FLEET REVIEW 1935 SILVER JUBILEE: THE HEAVY SQUADRONS AT ANCHOR (R Langmaid)

This etching of the Review of the Fleet has been seen by me just once before in some 40 years of observing and that one was the property of the late Admiral of the Fleet The Lord Lewin of Greenwich who was Chief of Defence Staff during the Falklands War of 1982. It’s a very attractive etching of high quality and delicious detail.  (Also of note is MP108 on this website, a watercolour by Frank Watson Wood showing many of these same ships steaming past HMY V&A shortly after the event depicted here by Langmaid; and a further watercolour of this same 1935 Review ("The Royal Salute Thunders Out"), again by Frank Watson Wood and which is shown under artists name "Wood, Frank Watson" on website www.maritimeoriginals.com).  The etching here shows the Royal Yacht VICTORIA & ALBERT wearing Court Flags proceeding through the lines of the heavy ships during the Fleet Review of 16 July 1935 to mark HM King George V’s Silver Jubilee year

From left to right the etching shows: HMAS AUSTRALIA (Captain H A Forster MVO RN); HMS LONDON (Captain F H W Goolden RN) flagship of Vice Admiral J K Im Thurn CB CMG CBE, Commanding 1st Cruiser Squadron Mediterranean Fleet; HM Yacht VICTORIA & ALBERT (Rear Admiral D B N North CB CSI CMG CVO ADC, Rear Admiral Royal Yachts) wearing Court Flags of His Majesty King George V; Admiralty Yacht ENCHANTRESS (Cdr RF Jolly RN); HMS IRON DUKE ( Captain F H G Walker RN); HMS HOOD (Captain F T B Tower OBE RN) flagship of Rear Admiral S R Bailey CB CBE DSO, Commanding Battle Cruiser Squadron; HMS RENOWN (Captain H R Sawbridge OBE RN); HMS RODNEY (Captain W N Custance RN); HMS BARHAM (Captain R J R Scott AM RN) flagship of Rear Admiral M K Horton CB DSO, Rear Admiral 2nd Battle Squadron; HMS NELSON (Captain A U Willis DSO RN) flagship of Admiral The Earl of Cork and Orrery KCB, Commander-in-Chief Home Fleet; and HMS VALIANT (Captain A H Taylor OBE RN).

Lieutenant Commander Rowland Langmaid was that not uncommon creature, naval officer turned artist. Born in Vancouver in 1897 he was at the Dardanelles as a midshipman in 1916 where, we are told, he first started sketching in earnest. After the Great War he left the navy to take up art full time and he produced many fine etchings and watercolours of the naval events of the inter-war period: and an oil painting or two as well. When peace dissolved in 1939 he volunteered his services to the navy again and was asked to be a war artist: he promptly joined Admiral Cunningham’s staff in the Mediterranean and remained the Mediterranean Fleet’s war artist until 1945. He died in 1956.