by Jeff Sharp
1/700 HMS Barham (Waveline)
As one of the primary battleships of the Royal Navy in World War 1, HMS Barham was still serving her country proud when World War 2 rolled around. Between the wars she received a moderate modernization which included an imposing trunked funnel in place of the two seperate stacks she wore in WW1. By the time 1941 came around, she had already seen much action and was painted in a spectacular camoflage scheme to try to confuse her enemy. In early '41 she and her sisters found themselves going toe to toe with the Italian navy and winning most of the battles. However, on November 25, 1941 as part of Force K hunting for Italian convoys off North Africa, she was hit by three torpedoes from the German submarine U-331. She quickly started to capsize and when her list was about 45 degrees in the water her magazine erupted in a huge explosion which killed most of her crew.
