The watermark "24JCAB" does not form part of the image.
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In the coming months I shall be selling a number of unique hand made Postcard Mock ups and Photocards including real photographs. I have still not determined the producer of these items but they are linked to Richard Perkins with his initials on the back of some along with his meticulous ship descriptions. I have also been advised these are linked to the other Naval Historian Oscar Parkes (who may actually have been the producer) and the vast collection that was sold in 2011. In each case the image (mainly photographs) has been glued and/or impressed into the back card. For a serious postcard collector these are a very special part of Royal Navy history connected to the blue ribbon names in this field ! If anyone has any more information on these amazing postcard Mock ups and Photocards this would be much appreciated!
Description
HMS Iron Duke was a dreadnought battleship of the Royal Navy, the lead ship of her class, named in honour of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. She was built by Portsmouth Dockyard, and her keel laid in January 1912. Launched ten months later, she was commissioned into the Home Fleet in March 1914 as the fleet flagship. She was armed with a main battery of ten 13.5-inch (343 mm) guns and was capable of a top speed of 21.25 knots (39.36 km/h; 24.45 mph).
Iron Duke served as the flagship of the Grand Fleet during the First World War, including at the Battle of Jutland. There, she inflicted significant damage on the German battleship SMS König early in the main fleet action. In January 1917, she was relieved as fleet flagship. After the war, Iron Duke operated in the Mediterranean as the flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet. She participated in both the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War in the Black Sea and the Greco-Turkish War. She also assisted in the evacuation of refugees from Smyrna. In 1926, she was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet, where she served as a training ship.
Iron Duke remained on active duty for only a few more years; in 1930, the London Naval Treaty specified that the four Iron Duke-class battleships be scrapped or otherwise demilitarised. Iron Duke was therefore converted into a gunnery training ship; her armour and much of her armament was removed to render her unfit for combat. She served in this capacity until the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, when she was moored in Scapa Flow as a harbour defence ship. In October, she was badly damaged by German bombers and was run aground to avoid sinking. She continued to serve as an anti-aircraft platform for the duration of the war, and was eventually refloated and broken up for scrap in the late 1940s
Back: Postally Unused.
Condition: Fine. See high resolution scans for details.
Shipping: Each card is shipped in a hard backed envelope with "Please do not Bend" on the front. Cards will be doubled up if more than one is purchased.
ALL the postcards that we sell are ORIGINALS . We have scanned directly from the original card and the image may sometimes be less vibrant than the postcard itself.
As a collector I hope you enjoy this purchase as much as I enjoy those that I collect!