This week’s postcard is a rather dramatic one and shows HMS Resolution powering through heavy seas in the Bay of Biscay in the 1930s:

HMS Resolution had been built during the Great War and following the end of that conflict she was to have a quiet interwar period as part of first the Mediterranean Fleet and then the Atlantic or Home Fleet. The Bay of Biscay is the large area of sea along the west coast of France down to the Spanish border and although temperatures are pleasnt due to the Gulf Stream, this also makes the weather in winter hazardous to sailors with heacy seas, high winds and frequent storms. Here even a mighty battleship is ‘shipping the green’:

Although HMS Resolution was not involved in any major battles or conflicts during the interwar period, there was one tragic incident of note for the ship in 1924. On 10 January 1924, while conducting training exercises in the English Channel, Resolution ran into and sank the British submarine HMS L24 as she was surfacing, damaging her bow in the collision. Crewmen aboard Resolution reported feeling a shock at 11:13, but they were unaware that they had struck the submarine; it became clear later that day when the fleet returned to port and L24 was found to be missing. The submarine was sunk with the loss of all hands. This report from the London Illustrated News provides more information on the tragic events of that day: