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Fleet Photo's/Postcards World Naval Ships Forums Archive

Fleet Photo's/Postcards

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Over the years I have seen a few photographs or more usually real photographic postcards showing fleets of warships or sometimes even just a handful of warships. The ones I show here are some of the ones from my own collection. I am always interested to see any others so if you have one - upload it to this thread!
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Well that encouraged a massive response! Here are a few slightly different ones with more of an emphasis on the fleet. {Yes we once used to have one!].
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Nice to see those cards Terry, the one of the combined Atlantic and Med fleet exceedes the number in the whole of the current fleet:D

Thanks Jim. Sadly I agree!

A different slant to some multi-ship pictures...
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Two interesting postcards from my mother's collection. A sailor could be away for up to 3 years in those days. Not much fun if you were married
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[quote=Chris Howat;22584] A sailor could be away for up to 3 years in those days. Not much fun if you were married[/quote] Oh I don't know! It might have been a blessing. Wife in every port etc.

Hope you dont mind Chris - I moved your post + 2 fine postcards to this thread I started many months ago. If for any reason you have any more of these I would love to see them:). Also if anybody else has any of these old multi-ship postcards then please scan them in for us/me to see... In the meantime a few more...
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Terry/Chris Nice set of cards. Have posted a few more not shown and maybe new to you. Regards Gerry
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Thanks for those Gerry. Bob.

There you go Bob a few more to enjoy from the pre WW1 era. Regards gerry
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Great postcards Gerry - this goes to show that if members look through the photo-galleries there are many fine galleries well worth adding pictures/photo`s or postcards to...:)

Thanks for that Terry. Seems like some of you guys have worked your socks off providing us with interesting photos so about time some of us "newcomers" chipped in. I will dig out some more and see if we can keep this thread going! Regards Gerry

Excellent sentiments Gerry. Very much appreciated. I have always said that this forum is what we make it. With all the different things that all our different members "bring to the table" the forum can go from strength to strength!

A few more to savour including a super view of the Destroyers in Sliema Creek. You can almost smell the sunshine on the fresh paint ! Or perhaps thats me getting all nostalgic !!! Regards gerry
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Well done Gerry, keep them coming! Bob.

I have always loved this picture of RN battleships in the Solent...
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Two interesting postcards from my mother's old scrap books. She was desperate to join the Navy when a teenager! Never did and got married instead. She was, at one time, personal secretary to Sir Eugene Millington-Drake in Buenos Aires, before he moved to Uruguay. He played a part in the Battle of the River Plate
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Thanks for these two Chris. I have moved them to the appropriate thread.:)

Came across this Review card and thought it was quite topical and worth forwarding to our present Westminster bunch!! Regards gerry
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Alas, I have no more of these cards but I have two single ship ones. My mother only collected for a couple of years

Never mind Chris heres a few more for you No idea of the date for the Spithead Review. Appreciate it if someone knows date and reason ???? Regards Gerry
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Nice cards again Gerry! The Spithead Review card IMO is either the 1907 or the 1909. Can`t decide which!:)

Thanks for that Terry, unfortunately card was unposted so no help there ! Regards gerry

Almost as many as our current fleet in one photo here, taken in Malta 1954, nearside on the right include Imersay, Tocogay, Trodday, Shillay, Vallay, with Fairmiles also, Fierce, Rowena, Stormcloud, Sylvia. In the centre with their awnings spreadout are Rifleman, Plucky and Chameleon. Other ships present include sloops and a depot ship, with some Italian ships. By 1964 all of the ships mentioned had gone...... Regards Alan
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The med Fleet in Kotor 1933 just as crowded as Malta harbour in Alans post. Here are some more Fleet / Squadron photos to enjoy. Regards Gerry
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Thanks again Gerry. I especially liked the one of the cruisers accompanying the King and Queen to the 1911 Durbar - the only time a British sovereign ever visited the Raj...:)

Glad you liked them Terry. Quite rare to see a pc of the voyage to India and the Medina. Have enclosed a scan of pc artists impression of the Squadron. Regards Gerry
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Some more fleets from the archives. Enjoy. Gerry
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Gerry - I have solved the mystery of your Spithead Review postcard that we could not date [ post #90] - because it turns out that I have almost the same card, but with one vitally important difference!! The difference is of course the superimposed head of King George V - which makes it the 1911 Spithead review [also postmarked 1911]. That clears that one up!
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This isn't a fleet card but it is a picture from the 1896/7 Review. HMS Mars,built by Laird,launched 3/3/1896.Sold for breaking up 9/5/1921. HMS Mars was a Majestic class pre-dreadnought battleship that served as a guardship before being disarmed and used as a troopship. At the start of 1914 the Mars was in the 4th Division of the Home Fleet, part of the reserve. At the start of the war she was sent to the Humber, to form part of a new 9th Battle Squadron. She remained there until December, when she was moved south to join the Duncan class battleships at Portland, initially to take part in a planned attack on Zeebrugge. In February 1915 she was moved to Belfast, and her 12in guns were removed to arm the Lord Clive class monitors Earl of Peterborough and Sir Thomas Picton In September 1915, Mars recommissioned to serve as a troopship in the Dardanelles campaign. Mars and her similarly disarmed sister ships Hannibal and Magnificent, also acting as troopships, arrived at Mudros on 5 October 1915. At the Dardanelles, Mars took part in the evacuation of Allied troops from Anzac Beach on 8 December 1915 and 9 December 1915 and from West Beach at Cape Helles on 8 January 1916 and 9 January 1916. During the West Beach evacuation, Mars was covered by what had once been her 12-inch (305-mm) guns, now mounted on monitor Sir Thomas Picton. HMS Mars returned to Devonport in February 1916, then paid off at Chatham, where she underwent a refit for conversion to a harbor depot ship. She recommissioned as a harbor depot ship on 1 September 1916, and served in this capacity at Invergordon until July 1920. HMS Mars was placed on the sale list at Invergordon on 7 July 1920. She was sold for scrapping on 9 May 1921 and left Invergordon for scrapping at Briton Ferry in November 1921.
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Yep thats the selfsame card Terry. I see there are a couple of additions to the original ie "Cheering", I guess the Publishers could call it a new card. Thanks for that I will log that date. Regards Gerry

A pleasure Gerry. Here is a card of the 1953 Coronation Spithead Review...
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I'm on there somewhere Terry but I haven't spotted myself yet! Bob.

