最後的時刻，事件親歷者報告中“巴勒姆”號戰列艦的沉沒與殉爆

封面和題圖是中雷左傾的“巴勒姆”號戰列艦，此時她仍然在向前航行，照片是從“剛勇”號戰列艦上拍攝。

該文由今日頭條使用者@18inch無比所作，今日頭條使用者@檸香萌萌雞協助創作。

最近我在瀏覽今日頭條和其他網站時，發現有人對“巴勒姆”號殉爆的原因和位置看法不一，這引起了我的好奇。於是我搜集整理資料並作此文，以事件親歷者的角度來描述這個有爭議的問題。

“剛勇”號艦長C。 E。 Morgan的報告

C。 E。 Morgan是“剛勇”號戰列艦當時的艦長，他所作的有關“巴勒姆”號沉沒過程以及“剛勇”號在“巴勒姆”號遇襲時反應的報告在該事件親歷者中算是很詳盡的，原文和翻譯如下：

1。 I was not on the compass platform at the moment of the explosion but on reaching the front of it ten seconds later， I observed a very large column of water and smoke alongside Barham， only the after end of the quarterdeck being then visible。

1. 爆炸發生時（這裡的爆炸不是最後的爆炸）我不在羅經艦橋上，我十秒鐘後來到羅經艦橋前部時，我只能看到“巴勒姆”號後甲板的末端以及艦旁一個巨大的水柱和煙柱。

2。 I immediately ordered ‘Full speed ahead together’； at the same time the Officer of the Watch informed me that the wheel was hard-a-port， and I observed that the ship was just beginning to swing to port under the influence of full port rudder。

2. 我馬上命令“全速前進”，與此同時值班軍官告訴我舵輪正處於左滿舵的狀態。我注意到此時戰艦在左滿舵的狀態下剛剛向左舷方向擺動。

3。 About fifteen seconds later a submarine broke surface between 50 and 100 on the port bow at a distance of approximately 150 yards and moving from left to right。 By then Valiant had swung 8° to port， and was therefore heading approximately 260°。The submarine was steering between 050° and 060°； her speed appeared to be about 4 knots。

3. 大約15秒後，一艘潛艇（U-331）在距離戰艦左舷艏處約150碼的距離冒出水面並從左向右移動。此時“剛勇”號已經向左轉了8度，因此“剛勇”的航向角為260度。潛艇在050度和060度之間轉向，潛艇的航速約為4節。

4。 Immediately on sighting the submarine I ordered ‘Amidships’， and then ‘Hard-a-starboard’ in an endeavour to ram her， but before the rudder was hard over it was obvious that it would not be possible to check the swing to port before she was across the bow。 Actually the swing was just about checked when the submarine passed down the starboard side， and she submerged again when abreast Valiant’s bridge at a distance of about 50 yards。 As she appeared on the starboard side S。l pom-pom fired 19 rounds at her with maximum depression， but all rounds appeared to pass over her。 The wheel was then again reversed so as to keep clear of Barham。

4. 一看到潛艇，我馬上下令“舵回中”，然後下令“右滿舵”以試圖撞擊這艘潛艇，但此時船舵已經不可能趕在潛艇從“剛勇”號船艏前駛過之前停止向左轉，更談不上回正並向右轉了。不過當潛艇行駛到“剛勇”號右舷時“剛勇”號的左轉已經停止了，潛艇在行駛至與“剛勇”號艦橋平行約50碼的距離處潛入了水中。當潛艇出現在右舷時，S.I號砰砰炮以最大俯角向潛艇發射了19枚炮彈，但是所有的炮彈都從潛艇身上掠過。“剛勇”號緊接著又倒車以避開“巴勒姆”號。

5。 The only portion of the submarine which appeared above water was the periscope and about 2 or 3 feet of the conning tower， which was flat topped。 A certain amount of disturbed water before and abaft the conning tower indicated the fore and after ends of the hull， and enabled an accurate estimate of her course to be made。

