Warships at Palmers

[Terrysummerson]

Found in the Swan Hunter Archives. I think that this is a photograph of ships at Palmers yard Jarrow with either hms albacore or bonnetta, three river class destroyers and hms sapphire however it's hard to find a date when these ships would have been together like this.

[Whickham]

Yes, ALBACORE/BONNETTA were a year or two after the Rivers. Is that SAPPHIRE? Shouldn't she have 3 funnels?

[magoonigal]

Certainly NOT SAPPHIRE, Dave.

Your right she did have 3 Funnels. Sooooooooooooooo what is she???

Needs a bit more work, methinks.

[Terrysummerson]

Sorry about Saphire I originally thought the cruiser looks more like a pelorus class but I didn't think the date was right. Perhaps she was back for some sort of refit or maybe work on the boilers (which seemed to be a problem with these ships)

[magoonigal]

Yes possibly PEGASUS (Comp 1899) or PYRAMUS (comp 1900) if they came back for a wash and brush up.

If we accept that the three are River's it also put's ALBACORE and BONNETTA in doubt as the last River, SWALE was completed in September 1905.
Albacore was launched 19th September 1906 and completed/Purchased March 1909 whilst Bonnetta was launched on the 14th January 1907 and completed March 1909.

Could be an earlier Torpedo Boat/destroyer but which one................

Nurse, the screen's please!

[Terrysummerson]

I was thinking that as the photograph was in the swan hunter collection it could have been a shot of Hawthorn leslie and not Palmers. If that was the case the rivers could have been Derwent, Eden and Waveney and maybe the other could have been velox. Still not sure about cruiser unless being engine or just out of dock.

[Whickham]

Perhaps it is Hebburn with those two sheds on the other side of the river being Swan & Hunters East Yard: http://www.tynebuiltships.co.uk/Swan1.html

another triple River Class with BOYNE, DOON & KALE but a cruiser escapes me with either bunch.

[Ian Buxton]

This photo is the frontispiece in a Hawthorn Leslie publicity book published around 1910. Although the ships are not named, I have pencilled my own identifications on the page as (L-R) VELOX, DERWENT, EDEN, WAVENEY, PSYCHE. Try putting your own date to them.

[Whickham]

Dates:
Well VELOX was completed 05/1903 and she looks nearly complete or back for guarantee etc
DERWENT launched 02/1903
EDEN launched 03/1903
WAVENEY launched 04/1903

PSYCHE built by Devonport Dockyard in 1899, but according to Wiki, she was transferred to the Royal Navy's Australian Squadron In December 1903. Was this a pre-transfer wash and brush up?

[Terrysummerson]

Thank you all for your feedback. The photograph has always been a bit of a mystery for me. The cruiser always seemed to queer the pitch when it came to identifying the date and the yard so the fact that it was probably HMS Psyche fresh out of dock clears up a lot.