A real mixture of cards this time 1 Pre WW1 Seventh Battle Squadron 2 Post WW1 First Battle Squadron on Visit to Eastbourne 1923 3 WW1 Fifth Battle Squadron 4 5th BS with a peculiar choice of Xmas card 5 First DF in the Med. Although not photos interesting if only for the Captain of Wisharts signature..... Mountbatten. 6 A real mystery this card as I can find no reason for its issue or connection between the ships Any answers ??? Regards Gerry
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Another batch of multiple ship cards 1 First Cruiser Squadron dated 1906 2 Hudson-Fulton Celebrations 1909 3 Artistic impression of Service over the Wreck of the Gala 1908 4 Atlantic Fleet 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron 5 Artistic impression of a less happy occasion for HMS CALEDON, no cameras to record the incident. 6 The damage sustained in the collision, and another Officer of the Watch gets a reprimand !!! Regards Gerry
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[quote=SCRG1970;23869]A real mixture of cards this time 1 Pre WW1 Seventh Battle Squadron 2 Post WW1 First Battle Squadron on Visit to Eastbourne 1923 3 WW1 Fifth Battle Squadron 4 5th BS with a peculiar choice of Xmas card 5 First DF in the Med. Although not photos interesting if only for the Captain of Wisharts signature..... Mountbatten. 6 A real mystery this card as I can find no reason for its issue or connection between the ships Any answers ??? Regards Gerry[/quote] Hi Gerry - I have only just noticed this group of cards! A possible clue to the grouping of these particular ships could well be down to the publishers! Sometimes if a new suitable squadron or review photo was not available - they could bolster their range of multi-ship postcards by literally making a collage of odd ship photographs that were lying around. Looking at this particular card - the lack of any theme title on the front of the card combined with a vague thrown together back-drop - it all fits. Maybe it was a year when there was no review to feature - so hey presto a new card was created! At this time when our navy was still really huge - these multi-ship postcards sold well. What a lot of people as well dont realise is there was a huge number of postcard collectors in those days. That is why so many unused cards have survived to this day and unlike todays collectors who clamour after old and very old cards - when these cards were published there had only been postcards around for barely a decade! Therefore there were people who literally waited with bated breath for the next "new" card to be released...

Here are three "multi-ship" postcards that might prove to be of interest... The first one is of the RN ships HMS Venerable, Commonwealth, King Edward VII, and Africa. Second one is HMS Indomitable, Inflexible and Invincible sailing up the solent during August 1909. Finally we have British Warships off the Belgian Coast during WW1...
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Terry You could be right there. I have seen several cards with what is obviously a copies of ships from previous issued cards just stuck together with no caption and no connection. I guess these printers were the "chancers" of the golden age !! Still its nice to have a stab at a link ! Off to search out some more Fleet cards. Regards Gerry

Here are two really rare and IMO interesting real photograph postcards, that when put together form a large photo of Port Arthur as it was back over 100 years ago, in 1905.
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Terry Quite historic cards , if they are dated 1905 they must have been taken just after the surrender of the Russian Garrison. Nice to see Regards gerry

More Fleet photos 1 Escort for the convoy of Canadian Troops in 1914 2 The five Blockships used at Zeebrugge and Ostend 3 Med and Atlantic Fleets Pollensa mid- 1930s PRETTY IMPRESSIVE!!! 4 The British Reserve Squadron at Portland 1878 5 Weymouth May 1912 Royal Visit. Enjoy them all ! Regards Gerry
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Spithead at sunset...
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1. 3rd Cruiser Squadron - Rhode Island-1930`s. 2. 3rd Cruiser Squadron - Corfu - 1934. 3. Gibraltar - RN ships - c1910.
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Here are two rare photographs of the allied fleet at Mudros...
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Terry Nice panorama of Mudros, not seen a view of the whole harbour before. Any idea of identity`s and date ? Regards Gerry

No Gerry - obviously they are First World War. Both photo`s have written on the back Allied fleet at Mudros and the second one has the name Ernest-Renan which is a French cruiser [1906-1931] and would be the second ship from the left I would have thought bearing in mind her unusual 6-funnel configuration...
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A few more Fleet cards ( loosely speaking) 1 Surrender of the German Fleet 1918 2 A very warlike Xmas card 3 HMS HOOD, SANDHURST & COVENTRY 1922 4 The Bermuda Floating Dock. Regards Gerry
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Heres a postcard of the ship that made all other naval ships obsolete, Dreadnought.
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Found in Tavistock market this nice post card of HMS Drake. There is a halfpenny stamp on the back, showing George V head which indicates a date for the card from 1910-36. Unfortunately the franked date is unreadable. It shows the Commodore's house nicely, there were railway lines in this part of the barracks but since they cannot be seen in this view I think the date of this photo is probably before the start of WW1.
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