Naval History Forums

Im lacking the I T skills to put a photo of these up here , i'm afraid , BUT , Ive just had a look at the SMS Lutzow topic ( next door ) and on four out of six of the photographs there you can see them , most clearly on the last one . As I say , these seem to appear in most pics of any ship bigger t...

In most photographs of German HSF Warships ( Light cruisers and everything bigger ) hanging in the rigging of the main mast (aft mast ) are two cone shapes , usually one point up and the one on the other side of the mast point down . Shore signal stations hoist (or used to hoist ) cones to warn of G...

At the start of WW2 Britain repeated her previous action by seizing / " purchasing " warships building for foreign customers in British yards . Among these were six repeats of the H class destroyers ( of Narvik fame ) which were for Brazil . I remember reading that the Gunners were surpris...

Well , first of all , I was there for all of it . Ted Heath had been a Tank Regiment officer during WW2 , and in the campaign across Europe after D-day . Like many of his fellows of all parties and throughout the establishment as it then was , he had seen what a war was like up close , and I can rem...

Yellowtail asked --> I've heard it said - and read - that Churchill couldn't resist the temptation to think himself First Sea Lord, and play admiral. not sure if it's a fair assessment or not. But he WAS first Sea Lord . During the early stages of the First World War he formed the Naval Brigades , ...

I'll go for euro 350 per day -- where do you join up ? Actually, that is probably just about enough guys to defend an ocean going fishing boat especially if the fishing boats are working together in the same area . The Q ship idea is fine in terms of designing one -- you could do it quite easily usi...

Fair enough .

Hi Marcelo , well I think that in a situation where a ship is going to get thoroughly "shot up" then liferafts in fibreglass containers are going to be pretty vulnerable , although you would be pretty unlucky to have all of them rendered useless . You are quite right to say that many of th...

OH.....Well sorry !! As a newbie here I hadnt realised that it is OK to post whatever anti EU xenophobic opinions you like , but not to say I actually think the EU is a good idea . Or that I think it is a shame that the factions holding power in the UK rubbish it for cynical reasons while doing ever...

Socotra Island lies in the sea lanes North of the Horn of Africa . As such it is well placed to site a maritime patrol aircraft force for the sealane heading due West to the Bab el mandab ( entrance to the Red sea ) , and South to Dar-es -salaam etc . As was done in WW2 on the Azores/Bermuda etc in ...

Thats a pretty fair summary Bgile . With regard to "incompetence" , I would also suggest ..... just pretty tired , and making mistakes . Interesting that you've seen this modelled for real , and it not working . Let me have another chat with Osama and we'll see if we cant come up with........

Well Marcelo , that is one reason why they tend to be dispersed around the ship , to avoid the situation that the majority will be damaged beyond use . As you can see in the photograph , that ship is carrying them in at least four seperate locations . As regards the old type of raft being "bett...

Well lwd , I was trying to imagine a "gameplan" that would enable a third world navy with a couple of reasonably efficient diesel/electric submarines to penetrate the screens around a typical Indian Ocean US TF , and give one of the big carriers a surprise from behind . Part of the standar...

There isnt much difference nowadays between the rafts-in-canisters as fitted in merchant and passenger ships , and those supplied for warships , as the "packages" are deemed perfectly adequate for military use . It makes economic sense to use commercially available containered rafts too , ...

Im not sure that the EU civil code (law) overides the Military/old Maritime laws ; .... If it did , then you couldnt have firing sqauds for crimes committed in wartime . What really gets up my nose is this business of "handing them over to the Somali Authorities" . WHAT bloody authorities ...