75th Anniversary of Royal Family Visit to South Africa Day4

-

 Day 4: 3rd February 1947

Captain's Diary

Strong westerly wind force 9 with rough seas.

At 14.15 rendezvous with Portuguese ships Bartolomeu Dias and Dao Ibez they had sailed out from Lisbon in very stormy seas. They fired a Royal 21gun salute and they then parted company.

During the night Minnie, the dining hall cat gave birth to twins. Picture below from the collection of Petty Officer Thomas (Stormy) Tempest.


Picture of the Princess and the new twin cats .



HMS Vanguard Part 2

Some facts about HMS Vanguard 

Length of Ship  813 feet  or 247.8 metres                            Standard displacement   44,500tons

Beam (width at widest point) 108 feet or 32.92 metres       Quantity of steel used  40,000 tons

Number of phones installed 1250                                          No of Electric light bulbs  6750

This was the last British Battleship built at a cost of £9 million. She was considered a particularly seaworthy ship as in manoeuvres in the Atlantic the US Battleship Iowa rolled up to 26 degrees and the Vanguard only 15 degrees.

 Picture of crew painting Vanguard at Greenock


Pictures of HMS Vanguard near Greenock



Turning Trails off the Isle of Arran


After leaving Scotland there were sea trails and then came back to Liverpool Dry Dock to have the Hull scraped and painted during a 4 week stay in May/June 1946. There were visitors allowed on to the ship.

The Liverpool daily Post and Echo put out this flyer of the event. 



The HMS Vanguard was very much in the news and here is an example how it was used to advertise the Company ICI. Dated January 1947. 





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

75th Anniversary of Royal Family Visit to South Africa Day 103

-
Image
 Last Day of this Blog. My thanks to those of you who have looked over the last 102 days. The blog has been seen in 26 different countries. Some last items regarding what happened after the Tour finished. Postal Cover another one dated the 12th May 1947 with the Captain's franking but strangely using South West Africa stamps. The last part of the return to England by the Royal Family was on the 15th May when there was a Luncheon and Concert in the Royal Families honour at the Guildhall. Couple of items that happened after the Royal Tour. A thank you to the New Captain and the Crew from HRH Princess Elizabeth for her wedding present and she mentions fond memories of the time spent on the ship Our Electrician on the Royal Train received afterwards a certificate of thank you The Royal Mint issued this commemorative coin THE END
Read more

75th Anniversary of Royal Family Visit to South Africa Day 100

-
Image
 Day 100: 10th May 1947 Captains Diary The Princesses in the morning visited the Engine Room & Boiler Room and then steered the ship from the Lower Steering Position. Later the whole Royal Family visited the Transmitter Station and Forward Computer Room. In the afternoon a photograph of the Royal Family with the ships crew was taken on the Quarter Deck. The Royal Family dined in the Wardroom.  HMS Diadem was detached to Plymouth at 1100 to land an urgent appendicitis case.  A couple of postal covers, one is connected to HMS Vanguard and has the slogan in black and the other one has the slogan in red. Both covers have the slogan Maritime Mail. What happened after the Royal Tour re the dignitaries and aircraft: Captain/Vice Admiral Agnew Agnew was given command of  HMS  Excellent , the Royal Navy's gunnery school in 1943. In 1946 he was given command of  HMS  Vanguard , remained aboard her after his promotion to rear-admiral in January 1947 and was i...
Read more

75th Anniversary of Royal Family Visit to South Africa Day 101 inc sketches by Frank Beresford

-
Image
 Day 101:11th May 1947 Captains Diary HMS Diadem re-joined at 0200. 1000 the King gave a speech to the ship's company on the Quarter Deck and thanked the crew and granted 3 days extra leave to each watch. I then (Captain) presented to the King and the other members of the Royal Family a souvenir gift from the Captain, Officers and Ships Company. Sketches of the HMS Vanguard returning by famous artist Frank Beresford. Sketches A3 in size. Beresford info from Wikipedia Beresford was born in Derby in 1881 and had a long artistic education. He first studied at the  Derby School of Art , then  St John's Wood Art School , and finally at the  Royal Academy Schools . His talent was rewarded with a travel scholarship that took him to Asia. From 1906 he returned to exhibit at the  Royal Academy . In 1936, Beresford made the only painting of the Princes' keeping vigil with their father's body overnight. It was titled  The Princes' Vigil: 12.15am, January 28, 1936 , an...
Read more