Talk:HMS Whelp (R37)

Number of Whelps

This Whelp is described as the 6th of the name, of the cites used Mason actually calls her the 11th. Of RN ships the only other 'Whelp' was to have been a W class destroyer, ordered but cancelled in 1919. There were however a number of ships named 'Lion's Whelp' (or Lyon's Whelp). A ship of that name was lost in 1591, while another was bought in 1601 and given away in 1625. The name was then used by 10 14-gun sloops all built in 1627 and numbered 1 - 10. They were acquired by the navy, and it appears to be the tenth of these (sometimes called 'Tenth Whelp') that won the battle honours 'Portland' and 'Gabbard', held by the modern Whelps. Benea (talk) 14:37, 5 February 2010 (UTC)

I notice that while the article has been amended to follow Mason's line of this being the eleventh, I don't think we can be as clear cut. There were the ten Lion's Whelps acquired from the Duke of Buckingham's personal fleet after his assassination, but there have been at least two other ships named Lion's Whelp that served in the navy before these ten, making this Whelp, if we include ships named Lion's Whelp in the count, the thirteenth. This of course does not include the unfinished Whelp cancelled after the First World War, which never entered the navy. In this case thirteenth or first may be to varying degrees correct, but the 11th omits the navy ships in service before the Duke of Buckingham's vessels. Benea (talk) 21:22, 9 February 2010 (UTC)

Fair points. Mason is also a bit flakey on some of the service details, as has been noted. So, I'll make an appropriate amend for your perusal. BTW, the article Lyon's Whelp appears to be a direct copy from [1], which is a problem. Folks at 137 (talk) 18:26, 10 February 2010 (UTC)

I think that's a good compromise, the names and careers of ships and their antecedents get pretty murky the further back you go, and I think the current edit illuminates this situation well. The source is J. J. Colledge's 'Ships of the Royal Navy, p. 200 if you wanted to cite it. The article is developing very nicely! As to the situation with the Lyon's Whelp article, that is indeed a problem, but I see Whpq (talk · contribs) has cut out the offending text. I'll see if I can work a more detailed article up shortly. Benea (talk) 16:47, 11 February 2010 (UTC)

Suggestions for expansion/improvement

Looking solid so far. My suggestions:

• Lead needs to be expanded to summarise the ship's history
• As with HMS Howe, a design section briefly detailing the whats and whys of the W class would be useful
• Detail is needed for the 24 years of service with the South African Navy...I don't think this will meet B-class without at least a paragraph there.
• A bit more info regarding the ship's ultimate disposal would be nice, but I understand that its sometimes hard to find details for small ships like Whelp. -- saberwyn 23:17, 10 February 2010 (UTC)

Not only Roy Halliday was saved by HMS Whelp in January 1945: my uncle, Norman "Dickie" Richardson, who was the rear gunner, was also save. There was a BBC radio programme about the rescue involving Halliday, Richardson and Prince Philip, the first lieutenant of the Whelp. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.242.136.36 (talk) 19:36, 23 October 2011 (UTC)

Not only Roy Halliday was saved by HMS Whelp in January 1945: my uncle, Norman "Dickie" Richardson, who was the rear gunner, was also save. There was a BBC radio programme about the rescue involving Halliday, Richardson and Prince Philip, the first lieutenant of the Whelp.87.242.136.36 (talk) 19:40, 23 October 2011 (UTC)