~ Watercolour Painting Of 1918 Aircraft Carrier HMS Vindictive By RN Commander Eric Erskine Tufnell ~
It is signed to the lower right.
It is presented in a wooden glazed frame with a single lined card mount.
~ HMS Vindictive ~
HMS Vindictive was a warship built during the First World War for the Royal Navy (RN). Originally designed as a Hawkins-class heavy cruiser and laid down under the name Cavendish, she was converted into an aircraft carrier while still being built. Renamed in 1918, she was completed a few weeks before the end of the war and saw no active service with the Grand Fleet. The following year she participated in the British campaign in the Baltic against the Bolsheviks, during which her aircraft made numerous attacks against the naval base at Kronstadt. Vindictive returned home at the end of the year and was placed in reserve for several years before her flight decks were removed and she was reconverted back into a cruiser. The ship retained her aircraft hangar and conducted trials with an aircraft catapult before she was sent to the China Station in 1926. A year after her return in 1928, she was again placed in reserve.
Vindictive was demilitarized and converted into a training ship in 1936–1937. At the beginning of the Second World War she was converted into a repair ship. Her first role after the conversion was completed in early 1940, however, was to transport troops during the Norwegian Campaign. She was then sent to the South Atlantic to support British ships serving there and, in late 1942, to the Mediterranean to support the ships there. Vindictive returned home in 1944 and was damaged by a German torpedo off the coast of Normandy after the Allies invaded France. She was reduced to reserve after the war and sold for scrap in 1946.
~ Eric Erskine Tufnell ~
Born in Bangalore, India, the son of Major R. H. C. Tufnell.
Tufnell was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 1 October, 1910.
Tufnell was appointed in command of the submarine A 8 on 8 February, 1913.
In October 1913, he was appointed in command of the submarine B 8.
On 14 May 1917, Tufnell gave up command of D 4 and was ordered to report to the Admiralty. In mid-June, he was appointed to Portsmouth for special service in a Hydrophone Flotilla. In May 1918, he was sent back to Portsmouth for nine days of instruction for officers commanding trawlers equipped with Fish Hydrophones.
Appointed in command of the hydrophone trawler Edward Druce from 27 June 1918 to September 1918.
Appointed in command of the hydrophone trawler James Dinton from 4 September 1918 to 28 December 1918.
Tufnell was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Commander on 1 October, 1918.
He was appointed in command of the monitor M.18 on 28 December, 1918.
Tufnell was placed on the Retired List at his own request at the rank of Commander on 30 December, 1929.
~ Condition ~
Please refer to the images for the condition. The frame has some loss, and there is minor foxing to the painting.
~ Dimensions ~
The frame is 54cm (21.25 inches) by 45cm 17.5 inches).
