HMS Bulwark was a London-class battleship built in Devonport Dockyard, Plymouth in 1902. She was one of five pre-Dreadnought battleships laid down in response to France's turn-of-the-century shipbuilding program. One of the first major units fitted with Marconi wireless telegraph, Bulwark served as flagship of the Mediterranean fleet, based at Malta, from 1902 to 1907. Detailed to the Home Fleet, formed as a counterbalance to Germany's North Sea fleet, Bulwark served as divisional flagship until 1911 when she was transferred to the Fifth Battle Squadron of the reserve fleet. Mobilized and fully manned upon the outbreak of World War I, she was assigned to the Channel Fleet, which comprised nineteen pre-Dreadnought battleships. On 26th November 1914, Bulwark was anchored off Sheerness when at 07:53 the ship was "rent asunder" by a massive internal explosion caused by the poor storage of cordite charges, some of which were twelve years old. The ship sank instantly, taking with her a full complement of 781 ranks and ratings.
Not strictly true Annie! When HMS Bulwark tragically sank there were in fact 12 eventual survivors - nine of which were severely injured. One of the survivors an Able Seaman Stephen Marshall testified later at a court of enquiry into the accident, that he was blown right up into the air clearly seeing the masts of the ship shaking violently. The explosion that ripped apart the ship was so temendous that divers sent down soon after reported that only the bow section remained intact [in two large pieces] the rest of the ship was spread over a large area. The number of deaths in this tragedy remains the second highest ever recorded in the history of the Royal Navy - after HMS Vanguard suffered an explosion which detonated a magazine whilst at Scapa Flow during 1917. A couple of pictures of HMS Bulwark...
I found this Cally .... why was it announced to the House ?? .... did they always do that at the start of the war ? http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/GREATWAR/2002-06/1024225056
Annie - as far as I am aware this was done right throughout the war and in WW2 as well. All important aspects of the war including set-backs were always brought before the House...
