Maritime History > Maritime incidents, disasters and shipwrecks

Bacchus incident 1925

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stuartwaters:

--- Quote from: castle261 on March 01, 2020, 01:54:17 PM ---I remember a flat bottom ship with 18 in guns, moored in the river in 1953.
They stored the 18 inch guns, under the crane Goliarth, when I was detailed
to load them on a trailer, they were the last two.

--- End quote ---


That ship was HMS Abercrombie, one of a pair of Roberts Class Monitors, both of which were completed during the Second World War. Both ships were armed with a pair of 15 in guns taken from the general pool of such guns which were the most common of the Royal Navy's big-calibre guns used on Battleships and Battlecruisers during both world wars. The ships were designed and built for shore bombardment and coastal defence duties. HMS Abercrombie was laid up at Sheerness after the Second World War and remained there until she was taken to Barrow and scrapped in 1954.


Only one British Monitor ever carried an 18 in gun, HMS General Wolfe. That ship was originally built with a pair of 12 in guns, but the single 18 in gun was fitted during a 1918 refit after it had been removed from the Large Light Cruiser HMS Furious. It was subsequently used to conduct the longest-ranged firing in the Royal Navy's history, shelling a bridge at Snaeskerke, Belgium at a range of 36,000 yards (or about 20 miles). HMS General Wolfe was laid up after the First World War ended and was scrapped in 1923.

castle261:
I remember a flat bottom ship with 18 in guns, moored in the river in 1953.
They stored the 18 inch guns, under the crane Goliarth, when I was detailed
to load them on a trailer, they were the last two.

Colin walsh:
Got a feeling a ww1 monitor gun ship spent most of its life Moored there,I think it was used as emergency accommodation ship during ww2,my father was berthed on it for a while,name of HMS Abercrombe

MartinR:
I cruised past the spot today, and note that there are moorings slightly downstream from Thunderbolt pier which are military (I think RE).  They are well out from the bank.  If (big "if") moorings in this area were in use by naval vessels in 1925 they would appear to be "mid-stream", at least to a casual glance.  The deep water is however well out from the Strood side.

MartinR:

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