...
Has the BARHAM's wreck ever been discovered\explored? It is POSSIBLE that, while it could never be DEFINITIVE, the wreck might point out clues on what cause the explosion (assuming that the explosion even LEFT anything describable as once being a "ship". That explosion might have essentially OBLITERATED her).
That’s a really good question. To which I have only vague answers. There was a company in the early 2000s (if I remember correctly) that claimed to have viewed her wreck, but there’s no footage or scans to back this up, at least to my knowledge.
Her powder and munitions must have went off when they fell as she rolled
Not happy about the Los of the Barham my farther was on her as a Boy he served
Von Tiesenhausen in AE spelling would be ’fon teezenhowzen‘.
Thanks Ray, Google translate sucks, I’ve been trying to use other sites, it’s just sir names are quite hard!
@@ImportantNavalHistory Rules of thumb:
1. ‘ie‘ is always long like an Englisch ‘ee‘.
2. ‘s‘ between vowels is always soft like an English ’z‘.
I really appreciate your efforts to pronounce names correctly; Google‘s crappy pronunciation algorithms are not your fault.
@ Thank you! Copying this into a Doc, so I can remember!
i seriously doubt a boiler explosion would have shattered the hull like this. this was defiantly a magazine most likely a 15 inch mag. but could be a smaller one as im not that familiar with the battle loading on British ships. no magazine on a us ship could do this except for the main mag!
Before viewing, my guess would be, 'direct magazine hit'?
So sad... And every one who Joins the Navy of any naval power and all a military personnel of army's should be made to watch how government's use the men in their service...
What caused the explosion was the torpedoes.. ;) thanks
It was the boilers that exploded.
It was the magazine.
@@paulkirkland3263 Why would the mags explode ? I can tell you why the boilers would.....
I am 73 and spent ten years in the Navy..
@@3rwparks3 I am 68 and hold a Class 2 marine engineer steam ticket, plus C/E Part 1. The explosion is far too powerful - expanding steam from a boiler failure isn't going to blow off the armour belt as seen in the film. The Royal Navy has speculated that during the capsizing, shifting 40mm pom-pom ammunition triggered the detonation. We will never know for certain - but that powerful an explosion is not the boilers failing.
7:47 Misleading footage.
That's Fregattenkapitän Otto Kretschmer U-99, not Kapitänleutnant Hans-Diedrich Freiherr von Tiesenhausen U-331
Bad footage is a scourge!
ho do you see that
Yes, this is true. I normally place a warning if I use unauthentic footage, I did forget this time. I do apologize.
@@jeebusk Freiherr von Tiesenhausen didn't smoke cigars?
Just kidding: there's no documentary on the Battle Of The Atlantic that doesn't have that footage or even an interview with Fregattenkapitän Kretschmer, who survived the war!
@@ImportantNavalHistory Don't apologize, it's the internet.
Could live steam touch off a powder magazine?
The cause of the explosion was not…repeat not….due to a magazine explosion if that was the case the explosion would had been directly under the forward turrets however as is shown in the footage the forward turrets are intact when the explosion occurred and the explosion was amidships in the location of the boilers. When she rolled over you can clearly see smoke out of her funnels this meaning that her boilers were still lite….when she rolled over sea water flooded her stack and entered the boiler room causing the explosion as seen in the footage.
What you are saying is not consensus. The magazine you’re describing is the 15” magazine. What you’re forgetting (probably because you’re speculating rather than taking your hypothesis from an expert source in naval history) are the 4” magazines, located aft and outboard of the main turrets. The widely accepted consensus is that those exploded first causing secondary explosions of the main rounds located under those turrets. This is the conclusion of the Board of Inquiry itself- frankly it is inconceivable that they simply overlooked the possibility of seawater triggering an explosion of the boilers. They with their vast expertise in naval construction and their real world experience in the middle of a war, must have considered that idea and rejected it. Probably because the explosion is absolutely massive. It’s gargantuan. There’s no way boilers under steam pressure and fuel oil caused that type of mammoth detonation. Those are explosives within the ship blowing up. For some reason TH-cam won’t let me link to the original BOI, but you can find tons of websites that reference it if you search Google.
I usually take the position that experts know vastly more than I do, and that my intuition alone is nowhere near enough to unilaterally contradict accepted consensus from the scientific and/or expert community.
