HMS PARTRIDGE II

[horatio2]

On 09/10/2023 at 07:17, KizmeRD said:

Paymaster Glasspool was first appointed to the fleet messenger(*) PARTRIDGE II (based in the Mediterranean) in March 1918.
He was still under training in UK during 1917, so its unlikely that he took any photographs of the ship in drydock in Egypt in that particular year. Most likely the dates have been mixed-up, and the damage is from an incident occuring in 1918 (possibly damage incurred during the ramming of U-64?).

I.M.O. the image of HMS PARTRIDGE II in dry dock (page annotated Cairo/Tewfik), must have been taken in 1917, in the aftermath of her collision with SS LOME off Alexandria  on 15 December 1917.  https://archive.ukho.gov.uk/records/HD/1918/1326

Her ramming of U-64 on 17 June 1918 took place in the waters between western Sicily and southern Sardinia and any damage repairs would not have been undertaken in Egypt, 1,200 miles away, but in Malta (300 miles). I have yet to see evidence of PARTRIDGE II having to be docked for these repairs but ramming damage makes it likely.

In December 1917 Paymaster Glasspool was not in training but serving in HMS COWSLIP and the tracks of her and PARTRIDGE II may well have crossed at Egypt.

This assessment asssumes that the notations for EgypT and 1917 are correct. However,I am not persuaded that the damage shown is consistent with either damage to the bows by ramming a submarine or, as labelled, "the mark of a torpedo". Looks more like above water collision damage to me.

[KizmeRD]

His first appointment after completing his qualifying course in Portsmouth was to various seagoing units attached to HMS Eagle (Liverpool), and according to his service doc, he only served aboard COWSLIP during the month of December 1917 (which I assumed might have been a delivery voyage out to the Med.).

I can’t positively identify the graving dock in the photo, other than to rule out Malta (surrounded by buildings), and neither perhaps is it the drydock at Alexandria (which much bigger than the one shown in the photo). The small drydock run by the Canal Company in Tewfik would seem to fit the bill, as it was 123 yards x 25 yards.

- I think we can now rule out post U-64 damage repairs, so, I agree, ‘Lome’ collision repairs do seem to be the most likely (and if his ship wasn’t ready for sea when he arrived in Egypt, he’d have had time to visit Cairo and take some pictures there too.).

MB

Edited 11 October , 2023 by KizmeRD

[Sardinia6]

I have original Commission of my maternal grandfather, Herbert Henry GLASSPOOL, as Assistant Paymaster in the Royal Navy Reserve with seniority 2 nd April 1917.