5. 潛艇唯一露出水面的部分是潛望鏡和大約2至3英尺的指揮塔頂端，指揮塔前後一定量的擾動水流指示了潛艇艇體的前後兩端，從而能夠準確地估計潛艇的航向。

6。 As soon as the smoke and spray had cleared away and Barham became visible again， it was seen that she had developed a very heavy list to port， probably about 20° to 30°， as it was observed that the water was level with the after screen door into the lobby at the fore end of the quarterdeck。 She appeared to hang in this position for about a minute， when she began to roll over on approximately an even keel。

6. 當爆炸的煙霧和水霧散去，能看到“巴勒姆”號已經有了很嚴重的左傾，大約有20度至30度，海水已經淹沒到了after screen door into the lobby at the fore end of the quarterdeck。（我無法弄清這段話的大意，遂保持原文）她保持著這個姿態大約一分鐘，之後便開始向左舷側勻速翻沉。

7。 She continued to roll over and sink deeper in the water until the water was seen to be entering the funnel。 A moment or two after this there was a loud explosion amidships， and a very large column of black and brown smoke with flame from the explosion in the middle of it shot into the air。 This explosion occurred at 1630， or 5 minutes approximately after the torpedoes hit， when Barham was just abaft the beam from Valiant’s bridge。

7．“巴勒姆”號繼續向左舷側翻沉至更深水中，直到能看見水進入煙囪。一兩分鐘後“巴勒姆”號中部發生了巨大的爆炸，一股巨大的黑褐色濃煙伴隨著爆炸產生的火焰直衝雲霄。這次爆炸發生在16時30分左右，也就是魚雷命中後五分鐘左右，當時“巴勒姆”號的位置就在正對著“剛勇”號艦橋後面的地方。

8。 All observers are agreed that， as the torpedoes hit， there were three explosions， a first one， followed about one or two seconds later by two in quick succession， and that the explosions all occurred amidships between the funnel and the mainmast。 It was not certain what caused the final explosion but the general opinion was that it was the 6in magazine， and it was certainly not ‘A’ or ‘B’ magazine， as the centre of the explosion was abaft the bridge， and I am of the opinion that it was not as far aft as‘X’ magazine。

8. 所有的目擊者都同意，當魚雷命中“巴勒姆”號時發生了三次爆炸，先是第一次爆炸，大約一兩秒鐘後緊接著是後兩次爆炸，爆炸都發生在煙囪和主桅（‘巴勒姆’號的主桅指的是後桅）之間的船體中部。不確定是什麼導致了最後一次爆炸（第四次爆炸），但是目擊者們普遍認為是6英寸彈藥庫發生了爆炸，肯定不是“A”炮塔和“B”炮塔的彈藥庫，因為爆炸的中心在艦橋的後面，我（指C. E. Morgan本人）認為爆炸點並不是在靠近船艉的“X”炮塔彈藥庫。

C。 E。 Morgan的報告似乎能夠印證當下在國內網路流行的“巴勒姆號是因為鍋爐進水而導致的殉爆”的觀點，可是另一份由“巴勒姆”號倖存者所作的報告卻顯示出了另一種情況……

上圖為“巴勒姆”號戰列艦最後一次爆炸發生時的瞬間，“巴勒姆”號生涯中最後的一分多鐘由“剛勇”號上的一名來自Gaumont News 名叫約翰·特納（ John Turner ）的攝影師記錄了下來，這也是第二次世界大戰中最為悽美的影像之一。

來自“巴勒姆”號上的G。M。Wolfe海軍尉官的報告

At the time of the first explosion， I was just outside my office which was on the port side of the A。D。O。 Flat， – that is the first deck above the boat deck on the bridge structure。

當第一次爆炸發生時，我正在我的辦公室外面，辦公室位於左舷的A.D.O（可能是艦員職位的縮寫，具體名稱我沒能查到，如有人知曉請不吝告知)艙室——艙室位於艦橋結構在救生艇甲板上方的第一層甲板內。

上圖紅圈內就是艦橋結構救生艇甲板上方的第一層甲板

Since I was leaving the office， I was facing aft， and saw the flash of the explosion which appeared to be immediately abaft the funnel。

自從我離開辦公室以後，我的臉正對著船尾，隱約看到煙囪後面出現了爆炸產生的閃光。

After a slight pause， two further explosions occurred， both slightly further aft。