Well said. Your last paragraph is logical and sensible. I heartily agree; however, the way most people on earth suddenly fancied themselves epidemiologists in 2020 proves that we are in a minority.
19:41 @matthewnewton8812 I'm no expert on steam explosions. Especially in naval use. I have seen a lot of accounts of steam engine (trains and farm) boiler explosions. They can be quite powerful. I imagine in ships boiler room it would be a cascade. One boiler going and consequently causing others to. With has to be hundreds if not thousands of gallons flashing to steam. Such an explosion could cause the magazines to detonate as well. Just from the temperature change. My guess is it was most likely a little of column A and a little of column B.
@@brookeonmaui ex royal Navy submariner here I agree that it was a magazine explosion I was fortunate to have read confidential admiralty records on catastrophic internal explosions on his majesty's warships I laid a wreath over the wreck of HMS BULWARK 2 days ago she blew up on the 26th of November 1914 River Medway 4 survived out of over 700 it's worth a research it was and still is the second biggest explosion in the UK
It could be magazine. Aft magazine
"likely we will never know the explosion"
Jeeze. that sounds like Swahili for DRACHINIFIL WILL SOLVE THIS
Ive heard from other sources that there was a lot of problems with bad habits & following the correct procedures in the navy with bulk heads doors being left open & gun powder charges being left in the walk ways etc which caused explosions & quicker flooding when the ships was hit
Ridiculous comment. Those lax procedures resulted in the loss of several ships in the battle of Jutland, in WWI. Are you seriously suggesting that the RN didn't correct the faults?
@@charlestoast4051 lol I said I'd heard in other sources not thats what I think 🤔, get a life sunshine
And we’re supposed to believe this same type of explosion happened on the uss Arizona. I encourage everyone to compare the two explosions, and the aftermath of the Arizona. You should begin to realize that Pearl Harbor was not what we’ve been told. You should realize that Japan never attacked us, and like 9/11, nobody was killed or injured that day.
Flat-Earther! 😂
@@jamesb.9155 crackhead OP
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I wish someone would do a frame by frame analysis of this amazing piece of footage rather than yammering on with still photos.
no such explosion in hood. very strange
So...coming at this with a little more knowledge than I normally would on this topic. I have a theory, and based on the evidence that is known, its very much plausible. I have been doing a lot of research into Great Lake shipwrecks, and there is one in particular that rings a sort of bell. That being the sinking of SS Carl D. Bradley. In her story, it is stated that after she broke apart, her boilers exploded. This could be the same case for Barham. It would explain the sudden and very violent explosion. Because if those boilers hadn't been shut down, once they hit water, they would have exploded. It would explain why she blew up so violently because not only would the Boilers explode, but they would have taken out sourse of ammunition close to them.
Interesting thought! I’ll have to do some research on that, thanks!
@ImportantNavalHistory You're welcome. It's a theory that's almost impossible to prove. Honestly, I think it would be a situation that is similar to that of the SS Daniel J. Morrell. We know the how, but the why is a question that will remain unanswered.
I have seen this directly after the explosion in so many WW2 movies that have nothing to do with the actual explosion that I have lost count.
Being a Marine, I have seen all kinds of explosions, but that was the most extreme ship explosion that I have ever seen or hope to see (or not see).
Except for if the Russian carrier Admiral Kuznetsov ever happens to explode.
Hopefully, with no one onboard, but what are the chances of that occurring, if that were to happen ...
Of course, I am not counting in the experimental nuclear bombs going off underwater, because that would be under a different set of circumstances and outcomes.
I am of the thought that if the Royal Navy had used the 1st world war idea of long pole outriggers that held a anti-torpedo metal nets and the Barham had those out in place at this time the torpedoes would have hit that net and exploded instead of hitting the Barham! If you look at photos of the battleships of the 1st world war you will see those poles along the sides of the ships either out or folded up when not in use!
Now yes they stopped using them most likely because of the drag in the water of the nets slowed down the ships?
But those would have saved the Barham. Also what about the anti-torpedo bulges and heavy thick armor belt of the Battleship! Why did that not save her?
Okay it would not stopped three torpedoes, But it would have stopped maybe two of them and the third would have done less damage.
Thereby saving the ship. the ship should have had all the watertight bulkhead doors sealed when underway as the captains know that there could be enemy subs around?
