HMS Hawkins 1917-1947

[Don Bartlett]

Hi everyone
I am new to site so bear with me.
I am looking for info on crew lists for above ship around 1941/1945,especially when the ship was in South African waters. I am looking info on naval rating David Rees, Serial no 294545.
I have info when the ship was commissioned and when it was scrapped in 1947 and the intervining years but need info on above rating but unsure of his role onboard,
Many thanks if you can help,
Don Bartlett

[Bob]

Hi Everybody.
Could anybody help and gently push me in the right direction to complete one piece of family history.My uncle Edward Batchelor was serving on HMS Hawkins new years eve 1925 in Hong Kong harbour.According to The Times (Jan2nd 1926 ) a fire destroyed the Principal Hotel that evening. A detachment of troops and blue jackets were sent ashore to prevent looting and crowd control.Prince George was among the navel officers that assisted in coping with the fire.The damage caused by the fire was estimated to be £500,000 but there were no casualties from the residents of the hotel but there was one from the shore party, you guessed it my uncle. He died 2 days later from injuries sustained from a fall from the second floor.
His records show NL.513/26 Court of enquiry into circumstances regarding accident.
Questions.
What was a blue coat (I'm assuming not a Pontins entertainer).
Where can I find the outcome of the enquiry.
Most importantly what happened to his body.Was he buried in Hong-Kong?Was he bought home? Was he buried at sea? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Bob Batchelor.

[herakles]

Welcome to the Forum Bob.

There will be records and there's a good chance someone here can help you. My reference only describes him as being accidentally killed.

[Bob]

heracles thanks for the welcome.As I stated in my post I'm looking for guidance and help so any references will be very welcome.

Bob.

[historydavid]

Hello Bob and welcome aboard.

The is your uncle's enty in the Admiralty casualty record:

BATCHELOR, EDWARD E., A.B., J 36735, HAWKINS, 02-Jan-26, ACCIDENT.

The shore party would have consisted of Royal Marines (troops) and sailors (blue jackets).

I am sure that your uncle would have been buried ashore in Hong Kong, as it was not practical to repatriate the body due to lack of refrigeration, and the expense involved.

[Bob]

Thank you David.
Does anybody out there know if there is any access to court of enquiry records and what I need to do next ? I'm sure it would mention what happened to him after the event.
Best Wishes.
Bob.

[Brett Hendey]

The attached photograph is of a metal plaque found in the garden of a house in one of the outer suburbs of Durban. It is unlike any other RN ship's plaque that I have seen. It is surprisingly large being 15 cm in diameter and weighing 1.5 kg.

The now deceased previous occupant of the house served in the RAF during and after World War II and is the likely source of this relic.

I hope that forum members will be able to shed some light on its origin and purpose.

Regards
Brett

[alanbenn]

Brett, what you have found looks to be one of the 6" gun tampions from Hms Hawkins, usually made of brass....some were made of white metal, some steel.

The gun tampions were placed at the end of the Gun barrels to protect them, they usually had the centre-piece of the ships badge on them, yours is exactly that.

Badge photo attached below.....


Regards
Alan

[Scurs]

Originally "HAWKINS" was built armed with 7 x 7.5" and classified "Heavy Cruiser". She was demilitarised in 1936/37 time and her guns removed. On the outbreak of war she was re-armed..........with original guns? If not, what? 8"?, 6"?

[navalis]

Originally "HAWKINS" was built armed with 7 x 7.5" and classified "Heavy Cruiser". She was demilitarised in 1936/37 time and her guns removed. On the outbreak of war she was re-armed..........with original guns?

She was re-armed 9.1939 - 1.1940 with her original 7x 7.5in guns and 4 x 4in. During the war various 2 pdr and 20mm guns were added.

[alanbenn]

Ok, folks maybe you're reading into something that's not.....

The poster said the object was approx 15cm which is about 6". So it's either a gun tampion or a barge badge, doubtful it's a barge badge if it weighs 1.5kg.....so must be a gun tampion to fit the end of the barrel of whatever type of guns she had.

Regards
Alan

[kc]

Like you, alan, first thing I thought of was the gun tampion. Quite a rarity I would of thought?

