HMS Prince George

Part 1 - Tenedos Island & Seddul Bahr Fort & Malta 1915

HMS Prince George at Malta - Feb. 1915

HMS Prince George was a Majestic-class pre-dreadnought battleship launched in 1895.

James Plumpton served on Prince George as rank of Lieutenant during Sept 1914 to Jan 1916. The story goes that he received his 'calling up' telegram while playing on the organ at St. Andrews church in Cullompton.

These are his photo's taken during this period where HMS Prince George joined other battleships with shelling the Turkish fort defences. Prince George had a lucky escape when a torpedo which failed to explode struck her off Cape Helles. She was also hit by an unexploded shell.

She was one of the first ships to land at the shores of Sulva Bay, Gallipoli, establishing spotter communications, dugouts, etc on C beach..

Prince George was also one of the last ships to leave, helping to evacuate the remaining troops after a disastrous battle.

When James Plumpton was on the Prince George, Alexander V. Campbell was his Captain. Later in 1934, a then promoted Admiral Campbell wrote a foreward in James Plumpton's book Treasure Cruise. which can be read on this site.

Additional information about HMS Prince George

Launched in 1895, HMS Prince George was assigned to the 7th Battle Squadron in 1912. When World War I broke out Prince George, together with the rest of the squadron, was attached to the Channel Fleet during the early stages of the war. In early 1915, she was dispatched to the Mediterranean for service in the Dardanelles Campaign. She participated in bombardments of Turkish forts and supported the Allied operations at Gallipoli, including the evacuation from the peninsula late in 1915. She spent the remainder of the war back in the United Kingdom, initially as an accommodation ship before being converted to a depot ship for destroyers in 1918 and stationed at Scapa Flow. Decommissioned in 1920, she was sold for scrapping to a German company but sank off the Netherlands during transit to Germany. The wreck is still visible from the beach to this day.

Fleet Surgeon Andrews R.N

Taken August/Sept 1914 on HMS Prince George in the English Channel.

Fleet Surgeon Andrews R.N second from left with other crew

Taken August 1914 on HMS Prince George in the English Channel

Crew of HMS Prince George in the English Channel. Aug. 1914

‘French Torpedo Boat - October 1914’.

This is an intriguing photo. Is it a torpedo boat? It looks quite ramshackle and it’s very busy on there with non uniformed crew. I guess the ‘0F’ may be the key to identifying this boat but I can’t find anything out about it...Cmd. James Plumpton of HMS Prince George obviously thought it was worthy of going in his scrapbook!

‘French 4 Masted Barque’ October 1914

‘Launch of Royal Oak’ at Devonport - October 1914

“Dutch liner ‘Rotterdam’ stopped off the Eddystone September 23rd 1914 and sent in to Plymouth for Examination”

Built by Harland and Wolff, Belfast, the ROTTERDAM IV held 530 First, 555 Second and 2,124 Third Class passengers. She was a liner with two funnels, Holland America's first, 650 feet in length and 77 feet wide. Her registered tonnage was 24,170 and displacement of 37,190 tons. She traveled at an average of 16.5 knots. She was sold in January of 1940 to Dutch breakers.

Engines: Two four-cylinder quadruple expansion steam engines by yard.

Pax. Cap.: 35 First, 555 Second, 2,232 Third Class (of which 1,064 in collapsable cabins)

Remarks: Bunker capacity 4,250 tons of coal at 300 tons a day

“German Ship ‘Olona’ captured in channel Sept. 24th 1914 and sent in to Plymouth.” I believe this was British built / German owned.

“German Barquantine captured sept. 25th 1914 and sent in to Falmouth.”

“German ship ‘Ossa’ captured sept. 25th 1914 and sent in to Falmouth.” I believe this was a British built ship (Dumbarton 1902), German Owned, captured as above & sent to Falmouth, then to Ipswich Dock Oct 17th. Sold for auction, put back into service sailing from Ipswich to London but sunk by a U-boat shortly afterwards..

