Link to Ardrossan Academy main web site

One of the most famous British battleships and the battleship chosen for Richard’s astonishing work, was HMS Prince of Wales (1941-1941).  Designing the new, state of the art battleship started in 1936.  It was to have been named HMS Edward VIII after the reigning monarch.   However the King himself ordered the name to be changed to Prince of Wales.  He abdicated a few months later.  

It is thought he did not want the name of the great battleship involved in the massive controversy of the abdication.

One of her design specifications was that the ship must be able to defend herself successfully against the new threat from the skies: aircraft.  Bristling with anti-aircraft guns the ship was launched in March 1941

HMS Prince of Wales had a very short and a very violent life.  Sent out with HMS Hood to stop the Bismark, shipbuilders were still on board trying desperately to finish and test the guns.  During the Battle of the Denmark Strait the Prince of Wales hit the Bismark three times. After taking seven large calibre shells herself and with most of her weaponry out of action the Prince of Wales broke away from the battle.  

Spending weeks in repair she then transported across the Atlantic the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.  In August Churchill met on board the President of the USA  Franklin Roosevelt for a very important wartime meeting.

Richard Marshman chose the famous World War II battleship, HMS Prince of Wales for his Fourth year Craft and Design project. Richard’s work, including the practical project, the design folio and the final exam gained him a well deserved Credit 1 pass.  

Richard had to choose the materials, scale and proportion.  

Very many joints, tools, processes had to be selected.  

How do you join the different diameter copper tubes of the main guns?  Richard chose soldering.  

Would the turrets of the main and secondary guns revolve like the real thing?  How would you do that?

How do you make drag anchors?

The bridge superstructure looks like a nightmare.  Would it be possible to make the bridge look like the real thing and not like lumps of wood, thermoplastics and metal joined together?  

How would you ensure a smooth finish to the different materials to ready them for painting?

What type of paint would you use and how would you apply it?

How would you protect the paint finish?  Richard chose a clear satin lacquer.

How do you produce a perfectly straight line between two different paint colours?

Richard answered these questions and more.

His work was of the highest standard and some examples are shown below.

These were desperate days for Britain.  Now there was a threat from the East in the shape of the Japanese Empire.  The Prince of Wales was sent to defend Singapore from the Japanese. Arriving on the 2nd December 1941 she was set upon a few days later by hordes of Japanese dive bombers and torpedo planes.

Although she was designed with more anti-aircraft guns than any other ship there were just too many enemy planes to repel.  It was said that the Captain threw the massive battleship around like a fairground dodgem as he desperately tried to evade the bombs and torpedoes.  He evaded many. However struck by other bombs and torpedoes the ship lost its speed and its manoeuvrability

Unlike the Hood the Prince of Wales did not blow up.  The casualties were therefore not as high.

Nevertheless out of a crew of 1612 men, 20 officers, 280 sailors and 27 marines were lost. Among the dead were Admiral Sir Tom Phillips, C in C of the Eastern Fleet, and Prince of Wales commanding officer, Capt John C. Leach.