Jump to content

HMS Black Prince KIA Trio - Battle of Jutland


Trevor Arendall

Recommended Posts

Trevor Arendall

The Battle of Jutland is the most famous sea battles of World War One and perhaps one of the most famous battles of the whole war. However, for many years after the battle there was a great mystery. It was that of what truly happened to HMS Black Prince. 
 

For a long time the HMS Black Prince was assumed to be sunk by a German Submarine because the last wireless signal to the British fleet from the Black Prince was a report of a submarine sighting at about 20:45. However, historians now hold the German account of the ships sinking. 
 

During the night action of the battle the HMS Black Prince was separated from the HMS Defence, HMS Warrior, and HMS Duke of Edinburgh. While searching for her sister ships she ran into the entire German battle line and tired to turn away but it was too late. The German battleship Thürungen fixed her search lights on the Black Prince and opened fire. Many other German warships opened fire, these included the Nassau, Ostfiesland, and Friedrich de Grosse. The Black Prince returned fire but was ineffective. Most of these German warships were between 750 and 1500 yards away from the Black Prince which is effectively point-black range for naval gunnery of the time. The HMS Black Prince was hit by at least 20 large caliber shells and she sank within 15 minutes. She went down with all hands, all 857 men who sailed her were killed. 
 

During the battle the HMS Spitfire reported seeing a ship that was “a mass of fire from foremast to mainmast, on deck and between decks. Flames were issuing out of her from every corner.” this mystery ship blew up at about midnight. It is thought that the warship the Spitfire saw was the HMS Black Prince. In my opinion, this is an accurate assumption as the Black Prince was the only ship sunk at midnight during the Battle of Jutland. 

 

Here is the medal group to one of the 857 men who lost their lives while serving aboard the HMS Black Prince. Frederick Charles Wood was only 21 years old when he was killed. His medal entitlement was issued to his mother. 

C04DB7FF-98A4-4411-83B0-745A3851C268.jpeg

55377C43-38E3-4ADA-8597-4FBABE5E1350.jpeg

31138EB0-0FB9-433B-90C0-7CDA4155252B.jpeg

F2F4E749-D3B0-4868-B0EB-B8DA37F25F75.jpeg

0249B159-8BC9-4D51-BC57-CAC15CC8F7DC.jpeg

63489987-44B9-4EF1-A61C-060B0D275920.jpeg

B1B24588-DFD7-45AC-A635-69F956E54952.jpeg

DE58BCDB-A596-459B-B7EF-67A85A5F5A08.jpeg

50B97568-291A-4EEA-98A5-BBD428F632CC.jpeg

Link to comment

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...