“Admiral Bethel leaving Prince George for Vengeance”. Admiral Sir Alexander Edward Bethell GCMG KCB (28 August 1855 – 13 June 1932) was a Royal Navy officer who served as Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth.

HMS Prince George - 1914

“Anti-aircraft gun mounted on 12” turret”

“HMS Prince George in Bay of Biscay Dec. 1914”

“Cheering Inflexible at Gibraltar on her arrival from Falkland Islands - January 11th 1915”

In ref. To The Battle of the Falklands 8th Dec 1914 : “HMS Inflexible and HMS Invincible turned to fire broadsides at the armoured cruisers and Admiral Graf Von Spee responded by trying to close the range. His flagship SMS Scharnhorst took extensive damage with funnels flattened, fires and a list. The list became worse at 16:04, and she sank by 16:17, taking Admiral Graf Von Spee and the entire crew with her. “.

Examining Germans taken from Portuguese Steamer San Miguel of Lisbon.

January 8th 1915. (1 of 2)

Examining Germans taken from Portuguese Steamer San Miguel of Lisbon.

January 8th 1915. (2 of 2)

‘Taking 6” Howitzer on board Prince George at Malta February 1915’

Mock ‘Trial & Execution of the Kaiser’ - February 1915’

‘HMS Prince George at Malta - Feb. 1915’

‘Prince George in dry dock at Malta’ - Feb 1915.

‘Midshipman at flag drill - Malta February 1915’

Naval Review Quote from Gunnery Officer A. Hammick on HMS Prince George:

MARCH Ist.-Arrived at the south side of Tenedos at 2.30 p.m. and anchored near the shore. A fine calm day. Also here Queen Elizabeth, Agamemnom, Lord Nelson, Irresistible, Majestic, Cornwallis, Albion, Canopus, Inflexible, Dartmouth, Ark Royal, and the Destroyer Flotilla. Commenced coaling at 4 p.m. and at the same time sent the diver down on the cow-catcher.

‘Dummy HMS Tiger’ Dardanelles April 1915

Naval Review Quote from Gunnery officer Alexander Hammick - HMS Prince George:

The mysterious Tiger has turned out to be one of the dummy ships we have heard so much about. No one seems to know what good she is supposed to be out here, but anyway she is a very good copy, and at a couple of miles off looks exactly like the Tiger. She seems to cruise rather aimlessly about outside, possible to scare the Goeben off from interfering with what is going on.

‘Landing aeroplanes & stores at Tenedos Island April 7th 1915’

Naval Review Quote from Gunnery officer Alexander Hammick - HMS Prince George:

7th.-.A heavy day's work. Shifted to the North anchorage at 6 a.m. We are to unload a tramp called the Moorgate, which is full of aeroplanes and stores for a new aerodrome that is to be established at Tenedos. We had two launches and two pinnaces to do the job with. - The stores included several thousand tins of petrol, a, dozen aircraft of various makes in pieces, and some armoured cars. Luckily these latter had not to be landed on the sandy beach. We had to make a special sort of lighter for it, two launches lashed together with boards to form a platform. That also involved some sort of pier to run the thing ashore on. It was safely done after huge efforts. We stopped work at sunset, by which time we had got most of the actual planes ashore and a good deal of the 40,000 gallons of petrol which had to be landed. The armoured cars seemed to be in charge of Josiah Wedgwood, a Radical M.P. who has turned his attention to better things than politics. He had a gang of weird specimens with him, mostly ex-chauffeurs, I imagine, and all apparently with the rank of petty officer, like the Dutch army of generals. They called themselves the R.N. Armoured . Car Section. whatever that may be. One thing-was obvious, and that was that none of them had ever had any connection with the Navy. Regarding the officers of this weird outfit, the main qualification seems . to be that you should either be a radical M.P. or have lots of money, or both. Young McLaren was one of them. What this extraordinary party are going to do in these parts, where there are no piers to land their unwieldy machines on, and no roads if they ever do get them ashore, no one, least of all themselves, seems to know.

