German naval visit to Britain in 1935?

[B Hellqvist]

Here's a tricky one... The photo shows sailors from the Kriegsmarine and the Royal Navy fraternising. The back of the photo says "England ) Ocktober [sic] 1934 Hipper (4)", but if the Kriegsmarine uniforms got the eagle-and-swastika Brustadler at the same time as the Heer, the photo can't be from before May 1935. The only reference to as German naval visit to Britain I could find was when Köningsberg and Leipzig visited Portsmouth in January-February 1934. Admiral Hipper wasn't launched until 1937, so that reference is a bit puzzling. The sailors are evidently on the deck of a British warship (battleship?), and the cap band of the RN sailor on the left has a name beginning with "HMS W...". Could that be "Warspite"? But HMS Warspite was undergoing modifications between March 1934 and March 1937, which might complicate the question of a later date. The photo is a puzzle - can anyone solve it?

[GregSingh]

She looks like Nelson-class battleship, but I can't tell if we see HMS Nelson or HMS Rodney...

My bet would be on HMS Rodney, and photo could be taken in Lisbon, Portugal in 1938.
German sailors would be from cruiser "Deutschland".

[B Hellqvist]

Looking closer at the RN cap bands, it does indeed look like "HMS Nelson"; I misread "N" for "W". I can make out the KM cap bands, too, and it looks like "Panzerschiff Deutschland". That could mean that the photo was taken during the June 1936 trip around Great Britain. I haven't found any mention of a visit to a British port (like Portsmouth), though.

[GregSingh]

I haven't found any mention of a visit to a British port (like Portsmouth), though.

My bet is still on Portugal, not England. Both Nelson and Rodney were there...

February 1938

February 1938.jpg (57.18 KiB) Viewed 9473 times

[GregSingh]

Well, I found this. October 1934.

October 1934

October 1934.jpg (39.26 KiB) Viewed 9471 times

[B Hellqvist]

Wow! Great finds! Yeah, you have convinced me. Lisbon seems more plausible. As for the second clipping, there's the problem with the uniform insignia, which were introduced over half a year later. Anyway, thanks for solving the mystery!