Outnumbered and outgunned during the fierce naval skirmish off Calabria, HMS Warspite’s crew targeted the Italian flagship Giulio Cesare from a distance of over 15 miles, leaving a gaping wound in the enemy vessel and instilling terror in her crew.
Warspite, despite its flaws, became an emblem of hope and resilience. From the Battle of Jutland in World War 1 to the pursuit of German destroyers in Narvik and the amphibious landings at Normandy in World War 2, this iconic battleship made decisive interventions and reshaped the dynamics of naval warfare.
German sailors of the Third Reich came to dread Warspite’s silhouette, echoing the same fear their fathers felt during World War 1. But it was the ship’s crews, throughout her service, that raised her to mythic stature, giving her the reputation as one of the most precise and devastating battleships in the Royal Navy. Those she fiercely defended lovingly dubbed her the “Grand Old Lady.”
To her foes, she was an ever-looming terror.
Admiral Cunningham, Warspite’s commander during her encounter with the flagship Giulio Cesare, later remarked: (QUOTE) “Never again would the Italian Navy willingly confront the fire of British battleships.”
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No such ship in the royal navy as Warspit. Unsubscribing, bye.
Mis pronunciation makes this un watchable.
Left out making a direct hit on a German tank whilst providing gunfire support during the landings in Normandy. No one has seen the tank since.
And there is no grave for such glorious ship. She died as she lived – disobeyed and unique. And left only stories in the memory for her proud descendants.
War Spit! I love it. 😂
Like Texas, she was where she was needed and always popping up to provide protection and or tear things up.
laughed trying to make the German bb look imposing by comparing them to battle cruisers like they should be similar. And as already mentioned by many, it's warspite not warspite. As he's explaining the warspite being a new modern battleship ready to fight it shows the ship in its ww1 configuration lol
Thank you a wonderful Tribute to the service, And of the personel of this Grand Battleship.
For future reference Sir she is called WARSPITE not warspit. She was a ship with a heart and soul and should have been preserved, she'd more than earned it.
It's HMS Warspite (rhymes with right) NOT WarSPIT. It's not hard to pronounce this one correctly.
Those guns still could pack a punch i remember one old fella who served on HMS Vanguard say they would have no problem hitting a fishing boat showing up around 12 miles on radar every time.
This channel blows.
Not to pick a nit, but it's WAR – SPITE, not War-Spit!
I have always had a soft spot for HMS Warspite, from her jammed steering at Jutland to her final grounding, she always showed a degree of contrariness that might be expected from a favourite maiden aunt.
Something that irks me is saying Admiral Cunningham was Warspite's commanding officer. NO! In his capacity as CinC Mediterranean he was the admiral commanding the force, and flew his flag in the ship. Warspite's commanding officer at the time of Calabria was Captain Douglas Fisher. It is complicated for non-naval people but a admiral does not command his flagship directly, that is her commanding officer's role. To complicate things further the executive officer of a ship commanded by a captain is usually of the rank Commander, and is usually referred to as the commander.
War Spit? Seriously?
It was of course the oil that came from the Middle East, not the boilers.
The QE class, of which Warspite was the second, not the lead as implied here, were not actually what Churchill was looking for. Many Admiralty records have been lost but private correspondence between him and his predecessor Fisher suggests they were angling for 'Design Q', a fast battleship capable of 28kts. In the event several issues, including funding, excessive weight and the late change to oil fuel led to a compromise on 'Design R' with similar armament but a speed of only 25kts. Nevertheless this was greater than the then fleet speed of 21kts and would allow the ships to intercept enemy battlecruisers that might threaten the main fleet.
The English port mentioned in 'Low-ess-toft', not 'low-stoft'.
The 'troublesome mechanical glitch' she suffered was due to a shell exploding in an engine room. Having holes poked in your ship can happen in combat; it's not a reliability issue.
Following this hit she did not 'mark her presence on the enemy with unerring precision'. In fact both directors and rangefinders were out and she had just one turret able to fire, that under local control. Not surprisingly all 24 rounds then fired by A Turret missed.
The improvement in main battery range came from allowing the guns to elevate by an extra 10 degrees, not from any change in the charging.
When talking about the new superstructure etc it would have been nice to have a picture of the ship in her new form. Or in fact a picture of Warspite.
What kind of naval vessel is a juggernaut?
At Calabria Cunningham did not fight against overwhelming odds. He knew the Italians had a significant naval escort to their convoy and judged if he could intercept them he could strike a significant blow. Which he did. Nobody plans a battle hoping to fight against 'overwhelming odds'. And the 'aerial onslaught' then depicted actually took place in the English Channel.
The shot of Warspite leaving Bremerton is actually HMS Tiger, a cruiser launched after WWII.
I suggest you read the bit about the glide bomb again. The FritzX did cause significant damage but there were only 9 dead. The other 14 casualties survived.
Greenock is pronounced 'Gren-ock'.
Vilerville is pronounced 'Veel-er-veel'.
Only about 1 in 10 of the ships shown as Warspite are actually the correct ship.
…"Warspit" ???… You are certainly starting out this video wonderfully!
WAR SPITE!!!!! Learn how to pronounce.
Who are you to complain when you cant spell Texas correctly.
Maybe it's an AI narration that cannot pronounce Warspite.
If you can't even get the ship's name right then how much credibility can a Dork Seas video have?
Sorry, I cant take it, killing the video half way through. Which is a pity as she has such a great history.
How about doing one on the American IOU class battleships 😅
It's WAR SPITE, you Muppet.
This is a very good and informative vid. As a Brit, I have to say, as many another has said before me, that the War-spit pronunciation of her name just grates on my English ears.
😂😂😂 hms warspit… ffs man🤣
These videos are very good but are marred by overuse of florid adjectives, for example, 'Her mighty six inch guns were removed'. just say, 'Her six inch guns were removed'. It's one of the most basic rules of clear writing, to avoid all unnecessary adjectives.
'The florid, scarlet solar orb descended into the silver gilt waves' is better expressed as, 'The sunset was magnificent'.