#george tryon

[ltwilliammowett]

Graphometer belonging to George Tryon, the first Commander of HMS Warrior, before 1860 

The device is used to measure angles and this one is semi circular with a compass in the centre, a movable arm and four sights. The graphometer remains in its original box. Tryon served aboard Warrior from 1861 to 1864. As Second-in-Command under Arthur Cochrane during her Warrior's commission, Tryon was responsible for moulding the first crew to serve aboard her, and therefore the first naval crew ever to serve in an iron framed warship. He later became a Rear Admiral and was knighted for his service to the Royal Navy.

[ukdamo]

No poem today - but something about George Tryon, his death, and the sinking of HMS Victoria (1893)

Sinking of HMS Victoria - Wikipedia: full details of the incident here.

HMS Victoria sank after colliding with HMS Camperdown, on 23 June 1893, during fleet exercises. Tryon's flagship, HMS Victoria sank with the loss of 358 lives, following a bizarre order from him which brought it in collision with the flagship of his second-in-command, Rear Admiral Sir Albert Markham. Tryon went down with his ship, his last reported words being "It is all my fault". Tryon was considered by many of his contemporaries to be a supremely competent yet radical officer, but with a strong and sometimes overbearing personality.

Although it was clear that bridge officers on his own, and other, ships realised that the order given was impossible to execute without bringing the ships of the fleet into collision with one another, none acted on their initiative to prevent the catastrophe.

[ukdamo]

Today's Flickr photo with the most hits: this plaque in the National Museum of Fine Arts, Valletta, formerly British Naval HQ. It lists the commanders of the Mediterranean Fleet. I took it for the sake of Admiral Tryon (third from the top).

He is remembered for a naval catastrophe, of which he was author. He commanded an impossible manoeuvre which resulted in the collision of two battleships (HMS Camperdown and his own ship, HMS Victoria - Victoria sank with great loss of life. He refused to be taken off and went down with the her).