Winged Escort - Geoffrey Huband

The original painting from which the cover of the Douglas Reeman book was taken.

Swordfish aircraft engage a German battleship and battle cruiser with torpedoes...

Oil on canvas signed lower left.

Canvas size 24 x 18 inches (51cm x 71cm).  Unframed.

Geoffrey writes: "At Dawn on the 24th of May 1941 85 years ago, one of the most significant naval battles of WWII was fought over a period of four days commencing with an initial engagement between Bismarck and Prince Prinz Eugen of the German Navy and HMS Hood and the Prince of Wales.

Hood blew up following the 5th salvo from Bismarck. Prince of Wales was struck by seven shells and obliged to retire. Bismark although struck by only three shells was also severely damaged causing a list to starboard and flooding in the bow section.

Over the following two days the aircraft carriers HMS Victorious and Ark Royal launched Swordfish torpedo aircraft achieving a total of four hits which critically disabled Bismarck.

On the 27th of May at 08.47 hours HMS King George V and HMS Rodney together with the cruisers Norfolk and Suffolk engaged Bismarck, ultamately at a range of only three to four thousand yards. Two hours later Bismark sank. Only 116 of her crew survived.

I was commissioned to paint the image of the action to be used as a book jacket for the author Douglas Reeman. The painting represents one of the most fascinating commissions, whilst entirely fictional, the story is deeply rooted in this major Battle of the Atlantic during the 2nd World War.

A STORY WITHIN A STORY

Some years ago when working as a therapist in orthopaedics I found myself in conversation with a patient who mentioned that he enjoyed reading the novels of Douglas Reeman and he was surprised when I told him that I painted the book jackets. He explained that as a young man he had been in the Royal Navy and served on HMS Prince of Wales as a secondary armament gunner. He mentioned that on the evening prior to the engagement, he had taken a photograph of HMS Hood and that in all probability that was the last image ever recorded. He continued with his fascinating story including that in part he had witnessed the loss of

HMS Hood. He recounted that in the early part of the engagement with Bismarck his shipmate was looking out of a hatch in the top of a gun mounting, suddenly there was a white flash of light which lit up his companion so he climbed to the hatch himself, looking out he recalled “All I could see was a monstrous plume of black smoke where the Hood should have been.” clearly he and his shipmates were stunned by what they had witnessed.

After further conversation I was curious to know what had become of the photograph, he told me that he gave it to his shipmate who subsequently handed it on to a young lady who worked in a Plymouth public house, he knew that her fiancé was a crew member of HMS Hood.

How appropriate that she should have the photograph. What a great tragedy of war."