Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/Assessment/HMS Nairana (1917)

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The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Article promoted by Hawkeye7 (talk) via MilHistBot (talk) 23:06, 6 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

HMS Nairana (1917)[edit]

Nominator(s): Ian Rose (talk) & Sturmvogel 66 (talk)

HMS Nairana (1917) (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)

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This vessel was designed as a passenger ship but commandeered mid-construction by the Royal Navy for service in World War I. It subsequently saw action during the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War. After that it reverted to its originally planned format and served for three decades as a Bass Strait ferry in Australia. Its civil career included its fair share of excitement, when it came closer to sinking than at any time during its military service. There was also an amusing incident with a Tasmanian devil, which for me evoked visions of the classic Looney Tunes character. This is my first collaboration on a ship article -- Sturm did most of the work on her design and wartime career, while I helped out mainly on the Tasmanian ferry side. We took the article to GAN some time ago; its belated appearance at ACR is due to my tardiness in getting hold of one last source that we wanted to round out the data. Tks in advance for your comments! Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 04:33, 7 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Comments I find the concept of an aircraft carrier Bass Strait ferry to be mildly terrifying, and have the following comments:

  • "Negotiations between Huddart Parker and the shipbuilders William Denny and Brothers began in December 1913 " - who/what was Huddart Parker? (this para would benefit from an introductory sentence)
    • Firm introduced/linked in lead but I added a bit of context around the purchase in any case. Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 07:41, 7 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  • "The ship was nearly complete when requisitioned, although her propelling machinery was not yet installed" - seems like a significant amount of work still needed to be done! I'd suggest omitting "The ship was nearly complete" as this is a bit confusing.
    • That's pretty much exactly how our source put it so I'm not really comfortable removing it, especially since it ties into how only limited modifications could be made to the ship.--Sturmvogel 66 (talk) 16:23, 7 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
      • OK fair enough. I would have thought that adding this would have required major works, but presumably her engines, etc, were in place. Nick-D (talk) 03:26, 8 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  • "The British Government released Nairana to William Denny and Brothers after the war to be rebuilt to her original plans" - did the government pay for these works?
    • My sources don't say, although I'm fairly certain that they did for some of the other carriers requisitioned during the war. Maybe Plowman has more exact info, but my sources only cover this in vague generalities. I don't know if the RN sold the ship back to Denny and who then sold her back to Huddart Parker or if the RN paid for her to be converted back at Denny before selling her to the Australians or if the latter had to pay for the reconversion after buying the ship back (presumably at a discount). Very annoying, all in all.--Sturmvogel 66 (talk) 16:23, 7 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  • You could also note that four other Huddart Parker ships were requisitioned: [1] (this story also appears to say that the British Government returned the ship after she'd been converted back to a passenger ship)
    • I might leave the three above to Sturm. Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 07:41, 7 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
      • Those other ships aren't listed in Colledge and may have only been leased using their original crews. I'm not inclined to mention them without something more solid as a source.--Sturmvogel 66 (talk) 16:23, 7 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  • "Nairana was not considered for war service, unlike some other Bass Strait ferries. She maintained a heavy schedule through the war years" - did her workload increase? (when researching the Australian Army ship Crusader (AV 2767) article I found quite a few newspaper stories from this era complaining about shortages of shipping on the Bass Strait - which Crusader ended up helping to fix). this story says that she was "Tasmania's sole passenger link with the mainland" during the war, though that would obviously need to be cross-checked!
  • "Sold for scrap to Wm Mussell Pty Ltd," - [2] calls this company 'William Mussell Pty Ltd'
  • I suspect that the Wellington Harbour Maritime Museum is now the Museum of Wellington City & Sea
    • Checking around, I suspect you're right... ;-) Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 07:41, 7 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  • If you had a mind to do so, you can mine Trove for all sorts of entertaining stories about this ship (brought to you via small town Tasmanian newspapers). I've added some material about her unfortunate Captain suddenly dying on New Year's Eve 1947. Nick-D (talk) 07:09, 7 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
    • Tks, have to admit there was so much in the Plowman book I didn't get into Trove but might do when I get more time. Tks for review/edits, Nick! Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 07:41, 7 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Support My comments have now been addressed: nice work Nick-D (talk) 03:26, 8 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

  • Support: looks good, I only found a couple of minor inconsistencies: AustralianRupert (talk) 23:56, 14 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  • £138,119 appears in the infobox, but £138,118 appears in the body
  • "speed of 19.5 knots (36.1 km/h; 22.4 mph" (in the body) v. "Speed: 19 kn (35 km/h; 22 mph)" in the infobox
    • Good catches, fixed. Thanks for the review.--Sturmvogel 66 (talk) 01:06, 15 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
      • Tks for review, Rupert, and Sturm for actioning. Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 07:58, 15 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Support Comments

  • File:HMS Nairana (1917).jpg - needs a US copyright tag.
    • Don't actually think so as I reviewed the IWM photos used on my FA HMS Vanguard (23) and neither of those have US tags. I think that the British declaration that they're out of copyright worldwide seems to suffice.--Sturmvogel 66 (talk) 23:55, 26 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
      • That's my understanding also. Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 23:36, 27 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  • File:Nairana (AWM 303672).jpg - ditto.
    • Done, but the AWM license also seems pretty comprehensive and it may not be necessary.--Sturmvogel 66 (talk) 23:55, 26 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  • File:HMS Nairana during 1918.jpg - can you identify the aircraft on the stern? Might be worth adding to the caption.
    • WWI aircraft really aren't my thing, but lemme see what I can do.--Sturmvogel 66 (talk) 23:55, 26 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
      • My feeling is that if one of our sources on Nairana's military career has a similar picture identifying the plane that'd be one thing, but hunting around WWI aircraft books for something that looks similar would be a bit ORish (to me anyway, like when editors add decorations to bios on the basis of what they've discerned from a low-res black-and-white image of ribbons on the subject's uniform). Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 23:36, 27 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Nothing to nitpick prose/content-wise - great work on the article. Parsecboy (talk) 21:54, 26 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Tks Nate! Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 23:36, 27 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Support on prose per standard disclaimer. These are my edits. - Dank (push to talk) 14:00, 6 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.


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