‘Aeroplanes, etc being landed by Prince George at Tenedos Island April 8th 1915 from Steamer Moorgate'

This is most likely to be Commander Samson in his BE50 plane

Naval Review Quote from Officer on HMS Prince George:

8th.-Went on unloading the Moorgate until it mas time to go on patrol. Fine and warm.

Sea Plane Beached - Tenedos Island April 8th 1915

Possibly a French Nieuport Sea Plane beached while on a reconnaissance mission

Possibly a Henry Farman HF20

Possibly Samson's B.E. 50

Crows nest of Prince George

‘Cmdr. Samson R.N’ Mar 1915'

Possibly person on the left with legs crossed

Naval Review Quote from Officer Hammick on HMS Prince George:

April 9th.-Anchored off the coast just south of Yeni Sher village. The idea was to have a few rounds at a new battery on the east bank of the Mendere, with an aeroplane to spot. Samson himself spotted for us, and gave us a fine object lesson in what can be done in that respect. He was about 6,000 feet above the battery, flying in " figures of eight," but at that distance looked as if he were stationary over the target. He sent the result of each shot by wireless immediately it fell, and the rapidity with which he spotted and transmitted was quite a revelation to most of us. He reported us four direct hits, and several within 25 yards, which was better than I expected. But even then I am very sceptical of the good of shooting at such a small target with indirect fire. The fact that we were at anchor made it easier.

I believe the person on the left is likely to be Commander Charles Rumney Samson CMG, DSO & Bar, AFC who was a British naval aviation pioneer. In the badly faded photo, you can see that he is holding or taking something out of a case. Perhaps it is a camera for plane.

“He was one of the first four officers selected for pilot training by the Royal Navy and was the first person to fly an aircraft from a moving ship. He also commanded the first British armoured vehicles used in combat."

In March 1915 Samson was sent to the Dardanelles with No 3 Squadron based on the island of Tenedos and, together with seaplanes from HMS Ark Royal, initially provided the only Allied air cover. On arrival, it was found that out of 30 aircraft that had been sent in crates, only 5 were serviceable (BE2s and a Nieuport 10). His squadron pioneered the use of radio in directing the fire of battleships and photo-reconnaissance. On 27 May, Samson attacked the German submarine U-21 which had just sunk HMS Majestic; when he ran out of bombs he resorted to firing his rifle at it.

Having spotted for naval bombardments during the landings on April 23rd, Samson's squadron continued doing so every day employing six aircraft. One of Samson's favourite ships was the battleship Prince George: "She used to do implicitly what we told her". The monitors were even better and hits were obtained very quickly.

Naval Review Quote from Gunnery officer Alexander Hammick - HMS Prince George:

19th April Ashore with the skipper in the morning to see Samson about some spotting he is going to do for us tomorrow. We saw him at the aerodrome they have made at Tenedos. Samson said it was one of the best he had seen, a large flat plain, a great part of it hard caked earth. Had a look at the officers' mess, which is in a pretty little farm house with a garden round it. The whole place looks very comfortable, and the flowers and hay smelt sweet in the morning breeze. Saw two large holes in a field near, where an enemy machine had dropped bombs the day before. The petrol had all been buried. Samson said they had returned the call that morning and had dropped several bombs on the Chanak aerodrome with apparent effect.

20th.-Fired at a battery near the Mendere River, not the same one as last time. Samson spotted for us, and the results were fairly satisfactory.

Coaling Prince George

Naval Review Quote from Gunnery officer Alexander Hammick - HMS Prince George:

~3rd March.-Commenced coaling at 8 a.m. and finished by noon. A rotten coalier, single derricks and bad winches, her name is the Boscawen, which we must remember for future reference.

‘Coaling Ship Band’ ~March 1915. HMS Prince George

Naval Review Quote from Gunnery officer Alexander Hammick - HMS Prince George:

29th March.-Arrived at Mudros at 7 a.m. in pouring rain, and commenced coaling at 8 a.m. Took in 300 tons. The rain cleared off later, and the rest of the day was sunny and warm.