[alanbenn]

Kc, certainly is a rarity and if cleaned up a bit would demand a handsome price me thinks!

Can't think of what else it could be other than a gun tampion, but not being an expert on guns....some I do know were attached to a wooden frame which fitted around the barrel so the 6" is irrelevant really......just adds to the confusion.

Wouldn't mind owning it whatever it is:p

Regards
Alan

[Scurs]

Extreme rarity I would have thought folks, especially if from her main armament because I think I am right in saying this class of ship was the only ones to carry this calibre.

The brass badge was attached to a slightly smaller wooden "stopper" (for want of better word), the wooden part went into muzzle of gun, leaving tampion on outside.

I am unused to discusing things with "Admirals", but concur that it is a tampion, likewise can't think of an alternative, just that it ought to be 7.5" and not 6".

[alanbenn]

Scurs, thanks for the info, confirms what I said about being attached to a wooden base.....during the war years they were restricted in their production, as mentioned earlier in the thread regarding bridge screen badges their size was limited during ww2, the same applied to Tampions, hence it probably is 6"........reduced in size to save money, imagine how many of these would be needed for Battleships, cruisers, etc.

So reducing their size saved valuable money and materials to build warships rather than badges.

Regards
Alan

[kc]

Here are the best scans I can manage of the tampions on Hawkins. All photos were from May 1946, when the ship was laid up. The first pic is probably the only decent one, I'm afraid.

http://www.worldnavalships.com/images/hawkins1.jpg

http://www.worldnavalships.com/images/hawkins2.jpg

http://www.worldnavalships.com/images/hawkins3.jpg

[Brett Hendey]

Many thanks to Alan and others for your very helpful replies to my enquiry. I am very pleased to have the identity of the 'plaque' (i.e. tampion) resolved.

As I mentioned in my post, the previous owner of the property where the tampion was found served in the RAF during and after WWII. Records of HMS Hawkins posted on the Internet state that the ship was used in RAF target trials in 1947 and I wonder if RAF crewmen involved in the bombing were given souvenirs from the ship before it was sent to the breaker's yard later that year.

Thanks again for a great introduction to the talents of this forum

Regards
Brett

[astraltrader]

Just for interests sake here is a Tampion from HMS Orion complete with wooden surround.

[A Cooper83]

Hi Bob,

Dont know if this interests you but we were clearing up our loft the other day and found a photo album from my great grandfarther - Eddie Edwards who was in the Hong Kong Dockland police 1926 - we have pictures which he took of your relative graves as well as the HK hotel fire aftermath. Get in touch and i can organise for photos of the grave etc. to be emailed to you.

Regards

Adam

[jbryce1437]

Hello Adam and welcome to the Forum. Not sure if Bob still visits the site as his last post was some 18months ago. However, I believe there will be others who will be interested to see the photos and we will all be grateful if you could post them on this thread.

Jim

[johnbnav]

Thanks to the images stored at Oldweather.org (http://www.oldweather.org/) I have been able to track the movements of HMS Hawkins for one month in 1923 when it was flagship on the China Station. I knew from movements published in The Times that the ship had been on an official visit to Japan but not what happened next. I was particularly interested in that period because a great uncle was assigned to the Hawkins from the beginning of the month. In brief, this is where Hawkins was:

01 - 08 Yokohama
09 - 10 To Kobe
11 - 13 Kobe
14 - Kobe to Miyajima
15 - 17 Miyajima
18 - Miyajima to Kobe
19 - 23 Kobe to Hong Kong
24 - 28 Hong Kong to Singapore
29 - Singapore Ship paid off, crew discharged to SS "Syria" (I think this is the point where my great uncle joins the ship with a new crew.)

Much more detail can be found in my rough transcription in the attached file. Logs for Hawkins from earlier years are also available on the web site, but unfortunately, none afterwards.

[mossie]

John,
That looks like a really interesting site that's going to get people hooked. A great research aid. I have not got the time right now to get involved but I will. Also noticed it has most of the gunboats included as well. M..........:)

[Dreadnought]

Hi John, a very warm welcome to World Naval Ships Forums.

I have merged your thread with an existing thread about this ship just to keep everything together, and to try and avoid duplication. I am sure more information will flow in due course.

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