$9.00 CAD
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Postcard view of ship in harbour.
‘With Christmas Greetings and all good wishes for the New Year’
Above photo is coat of arms of the Federated Malay States.
Undated. In photo is biplane which suggests pre-WW2.
On back is a handwritten description of the ship.
13.5 X 9 cm
HMS Malaya was a Queen Elizabeth-class battleship built for the Royal Navy during the early 1910s. She participated in the Battle of Jutland during the First World War as part of the Grand Fleet. Other than that battle, and the inconclusive Action of 19 August, her service during the war generally consisted of routine patrols and training in the North Sea.
Malaya was built by Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth and Company at High Walker and launched in March 1915. She was named in honour of the Federated Malay States in British Malaya, whose government paid for her construction. She served in Rear-Admiral Hugh Evan-Thomas's 5th Battle Squadron of the Grand Fleet. She took part in the Battle of Jutland, on 31 May 1916, where she was hit eight times and took major damage and heavy crew casualties. A total of 65 men died, in the battle or later of their injuries. Among the wounded was Able Seaman Willie Vicarage, notable as one of the first men to receive facial reconstruction using plastic surgery and the first to receive radical reconstruction via the "tubed pedicule" technique pioneered by Sir Harold Gillies. Uniquely among the ships at the battle, HMS Malaya flew the red-white-black-yellow ensign of the Federated Malay States.
Malaya was placed in reserve at the end of 1943. During this time her entire secondary 6-inch armament was landed while her anti-aircraft armament was enhanced. Between 15 and 17 May 1944, Malaya was used in Loch Striven as a target ship for inert bouncing bomb prototypes, one of which punched a hole in the ship's side. She was reactivated just before the Normandy landings to act as a reserve bombardment battleship. Malaya was finally withdrawn from all service at the end of 1944 and became an accommodation ship for a torpedo school.
WIKIPEDIA