11th April.- Anchored at Tenedos when we were relieved from patrol. . A typical Sunday: Took in 400 tons of coal, and then filled up with ammunition and provisions, finishing at 8 p.m.

12th April.-Cleaned up after coaling. Fine and warm.

18th April.-Usual Sunday routine; coaled 200 tons.

‘Landing Aeroplanes and gear at Tenedos From Steamer Moorgate’ April 1915

‘Firing 12” guns - Prince George’ March 1915.

Naval Review Quote from Gunnery officer Alexander Hammick - HMS Prince George: We first had another go at Sed-ul-Bahr, as we could see that the field guns that had opened on the Albion were still in place and not quite destroyed. They were in rather an awkward position to get at, through some big masonry arches, which would take an immense amount of knocking away. So we tried to fire through them. As they were very narrow, it was not very easy, but we finally finished them off, by hitting the arches above the guns so that the bits of masonry fell on to the guns. We then had a go at what appeared to be two observation stations, and when we had knocked one of them away we found it sheltered a big searchlight. We destroyed it, and also what turned out to he a gas engine, probably for running it along rails to its night position, as from where it was, it could not have been much good. Meanwhile, three donkeys grazed quietly in a field close by. I am glad we did not hit them.

‘Firing at Sedd El Bahr Fort from Prince George - March 9th 1915’.

“The British Royal Navy attacked the Turkish forts on 19 February 1915 at the start of the naval operations in the Dardanelles Campaign. Sedd el Bahr was subjected to repeated bombardment and raids by naval demolition teams and the position was deemed too exposed. By the peak of naval operations on 18 March, Sedd el Bahr and Kum Kale, across the straits, had been eliminated as threats.”

‘Anchor Davit 14” thick shot away by Turkish shell, HMS Prince George -March 6th 1915.’

Naval Review Quote from Gunnery officer Alexander Hammick - HMS Prince George: "The result was that only one big shell hit us, and that one really did us a lot of good, as it hit the port cat davit at the base and knocked it overboard, and a very good riddance too. The thing has been a beastly nuisance and we are well quit of it. Unluckily, the other still remains. "

‘HMS Prince George firing at Sedd El Bahr Forts’ , Gallipoli, Dardanelles March 9 1915.

Naval Review Quote from Gunnery officer Alexander Hammick - HMS Prince George:

That was the end of our first day inside the straits, and was a very interesting one. I think we have all learnt a great deal of the new conditions under which we have to work. The whole thing is so utterly unlike anything we have had to do before, that mistakes at first are inevitable, and of course we made some. But we must have done all right on the whole, as the Rear Admiral signalled to us " You shot very well."

HMS Agamemnon - March 1915

Dardanelles Campaign - The Battle of 18th March 1915

The event that decided the battle took place on the night of 18 March when the Ottoman minelayer Nusret laid a line of mines in front of the Kephez minefield, across the head of Eren Köy Bay, a wide bay along the Asian shore just inside the entrance to the straits. The Ottomans had noticed the British ships turned to starboard into the bay when withdrawing. The new row of 20 mines ran parallel to the shore, were moored at fifteen m (49.2 ft) and spaced about 100 yd (91 m) apart. The clear water meant that the mines could have been seen through the water by reconnaissance aircraft.The British plan for 18 March was to silence the defences guarding the first five minefields, which would be cleared overnight by the minesweepers. The next day the remaining defences around the Narrows would be defeated and the last five minefields would be cleared. The operation went ahead with the British and French ignorant of the recent additions to the Ottoman minefields. The battleships were arranged in three lines, two British and one French, with supporting ships on the flanks and two ships in reserve.

