HMS 'Albemarle'  in the Moray Firth<br><p>Signed by the artist, lower left, this exhibition watercolour by Wyllie probably shows HMS ‘Albemarle’ as the lead ship in the Moray Firth in 1916. ‘Albemarle’ was a pre-Dreadnought ‘Duncan’-class battleship launched at Chatham in 1901. She joined the Grand Fleet in 1914 serving with the northern patrol. In February 1915 she saw service with the 6th and the 3rd Battle Squadron of the Channel Fleet but was badly damaged in heavy weather while in the Pentland Firth in November 1915. She was repaired and then returned to Scapa Flow in December, before going in January 1916 to be used as an ice-breaker to get supplies through to Archangel, an allied-held Russian port city. The other two main ships are also battleships, with two destroyers.  The rig of the battleships as shown is that which was carried from mid-1915 to 1917.<br></p>
HMS Albemarle in the Moray Firth
<bdi><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:William_Lionel_Wyllie" class="extiw" title="w:en:William Lionel Wyllie"><span title="English painter of maritime themes (1851-1931)">William Lionel Wyllie</span></a>
</bdi>
circa 1916 <div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1916-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1480,Q5727902</div>
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