Model Boat Mayhem

The Shipyard ( Dry Dock ): Builds & Questions => Navy - Military - Battleships: => Topic started by: dodes on December 10, 2022, 03:01:15 pm

Title: Unusual photo's of HMS Berkley.
Post by: dodes on December 10, 2022, 03:01:15 pm
My nephew sent me a email, an in the email was these pics taken in Sheerness Dockyard in the late 1950's. Thought they may be of use to someone modelling this class.
Title: Re: Unusual photo's of HMS Berkley.
Post by: Colin Bishop on December 10, 2022, 08:05:42 pm
Interesting photos. I looked it up on line and found the following:

HMS ‘Berkeley Castle’ had a sudden and undignified end in 1953, while refitting at Sheerness dockyard. During the winter floods a caisson collapsed, allowing a wall of water to sweep into the basin and dry dock. She was hurled over and suffered heavy damage to her superstructure. She was never repaired, being later sold for scrap.

Colin
Title: Re: Unusual photo's of HMS Berkley.
Post by: derekwarner on December 10, 2022, 10:20:30 pm
Truth stranger than fiction O0


The Fwd mount is warpped in canvas
Most Fwd & Aft ventilators are also wrapped in canvas
The Caisson shown in the last image is not engaged in the Dock mounting

Reading more, a result of the 1953 floods.....[and as a result of a mammoth high tide/wall of water in a storm]


https://navyhistory.org.au/the-great-storm-of-1953-sheerness-dockyard/ (https://navyhistory.org.au/the-great-storm-of-1953-sheerness-dockyard/)

Derek
Title: Re: Unusual photo's of HMS Berkley.
Post by: dodes on December 11, 2022, 08:36:07 pm
1953 was it, remember my grandparents talking of it and the old hands in Chatham Dockyard, seem to remember it was a storm surge on top of a bird tide, a lot of flooding and damage was caused on the East coast by it. The water boats at Chatham earn' t a lot of overtime as they were pumping ashore at Sheerness for 2/3 weeks flushing out the domestic water supply system for that part of Sheppey.