The first British line opened fire from Eren Köy Bay around 11:00. Shortly after noon, de Robeck ordered the French line to pass through and close on the Narrows forts. The Ottoman fire began to take its toll with Gaulois, Suffren, Agamemnon and Inflexible suffering hits. While the naval fire had not destroyed the Ottoman batteries, it had succeeded in temporarily reducing their fire. By 13:25, the Ottoman defences were mostly silent so de Robeck decided to withdraw the French line and bring forward the second British line as well as Swiftsure and Majestic.

The Allied forces had failed to properly reconnoitre the area and sweep it for mines. Aerial reconnaissance by aircraft from the sea plane carrier HMS Ark Royal had discovered a number of mines on 16 and 17 March but failed to spot the line of mines laid by Nusret in Eren Köy Bay. On the day of the attack civilian trawlers sweeping for mines in front of line "A" discovered and destroyed three mines in an area thought to be clear, before the trawlers withdrew under fire. This information was not passed on to de Robeck. At 13:54, Bouvet—having made a turn to starboard into Eren Köy Bay—struck a mine, capsized and sank within a couple of minutes, killing 639 crewmen, only 48 survivors being rescued. At first it appeared that the ship had been hit in a magazine and de Robeck thought that the ship had struck a floating mine or been torpedoed

The British pressed on with the attack. Around 16:00, Inflexible began to withdraw and struck a mine near where Bouvet had sunk, thirty crew being killed and the ship taking on with 1,600 long tons (1,600 t) of water.The battlecruiser remained afloat, was eventually beached on the island of Bozcaada (Tenedos) and temporarily repaired with a coffer dam.Irresistible was the next to be mined and as it began to drift, the crew were taken off. De Robeck told Ocean to take Irresistible under tow but the water was deemed too shallow to make an approach. At 18:05, Ocean struck a mine which jammed the steering gear leaving the ship adrift. The abandoned battleships were still floating when the British withdrew but when a destroyer commanded by Commodore Roger Keyes returned to tow or sink the vessels, they could not be found despite a 4-hour search.

French Battleship ‘Suffren’. March 1915

This ship helped to support the British battleships bombard the Turkish forts in the Gallipoli Campaign. In November 1916, off the Portuguese coast near Lisbon, she was torpedoed by the German submarine SM U-52, en route to the Austro-Hungarian naval base at Cattaro. The torpedo detonated a magazine and Suffren sank within seconds, taking her entire crew of 648 with her. U-52 searched the scene, but found no survivors

‘Queen Elizabeth in Dardanelles 18th March 1915’ .

HMS Queen Elizabeth was the lead ship of her class of dreadnought battleships built for the Royal Navy in the early 1910s, and was often used as a flagship. She served in the First World War as part of the Grand Fleet. She and the other super-dreadnought battleships were the first of their type to be powered by oil instead of coal. She became the flagship for the preliminary naval operations in the Dardanelles Campaign, leading the first line of British battleships in the battle of 18 March 1915.

Naval Review Quote from Gunnery officer Alexander Hammick - HMS Prince George:

5th March - Things were very quiet for an hour, when a battery quite near the shore and behind a small hill suddenly opened on the Queen Elizabeth and hit her with the first salvo. They were rather hard to locate and before we found them had hit her again. But we were lucky in getting our first salvo nicely into where they must have been, as they stopped firing at once. The Queen Elizabeth was not much damaged, but she got one in the ward-room, which was a good deal knocked about. There was no one there at the time luckily, although it was lunch time. There was practically no other damage.

6th March - The Queen Elizabeth was attacked by a howitzer battery when she was firing ;it must have been brought there during the night. The Turk seems very energetic in lumping his guns over the country. I believe she was again hit in the ward-room.

‘HMS Inflexible March 18th 1915’ In the Dardanelles - from HMS Prince George.

Inflexible is just about viewable in the distance and was being bombarded by Turkish shells while firing at the forts.

Inflexible bombarded Turkish forts in the Dardanelles in 1915, but was damaged by return fire and struck a mine while manoeuvring. She had to be beached to prevent her from sinking, but she was patched up and sent to Malta, and then Gibraltar for more permanent repairs. Transferred to the Grand Fleet afterwards, she damaged the German battlecruiser Lützow during the Battle of Jutland and watched HMS Invincible explode. She was deemed obsolete after the war and was sold for scrap in 1921.

