Royal Naval vessels
in
Plymouth Sound
in World War II
Most in rarely photographed wartime camouflage.
another Steve Johnson Cyberheritage "content over style" page bringing Plymouth's hidden and forgotten history to your home.
These original photos have been culled from a variety of sources and other collectors after many diligent hours of research, mostly finding nothing! Many were made from the original cellulose negative or glass plate on the floor of my bathroom! Tip, always look inside old boxes at car boot sales and junk shops.....several of these came this way. Can you imagine how I felt when I found these! Be careful if you try and clean old negatives and plates, always make one good print before hand, just in case you wreck the original...like I have done once or twice!!
Most of these photographs were taken in Plymouth Sound in the early 1940`s during World War II, in the background you can see Barrage Balloons, anti-submarine boom, Drakes Island and THE WALL at Staddon Heights. You can also see how even the smallest of vessels carried some degree of armament. Also of interest is that in a lot of the photos the guns are skywards, was this maintenance or anti-aircraft cover? These images are about 50k on average in order to give them the high quality detail they deserve.
Click on the ship`s name to see the photo:
HMS BARFLEUR...different 1945
HMBDV CADELLA 1943......His Majesty`s Boom Defence Vessel..?
HMBDV CADELLA...different
MB CHAFFINCH 1942.....motor barge?
HMRT ENFORCER His Majesty`s Rescue Tug
HMS EREBUS 1944 different
HMS STANLEY 1941....different
FS TRIOMPHANTE...Free French
I like submarines and as a young boy I recall the wonderment in seeing these black beasts floating on an oily sea in a Dockyard basin at Plymouth Navy Days. I wish I had taken more photos. So as I have a little web space left, here are some EXTRA submarine photos that will not appear on the main submarine page linked above.
HMS/M JUNO 1940 or as it appears to be French Submarine JUNON.
HMS/M THAMES 1936...before the war, but a good one
these are all after the war, but very good:
HMS/M ALCIDE 1947....different
HMS/M ALDERNEY 1954...shows the Breakwater Fort being used as an Admiralty Signal Station.
HMS/M ALDERNEY 1954...different
