Scuttling of HMS Implacable, 2nd December 1949

[anteros_lmc]

I had hoped to post this yesterday but didn't have a chance... Sixty two years ago on the 2nd of December 1949 the Royal Navy scuttled HMS Implacable, the only other ship aside from HMS Victory to have survived the Battle of Trafalgar. Implacable was originally a French Temeraire class ship of the line Duguay-Trouin. She survived Trafalgar but was subsequently captured at the Battle of Cape Ortegal. Implacable saw 40 years of active service in the Royal Navy, and from 1855 was used as a training ship at Hamoaze. Despite considerable protest and many appeals to save Implacable, her upkeep was considered to be too expensive and she was scuttled off the Isle of White in St Catherines Deep. She went down with full honours flying both French and British colours. This unique and deeply moving event was captured on film by British Pathé and I confess I can not watch the extraordinary footage without tearing up. Unfortunately the Pathé embed code doesn't seem to work on LJ but you can view the film here: Implacable to the End. Despite the best efforts of the Royal Navy it took over three hours to sink the 155 year old wooden ship.



HMS Implacable defies the best attempts of the Royal Navy to scuttle her.
Over forty years later in 1991 the National Historic Ships Committee was established to address the problem of preserving historic ships and vessels in the UK and to ensure that no other historic ship would suffer the fate of HMS Implacable.

Comments

[latin-cat.livejournal.com]

I may not have teared up, but I'm left with a sense of great sadness and outrage, along with the question how could they? But money talks, as ever.

Packed with explosives, yet they still could not shatter her hull. I'm glad she made them watch for three hours to contemplate what they had done.

(There's potentially a ghost story in here somewhere...)

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Yes, sadness and outrage is the right response. It's tragic. Really hard to watch.

I read on wessexsociety.org that the reason she took so long to sink was that the RN doubled the normal scuttling charge which blew a hole through the bottom of her hull. This caused the pig iron ballast to fall through the hole leaving the broken hull floating for several hours, causing a serious and rather embarrassing hazard to passing shipping. Some time after she eventually sank a few planks from her upper deck washed ashore in France.

(Definitely potential for a ghost story here I would say...)

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

She was a tough old girl. It fills me with sadness and outrage to see her mastless, treated that way.

The Constitution almost went the same way, you know. When my mother was in elementary school--mid 1920's, there was a penny campaign to save her. My mother remembered sending in her pennies.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

It's terrible isn't it? I really do find it hard to watch.

I'm very glad indeed that your mother's pennies helped to save the Constitution :)

[vespican.livejournal.com]

If I remember my history correctly, Constitution survived a couple of attempts and scuttling. One I believe let to the poem: "Aye, tear her tattered ensign down..."

[lady-branwyn.livejournal.com]

She survived all those years, only to be sunk by her own Navy. What a shame.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Tragic. Absolutely tragic. Apparently she was offerred to the French but they declined to save her too.

[esteven]

I had seen the docu and felt not just sad but outraged. She has survived Trafalgar, only to be scuttled because of money! She certainly shamed those who destroyed her.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

She did indeed shame them. Both the French and the British.

[charliecochrane.livejournal.com]

Such a loss. She'd have been so great at the Historic Dockyard!

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Aye, she'd earned her place beside Victory.

[aletheiafelinea.livejournal.com]

She struggled bravely, for her ungrateful owners' shame.

How unthinkable deed today...

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

She certainly went down fighting but she didn't go in vain. Implacable's loss ultimately lead to the establishment of the World Ship Trust, whose motto is "Never again."

[vespican.livejournal.com]

A ship that had survived for so long definitely should have been saved for the historic aspects of it's continued existence. Yet today, ships of more modern vintage can face the same fate. Some are perhaps out dated technology wise and have very little historic value. Still others might be a viable option to construction of new hulls. I'm thinking of the original two classes of American "super carriers." All Forrestal and Kitty Hawk class ships are out of service. Enterprise I believe is slated for one more deployment and then it to will be gone. If these vessels still have structural integrity, why not refurbish them to some extend and at least provide additional decks for flight operations.

By the way, in watching the film of IMPLACABLE's demise, did anyone notice the "hogging" that had developed over the years?
Dave

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

The loss of more modern vessels is a valid point to raise. It's always the case that we fail to recognise the potential value to history of contemporary artefacts.

Interesting you should mention USSEnterprise, as she happens to be off the West Coast of Scotland just now.

did anyone notice the "hogging" that had developed over the years?
I did notice that, but I had no idea that's what it was called! Incidentally there is more footage of Implacable on the Pathé site here and here.

[vespican.livejournal.com]

As I understand it, HOGGING is inherent in large wooden hulled vessels. It has to do with the flexibilty of construction and the degree of bouyancy along the length of the hull. A midships the hull is quite bouyant and supports itself easily. At the bow and stern, there is less displacement. less buoyancy, and hence the weight of the unsupported structure tends to force those parts lower in the water. The keel soon takes on a bow shape, curving upwards amidships and down to bow and stern. Eventually the bowing or hogging can be seen in the upper works as well. The large American 44's became hogged quite early in their lives, including Constitution.
Dave

[nodbear.livejournal.com]

Tremendously sad and thank goodness it did lead to he preservation instinct becoming the norm. I remember how excited we were when they finally towed the wrecked SS Great Britain back from the Falklands = a tremendous feat that had become thinkable becuase of the change of mindset.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Indeed. Implacable didn't go down in vain.

I've never seen SS Great Britain though I've been to Bristol often enough. She looks lovely :)

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

Have any of you ever been to see a mothballed fleet? dave, maybe you have? We toured the mothball fleet in Philly, about 10 years ago.

The day was memorable because daughter, then 3, nearly threw herself headfirst into the icy Schuykill river. She was saved by two strange men, who grabbed her as I ran top speed after her. I never would have made it. Sometimes it is a strange man who saves your child...

But, anyway. It was just a big empty space, with hundreds of ships, stripped of parts, moored and forgotten. Some were so old they had wooden decks.

It was eerie. Also, there were abandoned buildings, with ivy trying to get int the windows, and feral chickens who had found the place, wandering everywhere, crowing. I don't know where the chickens came from, but it added to the whole spooky atmosphere.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Wow! That sounds really eerie. I've seen plenty of old fishing boats left to rot around the coast but never more than one or two in the same place. So many abandoned ships in one place must be really weird, especially if they are infested with ferral chickens!

Sometimes it is a strange man who saves your child...
I believe I was also saved from running head long into a dangerous river by a strange man when I was about three. So I was told anyway, I have no memory of it!

[(Anonymous)]

How funny.

I think of those men often. They were wearing office work clothes. They may have been on lunch, or something. I was so distracted, once I caught up to her that I don't even remember what i said. I could not possibly have thanked them sufficiently. She would have died.

By the time I got sense enough back to look up, they were gone. Sort of like the Lone Ranger.

She does not remember it either-- but has heard the story often enough to roll her eyes at me!

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Sort of like the Lone Ranger.
I wonder if they still think on it too?

She does not remember it either-- but has heard the story often enough to roll her eyes at me!
Heh, I used to roll my eyes at my mother when she told the story too!