Earlier in the battle of the Falklands, 8th Dec 1914 HMS Inflexible and HMS Invincible turned to fire broadsides at the armoured cruisers and Spee responded by trying to close the range. His flagship SMS Scharnhorst took extensive damage with funnels flattened, fires and a list. The list became worse at 16:04, and she sank by 16:17, taking von Spee and the entire crew with her.

‘HMS Inflexible on fire forward March 18th 1915’. - Hit by enemy shell

Photo from HMS Prince George - Gallipoli.

Naval Review Quote from Gunnery officer Alexander Hammick - HMS Prince George:

3rd April.-Went on board the Inflexible to see their scars after lunch. Penetrated to the submerged flat to see the pad in place. It is a fine bit of work, and seems quite watertight at present. I believe the man who put one on the Lion came out to do this one. A wood and cement bulkhead is being built fore and aft inside the whole as an extra precaution. Apparently, the chief trouble was that the ship was to have been fitted for Director gear, and the holes for the wiring had been made. In consequence the two next compartments to the one holed were also filled through the holes. Rather like the case of the Irresistible, where one engine-room was filled in quite a few minutes through the voice pipes.

Enemy shells falling near HMS Prince George - March 18th 1915’ - Being fired upon by the Turkish forts in WW1.

‘French Battleship ‘Bouvet’ sinking in Dardanelles 2.0pm 18th March 1915’.

Bouvet was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the French Navy that was built in the 1890s.

She was armed with a main battery of two 305 mm (12 in) guns and two 274 mm (10.8 in) guns in individual turrets. She had a top speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph), which made her one of the fastest battleships in the world at the time...

Naval Review Quote from Gunnery officer Alexander Hammick - HMS Prince George:

18th March - When just clear of Arenkioi Bay we stopped to let the Bouvet go out ahead of us. As she was abeam of us we all in the top hod a good look at her to . see if she had suffered much. We were then about two cables from her. At the very moment that I had got my glasses on to her, I suddenly saw a great column of black smoke shoot up from her side. I exclaimed " The Frenchman has got it," I thought at first that it was a big shell that had hit hex as we were still within range of one of the big forts. She immediately started to heel over towards us. The smoke did not hang as she was steqing fast at the time, but she went on listing and I then knew that it must be a mine. She went on listing very steadily but very fast, and I think we all realised that she was done for. I turned away to tell '"A" group to turn out the seaboat and lower her, and when I turned back she was nearly on her beam ends A lull in the firing occurred just at this moment, and the comparative stillness seemed to intensify the scene. Still moving through the water she went on listing until we were looking down her funnels and could see the crews of her upper deck guns sliding down her deck. She continued to list and was upside:down in about 2 minutes 10 seconds from the time we saw her hit the mine. She seemed to pause a few seconds in that position and then gave a faint shudder and disappeared with a smooth sliding motion. Then whole thing lasted under two and a half minutes and all was over. As soon as the skipper saw that she was going he sent our picket boat over to try and rescue her men. The picket boat was nearly sunk on the way as a big shell nearly got her, as it was it swamped her stern sheets. We cleared off as soon as it happened as the skipper was afraid that there was a mine field there and we were too near for comfort. All the ships sent their boats, but very little could be done, her men had not time to get up on to her upper deck, she went dawn too quickly. Our boat picked up 37 men, and four others were picked up by someone else. All the remainder were lost, about 550 of them. As she was just under water, there were several smaller explosions, probably her shell getting loose and detonating. It was a horrible spectacle, but was over so quickly that we could not realise at the time that 500 men were perishing before our eyes. But that a ship of her si~e could be sunk so quickly by one mine was a bit of an eye-opener for us.

‘French Battleship ‘Bouvet’ sinking in Dardanelles 2.0pm 18th March 1915’.

