SteveGarnett Posted 19 April , 2004 Share Posted 19 April , 2004 Can anybody give me any information about HMS Marshal Soult? As of yet I have know nothing about it so any scraps would be great. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Alton Posted 19 April , 2004 Share Posted 19 April , 2004 Marshall Soult was a monitor, built in 1915. Initially armed with 2-15" and 2-12pdr, displacement 6900 tons speed 6k Soult and her sister Marshal Ney were built to carry 15" guns available following the cancellation of battleship construction, monitors were designed for shallow water operations - particularly bombardments of the German positions on the Belgian coast. They had very broad beam with special anti-torpedo bulges unfortunately due to rushed designs the machinery in both ships was very under-powered, in Ney the machinery was also very unreliable which led to her being laid up and her 15" guns removed to be installed in a new monitor. Soult although slow, remained in service in the Channel during ww1, taking part in numerous bombardments off the Belgian coast. After ww1 she was used as a gunnery training ship and later (disarmed) as a base ship for naval trawlers, surviving until 1946. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveGarnett Posted 19 April , 2004 Author Share Posted 19 April , 2004 Thanks Dave, that's brilliant. The reason I am interested is that a few years ago I found two war graves in a local village church: Stourmouth, East Kent. One of these graves was of a young guy who I found out was killed in September 1915 onboard the ship. However, I believe that it hadn't actually left dock by then. Would you be able to confirm this or otherwise? The death of this guy seems rather a mystery! I did note the guy's name but to my shame I have lost my records I will have to return to the church at the weekend. Cheers, Steve p.s. the photo is fantastic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorts Posted 20 April , 2004 Share Posted 20 April , 2004 Hi, I think the guy you are referring to may be J/12209 AB James T Morris who died on the 20th November 1915, aged 21. Son of Mr. T. Morris, of Gordon House, Stourmouth. He is buried in All Saints Churchyard, Stourmouth. as he is a local lad I would suggest he died of natural causes and was allowed to go home before he died. Can you confirm this is your man? In contrast to Ney, MS had very reliable engines, but had been fitted with the wrong propellers. As a result she could only make 5 knots under maximum revolutions. A change of props increased her speed by a knot and a half. Rgds, Alex. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveGarnett Posted 20 April , 2004 Author Share Posted 20 April , 2004 Alex, thanks for the information and yes from memory I'm pretty sure that is the man. Do you have any more information on him or know where I could go to find out. I know very little about Naval records and your post and that also from David Alton has given me a thirst to find out more about what was happening in the Channel during the War. Thanks, Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorts Posted 20 April , 2004 Share Posted 20 April , 2004 Do you have any more information on him or know where I could go to find out. I know very little about Naval records and your post and that also from David Alton has given me a thirst to find out more about what was happening in the Channel during the War. Steve, His service record will be in ADM 188 at the Public Records Office, the medal roll for the great war will be in ADM 171. The service record will give a list of all ships he served on, and each of these will have a ship's log. The official history including chapters on Channel actions is in the PRO library. Rgds, Alex. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Alton Posted 21 April , 2004 Share Posted 21 April , 2004 To add to Alex's info about records, here are some book details you might find interesting. A superb book about the RN’s monitors, with chapters on all the ship classes and details of many actions in the Channel is ‘Big Gun Monitors’ by Ian Buxton. Published about 1980, its out of print and hard to find second-hand, but you would be able to get a copy by an Inter Library Loan. I would recommend you read this. The 5 vols of the RNs Official History in WW1 ‘Naval Operations’ originally written in the 1920s-30s, are back in print, published by the Naval and Military Press at £18 each, but you would have to buy all 5 to find the Channel details. Some interesting books are the 2 volumes of ‘The Dover Patrol’ written by Vice Admiral Roger Bacon, who was the Dover Patrol commander 1915-17. These were published in the 1920s. Bacon later condensed these into a single book ‘The Concise Story of the Dover Patrol’. Again you could get these via an ILL. There is a recent book called ‘The Dover Patrol 1914-18’ by R Humphries published in the early 1990s, but it is a slim and superficial account, with many inaccuracies and considering that 80 years has passed and with official records now available, no improvement over the above older books. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveGarnett Posted 21 April , 2004 Author Share Posted 21 April , 2004 Thanks guys for your info and your help. It gives me something to get stuck into. I'm sure you'll hear from me again with another query! Steve Garnett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Posted 22 April , 2004 Share Posted 22 April , 2004 Steve, Just watched 'World War 1 in Colour' Naval part narrated by Kenneth Brannagh and part of it towards the end shows Marshal Soult bombarding Zeebrugge/ Ostend. Recognised the mast pennants from Dittmar &Colledge. Don't know if you can get it on video. Aye Malcolm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveGarnett Posted 23 April , 2004 Author Share Posted 23 April , 2004 Malcolm, thankyou that kind if information is brilliant. I'll have to make sure I get hold of a copy! thanks, Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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