Hi All, I found an unusual photograph in the National Collection of Aerial Photography (NCAP) archive today while playing around with different search terms on their site. Having inserted the single search term 'sea', the search engine came up with a number of photos but one in particular caught my eye. It shows the forward two thirds of what I take to be a heavy cruiser underway, supposedly off the Aberdeenshire coast in the North Sea: Image Credit: RCAHMS/www.aerial.rcahms.gov.uk The date of the sortie, M/039/NLA/065, is the 17th June 1943 and there are 22 other frames online - see the results page here. It seems to me to be some sort of training flight in oblique photography techniques. In any event, I would like to find the name of this vessel if possible and am hoping some naval folk might give us a hand here. First, I had a look round the web to make sure we are looking at a heavy cruiser and not some other type of vessel. The page here appears to show other very similar vessels with the same funnel layout. The Wiki page here on 'County' Class Royal Navy cruisers would also appear to support this theory. Of the three sub groups of 'County' Class vessels, I think the 'Kent' group most closely matches the photograph. The seven vessels in this group were: HMS Berwick HMS Cornwall HMS Cumberland HMS Kent HMS Suffolk (of Bismark hunt fame) HMAS Austraila HMAS Canberra I know 'Cornwall' was lost off Ceylon in April of 1942, 'Suffolk' was with the Eastern Fleet from 1942-45 and I assume the two Australian ships also served in the Pacific. So, if I am on the right road, that leaves 'Berwick', 'Cumberland' and 'Kent'. Can anyone confirm or correct my theory? Thanks, Pat
RE: Unknown Cruiser NCAP Photo Hi All, HMS Berwick's war diary as set out on this page has her in the right location four days before the photograph was taken: However, the dazzle camouflage does not match the photo at the top of the page. That said, I assume the patterns were changed periodically to deter enemy recognition. Not enough to ID her positively though Regards, Pat
Hi Folks, I have posted a thread on the Royal Navy 'Rum Ration' Forum here in the hope that those guys can get us a name. Regards, Pat
Hi All, The guys on the 'Rum Ration' Forum have once again come up with the answer - my thanks to all concerned. The ship is HMS Kent, a heavy cruiser who gave her name to a sub group of the 'County' class cruisers. Her Wiki page here appears to confirm that she was employed on the Arctic Convoy route and did not take part in the Normandy Invasion. Wondering if it's worth acquiring a copy of her log entries for a few days around the 17th June 1943 to see if there is any mention of the destroyer in the second, incorrectly captioned, photo from the same sortie. I'll see what the Rum Ration' guys recommend. Regards, Pat