The screening destroyers sure let them down, they should have detected the sub as they do sonar scanning for subs as they move along the route. also some of them are meant to be staying along the two sides of the battleships to stop torpedoes from hitting the battleships. So they did not do that this time!
Those nets only worked with the slower torpedoes used at that time. They were ineffective against the faster, heavier torpedoes developed by WW2. Instead, torpedo defence bulges were incorporated in WW2 battleships, and retro-fitted to some earlier vessels. Not sure what mods had been done to Barham.
Torpedo nets only work in a harbour at anchor, not while moving.
The British navy had a bad habit of unfastening ammo and powder lining it up for sending to the guns when they knew action was coming. That's what got the Hood they figure. Then with loose fuzed rounds then the ship tips sending fuzes towards the ceiling it's bad.
Not true. It was a bad habit used in WW1, which led to several losses in the battle of Jutland. Procedures were tightened up after that. Hood sank due to a freak shot hitting right where water level dipped about mid way along her hull.
My Grans cousin was lost on her, Anthony Pringle
As with HMS HOOD, it is virtually impossible to set down a complete sequence of events. My own opinion on HOOD's demise is one I rarely see repeated - that she was hit at both ends at the same time, resulting in complete disintegration.
BARHAM's 'main event' was arguably a 15-inch magazine explosion, possibly with volatile cordite being compressed, falling into fire, or coming into contact with broken wiring.
Couple of things of note:
The entire quarterdeck is clearly seen peeling forward, as 1 deck's after apex was interrupted by the forward perimeter of X turret's barbette. The shape thus indicates it is all of the after-deck from stern to Y turret.
The force of the explosion is so great, the entire ship is briefly pushed in the direction of the bow, as can be seen by the water's disturbance at the point of the explosion. This is pretty clear if one frame advances the footage either side of the blast.
The ship's stern is almost certainly non-existent post-eruption, because the bow is pointing skyward seconds after, indicating very rapid flooding of the central area of the ship. Plus, it is highly likely A and B turrets have now dropped out, leaving a relatively buoyant bow section.
The explosion shows areas of very fast-moving debris in front of sheets or linear streaks of smoke, and the rather more 'puffy' and blossom-like clouds of dark smoke seen to the left and centre of the picture. This is almost certainly 15-inch cordite exploding with the added compression of the blast meeting water, and starboard side 6-inch magazine cordite going off in flight more slowly as it is ejected from a ruptured hull.
I have studied this for years and it still upsets me, not least because the ships side is covered in men, many of whom would have instinctively been moving aft.
Magazine (propellant) explosion, or boiler explosion?
The fact that the explosion happened at the exact time water started going down the stack into the boilers leads me to believe it’s a boiler blast.
Magazines hold ammo, not fuel.
Magazines hold ammo, not fuel.
Far too powerful for boiler failures.
Sorry HMS Barham was a old ship and the older ships had a known history of cordite explosions. HMS Invincible, HMS Indefatigable, HMS Queen Mary and others fell to cordite explosions, many were thus destroyed by cordite handling problems. The charges were transported to the guns without being in non-inflammable cases, and there was an open path from the magazine to the gun. There was evidence of impropper storage to. If the torpedoes hit and started a fire it would not take much to chain react to the magazines and thus the exposion.
Silly comment, those handling problems were highlighted in the battle of Jutland in WWI. Do you honestly think the RN didn't review all handling procedures and correct things after that?
The IJN battleships Musashi and Yamato were relatively new and exactly the same thing happened to them (explosion while capsizing).
@@philiphumphrey1548 THOSE BEE-HIVE 18.1 SHELLS WHICH WHO CAUSED BY THE YAMATO'S ROLLING OVER AND THE ENTIRE LOT WENT UP
this group of royals were germans right? thry made up their last name
Don't worry, all wars are financed on both sides by a group of elite bankers who actually rule the world, so there's not really any such thing as German or English.
The real question is why does it take you 20 minutes to get to the point?
This is UNFORGIVEABLE because
1) you don't have a cool british accent
2) you're not drachinifel
you can be a youtube STAR if you get one of those ai voiceover tools to give you a british accent.
Thanks for the comment, I’m happy with my voice. Have a great week!
The British accent is one of the worst on the planet
English Engineering.
Scottish engineering. She was built at Clydebank.