Henry Deacon Barry

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Vice-Admiral SIR Henry Deacon Barry, K.C.V.O., Royal Navy (27 November, 1849 – 14 November, 1908) was an officer of the Royal Navy.

Life & Career

Barry was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant with seniority of 23 September, 1873.[1]

Barry was promoted to the rank of Captain on 30 June, 1892.[2]

Barry was promoted to the rank of Rear-Admiral on 1 October, 1904.[3]

On the occasion of the visit of the French fleet to Britain Barry was appointed a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (C.V.O.) on 11 August, 1905.[4]

On the occasion of the King's visit to Portsmouth to launch the battleship Dreadnought Barry was appointed a Knight Commander in the Royal Victorian Order (K.C.V.O.) on 10 February, 1906.[5]

In August, as constructional work on Dreadnought was winding down somewhat, Barry shared his thoughts on the new ship to Gerard Noel:

The Dreadnought has been a great effort but I am extremely glad it is over. The discharges being on weekly during the time she was being built make it difficult, & of course it upset the whole yard & disorganized everything, but at the same time in other ways it did good. Of course she is a very powerful ship two Dreadnoughts being about equal to three King Edwards, but personally I would back the three K.E's.

They have made some great mistakes in placing the armour[,] also the conning tower, the side armour is in two thicknesses 11" & 8" but when she is full up and drawing 31ft the 11" armour will as usual be under water. Her designed draft [sic] is 26ft 6" with 900 tons of coal but she carries 2900 tons & about 1500 tons of oil, the later is not counted.
She is expected to go about 21 ½ [knots] at 26ft 6in perhaps more but no one knows very much about these turbines, some people think the 4 propellers are wrongly placed but of course these are only conjectures.
Personally I think that the barbette armour is too thin being only 8in all round in one barbette & 11" to 8" in the others. The K.E's are 12" all round.

Of course rushing a ship through like this mistakes are made which will be rectified in the next ship, at any rate she will be the most powerful ship afloat, but as for saying that she will make all previous battleships obsolete is nonsense, that statement is only made for advertising purposes.[6]

Barry was promoted to the rank of Vice-Admiral on 2 July, 1908, vice Craigie.[7]

Footnotes

  1. London Gazette: no. 24020. p. 4329. 26 September, 1873.
  2. London Gazette: no. 26309. p. 4187. 22 July, 1892.
  3. London Gazette: no. 27720. p. 6441. 7 October, 1904.
  4. London Gazette: no. 27826. p. 5532. 11 August, 1905.
  5. London Gazette: no. 27885. p. 1037. 13 February, 1906.
  6. Barry to Noel, 28 August 1906, NOE/4/B, Noel MSS, National Maritime Museum.
  7. London Gazette: no. 28156. p. 4940. 7 July, 1908.

Bibliography

  • "Vice-Admiral Sir H. D. Barry" (Obituaries). The Times. Monday, 16 November, 1908. Issue 38805, col C, pg. 13.

Service Record

Naval Appointments
Preceded by
Angus MacLeod
Director of Naval Ordnance and Torpedoes
1904 – 1905
Succeeded by
John R. Jellicoe
Preceded by
Reginald F. H. Henderson
Admiral Superintendent of Portsmouth Dockyard
1905 – 1906
Succeeded by
Charles G. Robinson