All Aboard!
Posted by Ross Sun, 18 Dec 2005 15:30:00 GMT
Welcome to HMS President (1918)
I started my new job aboard and it Rocks - quite literally! In fact the first day was quite nasusous but now only the biggest waves get a mention. People must have grown a lot since the ship was built - I’ve nearly scalped myself twice now on the low ceilings - its the doors that brain you!
Unfortunately, the pictures of the office didnt come out very good - so I’ll have to get some more in the new year.
Work wise there is a todo list as long as the ship! The next few months look like they are going to be very, very busy! There was talk of a doing a work blog - so that may feed into here in the future.
For history buffs heres the background for HMS President 1918:
Britain’s secret weapon during the First World War was built in the dockyards of Devonport and other South West ports.
The Q-ships were Britain’s amazing answer to the German’s potent new weapon - the submarine or U-boat.
These fighting vessels were a great trick of disguise and cunning - they were actually ordinary ships built as decoys.
In the ports of the South West, ships of every shape and size were transformed - trawlers, steamers, schooners and cargo ships were all transformed secretly into men of war. Many Q ships were sunk without trace…
The ships were nicknamed Q-ships after the original ‘Q’ numbers given to the some of these special service decoy vessels.
The ships had guns under dummy lifeboats or hidden under fake funnels and awnings. Some of the ships used paint to hide their cache of weaponry. The idea was to lure the U-boat into attacking these decoy ships which would unleash their hidden weaponry.
The men on these mystery ships showed courage beyond the call of duty…
Hi, I’m trying to find out about HMS Q-20. But no luck so far. Do you have any clues to how I can track this Q-ship down? I can find others on the net, but not this one. Very frustrating! Kindest Regards, Adrian
Sorry - I havent found any information on Q-20.. I believe it might have been called Bayard..
The closest I got was:
http://www.gwpda.org/naval/rnqships.htm http://www.naval-history.net/WW1NavyBritishQships.htm
You could also try contacting the Imperial War Museum - someone there might put you in the know: [email protected]