She participated in a series of attacks on the Ottoman fortifications guarding the straits. These culminated in a major assault on 18 March 1915; during the attack, she was hit approximately eight times by shellfire but was not seriously damaged. While turning to withdraw, she struck a mine and sank within two minutes; only 75 men were rescued from a complement of 718. Two British battleships were also sunk by mines that day.

‘Prince George being hit on March 18th 1915.

Two other shells can be seen to have struck water close to ship. Photograph taken & presented to us by an officer from French battleship Gaulois’

‘Ward room of HMS Prince George afternoon of 18th March 1915’

The wardroom is the mess cabin or compartment for commissioned naval officers above the rank of midshipman. It appears to have suffered quite a bit of damage, although I believe this was an unexploded shell

For reference, also see photos further down the page of the Prince George ward room at another time when the officers were sat down having a meal

‘British fleet bombarding Gallipoli Peninsula previous to landing April 25th’

Viewed from HMS Prince George. The landing at Anzac Cove on Sunday, 25 April 1915, also known as the landing at Gaba Tepe, and to the Turks as the Arıburnu Battle, was part of the amphibious invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula by the forces of the British Empire, which began the land phase of the Gallipoli Campaign of the First World War.

‘Diving to examine hole’ 3rd May 1915’.

‘Preparing to place collision mat over hole 3rd May 1915’.

With the aid of divers, the crew needed to lower a temporary mat over the hole at the waterline in the side of the battleship.

‘Hole through side made by 6” Turkish shell 3rd May 1915’

Prince George's Channel Fleet service ended in February 1915 when she transferred to the Dardanelles for service in the Dardanelles campaign as a "mine-bumper". She arrived at Tenedos on 1 March 1915, which would be her base until February 1916. She took part in attacks on Ottoman Turkish forts covering the Turkish Straits on 5 and 18 March. On 3 May, while firing on Turkish batteries, she took a 6-inch (152-mm) hit below the waterline, and returned to Malta for repairs.

‘Unexploded 6” Turkish shell which struck HMS Prince George’ - May 1915

And the ships dogs! This is probably at Malta where Prince George went for repairs after being struck by Turkish shells. Obviously very lucky to have been hit by one which failed to explode.

‘James Plumpton inspecting the unexploded 6” Turkish shell which struck HMS Prince George’

The ship was in for repairs at Malta after being damaged by Turkish Shells at the Gallopoli Peninsular - May 1915

‘Crew inspecting the unexploded 6” Turkish shell'

‘Ships Dog ‘Kip’ and Cat on 12” gun - HMS Prince George” - 1915

‘Renewing and placing a new 12” gun in after turret at Malta - June 1915”

‘Officers of HMS Prince George June 1915’

This photo was possibly taken while the Prince George was docked at Malta having the battle damage repaired.

James Plumpton is sat to the right of the Chaplain. The dog was called Kip.

These are the ones I have hopefully identified correctly so far....

13 - Lieut. R.M Aylmer G. Stacey

17 - Lieu. Cmdr. James Plumpton

27 - Commander Charles N Tindall Carill Worsley

28 - Captain Alexander V. Campbell, (promoted to Admiral)

43 - Ship's Dog Kip

Other Officers are possibly Toulmin, Ree, Noyes,, Pipon, Roberts, Beard, Bent, Lieut. Bernard T Cox (wounded 18-03-15), Young

(Mentioned in the Naval Review of Gallipoli Campaign)

If you recognise anyone from your family ancestry research, or can help with identifying anyone, please email me on jamesplumpton.history@gmail.com

This is a list of Officers from the Prince George 1 year earlier than the photo.

I hope to match some of the names to the faces above in due course..

See page 2 for a photo of the junior officers.

Notes of interest:

The Captain Alexander V. Campbell was Captain of HMS King George V in 1918 and became Vice Admiral and Commander of the Malta Dockyard as shown in these photo's. He also wrote a forward for James Plumpton's book 'Treasure Cruise'. (See 'Treasure Cruise Book in menu). I am trying to locate a photo of him, so that I can identify him in these photo's.

