John William Mills

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL MEMORIAL Panel 48, Column 3

HMS Barham

HMS Barham was a Queen Elizabeth class battleship built before the Great War. During the 1920s and 1930s, the ship was assigned to the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Home Fleets. Barham played a minor role in quelling the 1929 Palestine riots and the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine.

The ship was in the Mediterranean when the Second World War began in September 1939 and accidentally collided with and sank one of her escorting destroyers, HMS Duchess, on her voyage home three months later. She participated in the Battle of Dakar in mid-1940, where she damaged a Vichy French battleship and was slightly damaged in return.
Barham was then transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet, where she covered multiple Malta convoys. She helped to sink an Italian heavy cruiser and a destroyer during the Battle of Cape Matapan in March 1941 and was damaged by German aircraft two months later during the evacuation of Crete.

Barham was sunk off the Egyptian coast the following November by the German submarine U-331. There was no time for evasive action as three torpedoes struck amidships so closely together as to throw up a single massive water column. Barham quickly capsized to port and was lying on her side when a massive magazine explosion occurred about four minutes after she was torpedoed and sank her.

The Board of Enquiry into the sinking ascribed the final magazine explosion to a fire in the 4-inch magazines outboard of the main 15-inch magazines, which would have then spread to and detonated the contents of the main magazines.

Due to the speed at which she sank, 862 officers and ratings were killed, approximately two thirds of her crew, including two who died of their wounds after being rescued. Eight Nottinghamshire men were among the dead - Able Seamen John Mills from Bulwell, William Moody from Welbeck Colliery Village, Robert Ogle from Nottingham along with Leading Seaman Clarence Harrison from Nottingham, Ordinary Seaman Arthur Gingle from Arnold, Joiner 4th Class William Stanley from Carlton, Engine Room Artificer 4th Class Charles Dixon from Newark and Stoker 2nd Class John Elliott from Hucknall. Captain Geoffrey Cooke went down with his ship.

There were 487 survivors, 337 picked up by HMS Hotspur, Including Vice Admiral Henry Pridham- Wippell and 150 by the Australian destroyer Nizam. The sinking was captured on film by a cameraman from Pathé News, aboard Valiant. (Wikipedia)

Unknown