Class of

Seagate Rotary’s speaker on Monday was club member Donald Menzies, with a meticulously researched talk on the history of the battleship.  Throughout the nineteenth century the empire covered the world, and the navy ruled the seas, but by 1900 other countries were challenging, and in an arms race more and larger battleships were built at astronomical prices.  Initially they were the ultimate weapon, heavily armed and with batteries of 15” guns firing 1 ton shells over 20 miles.  They could only be threatened by another battleship. 

Their era was short lived, as by the 1940’s developments in air power and submarines made them vulnerable and they are now history as new technologies have taken their place.  Donald’s talk was illustrated with photos of the massive ships, with well remembered names such as Dreadnought, Hood and Royal Oak, and charts of the main fleet anchorage of Scapa Flow.  There were questions and comments, and a Vote of Thanks was proposed by Jim Anderson.