Some of the other officers highlighted in the list are also named in James Plumpton's photo's on this page.

i.e. Commander Charles N Tindall Carill Worsley, Lieut. R.M Aylmer G. Stacey, Fleet Surgeon Alexander G. Andrews.

HMS PRINCE GEORGE. (Navy List 1914)

Battleship.

14,900 Tons.

I H.P. 10,000 N.B. (12,000 F.D.)

Guns — 4-12 inch, 12-6 inch, 16-12pr.,

4-3 pr.

Captain Alexander V. Campbell,

mvo 15 Aug 14

Commander Charles N.Tindal Carill Worsley t> Aug 14

Lieut.-Com (I) Lancelot A. Smithies

31 July 12

(N)Harry C. B. Pipon l5 Aug 14

Lieutenant (GO Alexander R. Hammick 1 Aug 14

(T)m-aukH. T. Kee... 1 Aug 14 (or Ree?)

Charles W. J. Howard 1 Aug 14

(E)Den.\s C. Fold 1 Aug 14

Eng. Com Walter S. Westbrook 21 Nov 12

Lieut. R.N.R.... Charles F. Halliday ... - Aug 14

J. Plumpton — Aug 14

C. A. G. Roberts — Aug 14

C. V. Le Sueur — Aug 14

En y. Lieut Allan Pettman 6 Aug 14

V, pt. B.M A M.. Toulmin 15 Aug 14

Lieut. R.M Aylmer G. Stacey 1 Aug 14

C/iaplam Reo. William H. (Ree?)

Maundreli 6 Aug 14

Fleet Surgeon ...Alexander G.Andrews 1 Aug 14

* taff £ U N.V°l. \ William Allan 1 Aug 14

Fleet Paym Henry O. F. C. Parker 2 Aug 14

Surgeon John H. Burdett 1 Aug 14

James H Wright, MB,

ba — Aug 14

Sub-Lieut. \ Arthur W. Knight ... — Aug 14

R N It. (act) j Gordon C. Steele — Aug 14

Asst. p Wm-^ I Ernest J. Hold way ... 1 Aug 14

Ch. Boatswain... Thomas S. Matthews — Aug 14

Gunner Nicholas Southwood — Aug 14

(T)John W. Chubb...— Aug 14

Charles I remner — Aug 14

Meichizedic Tucker ... — Aug 14

Carpenter William J. Hall 24 June 13

Artif. Eng. ... Frank M. Robinson ... 9 Jan 14

William J.Ahearn — Aug 14

Wt. Engineer. ..W. C. Canwright — Aug 14

Clerk Reginald W. Campbell— Aug 14

Naval Cadet D. C. Kenderdine — Aug 14

P. R. Dearden — Aug 14

V. St. J. Van der Byl— Aug 14

W. S. Burt — Aug 14

H. N. A.Taylor — Aug 14

H. H. R. Hancox — Aug 14

H. E. Semple — Aug 14

G. W T . Norman - Aug 14

A. G. Buchanan — Aug 14

Re-commissioned at Devonport, ith June, 1912.

Other Notes:

Lieut. R.N.R.... Charles F. Halliday - Died 31-05-16 on HMS Black Prince at Battle of Jutland - All 857 lives lost - Son of the late Charles and Mary Halliday (Nee Swift); husband of the late Mary Halliday.

Lieutenant (GO Alexander Robert Hammick - He was Gunnery Officer and became Rear Admiral after serving as Captain on HMS Sussex in early part of WW2. He wrote the report from HMS Prince George as part of the 'Naval Report'

‘Ships company of HMS Prince George June 1915’.

Officers are in the front row - I think James Plumpton is 4th from the left.

‘Views of Malta - June 1915’

See next : HMS Prince George P2 Lemnos / Cape Helles - Gallipoli 1915

If you have any information to add or any comments, please drop me an email: jamesplumpton.history@gmail.com

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