NANNAVY VYVY NEWS,Y Y NEWN WSS, NONON VVEMBER 2008 27EEMBEM ER ERR 2002020 8 88 227
● Death of a U-boat... The men of ‘Johnny’ Walker’s HMS Starling launch depth charges in the Atlantic
in February 1944. Starling’s group claimed six German submarines during the patrol (A22031)
● Flagship HMS Queen Elizabeth and a line of dreadnoughts – photographed from a naval airship – sail
to meet the High Seas Fleet on November 21 1918 (Q20616)
surgeons; Surgeon Oscar Parkes were much more affordable to the (in the Navy’s case the rather
alone took or collected more than ordinary sailor and marine – which long-winded Offi cial Admiralty
3,000 photographs of the RN and means a plethora of images. Photographer’s Return).
donated them to the museum With the wartime generation The Ministry of Information
– they formed the kernel of the fading away, many of their families kept a comprehensive cuttings
IWM’s naval collection. look for a suitable home for their library, so in many cases you can
Then again photographs from photograph albums. track down where the pictures
the front line on land are also Some choose to sell the were used. And for some units, not
pretty rare; there are plenty of images on eBay, most prefer to only the captions exist but also the
shots from the rear lines, but there altruistically donate the albums to re-writes by unit press offi cers and
are very few images of troops the nation via the museum. by the offi cial censors, allowing
going ‘over the top’: setting up a “We have to be selective – a present-day historians to study the
camera and tripod in the heat of group shot of three sailors is not art of censorship.
battle on the Western Front was especially interesting, unless And sometimes captions are
pretty much suicidal. there’s a story behind it, or an incomplete. Collections are often
How things had changed a unusual trade behind it,” said Mr donated to the museum with few,
generation later when the Senior Proctor. if any details, supplied.
Service faced its greatest test of “All you need is for that fi rst
arms.
“Sometimes we have to say
caption to be written incorrectly,
By then, the RN had its own
‘No’. We do not have the
and it can go down in history
photographic branch (formed
space for duplicate images,
incorrectly,” Mr Proctor warned.
in 1919 for reconnaissance and
and a ship’s photographer
“The museum has an
intelligence purposes, although
would often make numerous
international reputation – we have
the ‘phots’ developed a sideline in
copies of his work, selling
to protect historical integrity and
‘rabbit work’, producing pictures
them to his shipmates.”
the integrity of the museum.”
for their shipmates to snap up). For every duplicate, however,
And, one might add, the integrity
It wasn’t merely attitudes within there is a hidden gem: a cutter from
of the original images. Almost
the Navy to photography which HMS Bulldog rowing towards a
all offi cial photographs from the
had changed. Attitudes without, in half-submerged U110.
two world wars are on glass plate
British society, had changed too. It looks, of course, like many
negatives (private photographers
“In World War 1, naval images from the Battle of the
preferred fi lm); post-war there are
photographs are for the most part Atlantic. Context is everything: the
thousands of fi lm negatives and
captioned only with the neames men are about to seize an Enigma
prints. All are held in acid-free
of senior offi cers,” explained Mr machine and change the direction
containers in environmentally-
Proctor. “By World War 2, often of the war.
controlled storerooms and vaults.
you will fi nd people named, their And thankfully, context
Even with such care, images can
address, the address of their is available for most images.
deteriorate; some taken less than
parents.” Photographers in bygone years
30 years ago have faded away,
And by World War 2, cameras fi lled in detailed caption sheets marina Continued on page 40
● Tot time aboard a British battleship – most probably
● LA(Phot) B Chilton and PO(Phot) P Johnson load an aerial
HMS King George V – in 1940 (A1777)
camera on to a Sea Fury aboard HMS Ocean off Korea,
September 1952 (A32366)
● Ground crew at RNAS Yeovilton refuel Supermarine Seafi re X4652 in September 1943 (TR1275)
026-027 & 40_NN_Nov.indd 2 20/10/08 10:31:22
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