-
Description
Nice photo postcard of the H.M.S. Royal Oak in harbour. It was sunk early in WW2 (14th October 1939) by a German U-boat, with large loss of life and a hard hit to national morale.
Written on negative ‘H.M.S. ROYAL OAK’.
Handwritten on back (autograph?):
H.J. Epworth DSC Royal Navy Marlowe Village Cramond Edinburgh Scotland
HMS Royal Oak was one of five Revenge-class battleships built for the Royal Navy during the First World War. Completed in 1916, the ship first saw combat at the Battle of Jutland as part of the Grand Fleet.
On 14 October 1939, Royal Oak was anchored at Scapa Flow in Orkney, Scotland, when she was torpedoed by the German submarine U-47. Of Royal Oak's complement of 1,234 men and boys, 835 were killed that night or died later of their wounds. The loss of the outdated ship—the first of five Royal Navy battleships and battlecruisers sunk in the Second World War—did little to affect the numerical superiority enjoyed by the British navy and its Allies, but it had a considerable effect on wartime morale.
WIKIPEDIA
Henry Jackson Epworth won his DSC at the Battle of Jutland, 31 May1916. He was torpedo officer on the HMS Petard. The Petard's torpedoes sunk a destroyer and made a large hole in the German battle cruiser Seydlitz.
See his story:
https://chadbourneantiqueq.shop/