稍作停頓之後，又發生了兩次爆炸，都是發生在離我較遠的船艉區域。

I crossed immediately to the starboard side， where a crowd was already gathering on the upper deck， and gave my pocket knife to a P。O。 who was trying to unlash two Carley Floats which were secured at the bottom of the ladder up to the pom-pom deck。

我馬上前往右舷，發現那裡已經聚集了一大群人，我把我的小刀交給了一位士官，他正試圖卸下兩個固定在砰砰炮平臺和梯子之間的卡利救生筏。

上圖紅圈內就是卡利救生筏，注意其所在的位置。

I went rapidly back to my office for my Burberry， and then returned to the starboard side with some difficulty as there was already an appreciable list。 I descended to the upper deck， where the ship’s company was already going over the side。 I shouted to all near me to follow their example – rather unnecessarily as there was little panic and the men were not wasting any time。

我回到我的辦公室去拿我的博百利（一個奢侈品品牌，世界大戰時期的英國海軍軍官很喜歡這個品牌的防雨風衣），之後再返回右舷，因為船隻的傾斜加重，回到右舷變的有些困難。我下到上層甲板，越來越多的人聚集到右舷。我對我身邊的人大聲呼喊，讓他們要效法他們的榜樣——事後看來這是不必要的，因為人群中並沒有產生恐慌，所有人都井然有序。

The list was steadily increasing and as everyone about me was over the guard rail， I went over also at a point level with the forward end of the bridge， and slid down to the bilge keel。

船隻的傾斜愈發嚴重，在我周圍的人都翻過護欄時，我也在海水淹沒到艦橋前端的位置時翻過了護欄，然後滑到了舭龍骨上。

By now she was going over fast， and I reached the bottom of the ship， now an almost vertical wall。 Here I hesitated， owing to the difficulty of keeping my balance because the final jump appeared hazardous with the bottom coming up to meet me。

此時她正在快速地翻轉過來，我已經到了船底，這裡就像是一堵陡直的牆，我很難保持平衡，我當時在猶豫要不要往下跳，我很擔心跳下去之後直接撞在船底上。

It was then that a big explosion took place aft， and the ship plunged over so rapidly that I was flung backwards into the water with many others。

就在我猶豫的時候，船尾處發生了大爆炸，船迅速翻沉，我和許多人一起被拋進水中。

After being sucked down， we eventually surfaced and I swam over to a Carley Float which appeared close at hand。 All trace of the ship had vanished。

在被吸入水中後，我最終浮出了水面並游到了一隻看上去近在眼前的卡里救生筏旁邊。船（指‘巴勒姆’號）的痕跡已經完全消失了。

I discarded my Burberry， blew up my life belt， and held on to the side of the float with many more until picked up by H。M。S。 Hotspur one hour later。

我扔掉了我的博百利，給我的救生背心充上氣，然後和更多人一道趴在救生筏旁邊，直到一小時後被“熱刺”號驅逐艦救起。

個人觀點和總結

G。M。Wolfe海軍尉官的報告和“剛勇”號艦長的報告相接近的地方在於魚雷命中導致的前三次爆炸的發生時間與位置，不同的地方在於兩人敘述的最後一次爆炸發生的位置，一個認為是在船中部，另一個認為是在船尾部。個人認為沃爾夫尉官的報告更接近事實的真相，結合沃爾夫尉官最後所在的位置，如果是6英寸彈藥庫發生爆炸或是爆炸的中心在艦橋後部，那沃爾夫尉官可能早就坐了“土飛機”，也不會活著寫下報告（巴勒姆號的倖存者人數為449人，遇難人數為862人，倖存者人數和倖存者人數佔全艦總人數的比例在發生殉爆的戰艦中算是比較多的）。但無論是“剛勇”號艦長還是沃爾夫尉官，他們對於“巴勒姆”號最後一次爆炸發生的具體原因和位置的描述仍然是不準確的，只能期待未來有人對“巴勒姆”號的殘骸進行水下考古才能解答“巴勒姆”號殉爆的真實原因了。