Wessex

[Whickham]

Photo sent to me by Kevin Blair, showing some extreme damage to HMS WESSEX. Photo was published in a Smith's Dock magazine in 1919 but without further caption. We cannot find out any more information about the incident. Any ideas?

Photo courtesy of Kevin Blair

[northeast]

The caption tells us why, there is no report during her WW1 service here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Wessex_(D43)

[magoonigal]

So I wonder which TBD she hit and probably sunk....

[northeast]

I had been thinking of a German TBD but maybe it was one of ours?

[Hornbeam]

She did have a prototype Sonar fitted in 1923, could she have hit a surfaced Submarine but upon a second look the photograph pre dates that unless the date is wrong? we did have problems on the Eastbourne with the prototype Sonar and ended up in Drydock at Chatham although not with Bow damage like that, the Bow damage in her later years was done by the Icelandic vessels.

[Hornbeam]

Scrub the above and I will go to Specsavers!!

[northeast]

I can trace only 3 of our own TBD's lost by collision in WW1, No.9 and No.117 did not involve WESSEX, No.13 is just listed as lost by collision in the North Sea 26/01/1916. But that was before WESSEX was in service. Maybe it was an early post-war collision.

[Whickham]

There is a comment on: http://www.dreadnoughtproject.org/tfs/i ... ssex_(1918).
EDIT: Need to manually insert the final ")" as the auto link doesn't like brackets at the end of the link.
"Wessex was re-commissioned on 31 August, 1918"
Why would this happen if she had just been commissioned for the irst time 11 May 1918. Could she have had an accident sometime in June/July that took her out of commission?

[buggins]

Which issue of the Smiths Dock was the article in ? this would tie in a latest possible date and we already have her completion date. Whatever she hit was quite substantial to do that damage.

[Whickham]

Just checked with Kevin and he says it was the August 1919 edition.