Queensferry Crossing, HMS Queen Elizabeth and all things Royal Navy
- Thread starter Greenlantern101
- Start date
The Implacable being towed out to sea to be sunk is saluted by the captain and crew of HMS Implacable - 1949. Two questions; firstly, I didn't think the RN allowed two ships to carry the same name. Secondly, why the heck did they think it appropriate to just take old ships like this out to sea and sink them?
Dartman
Banned
There can't be more than one ship of the same name commissioned, they had enough problems with Olympus (S/M) and Olynthus (RFA) Olympus had a delivery of 10,000 tons of FFO listed in a signal, fortunately prevented as they were over 5,000 miles apart.
It was in 1949, there were plenty of hulks lying about in various UK and commonwealth ports, and they had Victory at Portsmouth, they weren't history then, and upkeep costs would be on the Admiralty budget which after a war was being stretched as the Korean war was being paid for.
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You're spot on mate. You can't have two serving ships of the same name. This hulk Implacable had long been out of service when she was taken out to be scuttled off the Isle of Wight. She was handed over to a private businessman in the 1920s for conversion into a boys training ship alongside the former HMS Trincomalee, in Falmouth.
Implacable was deemed too expensive to restore and, given that these ships contained almost nothing of scrap value, scuttling was the cheapest option. Parts of her survive in the maritime museum in Greenwich.
Trincomalee survived in use as a training and accomodation ship until the mid 80's and is now a museum ship in Hartlepool.
Back to the theme of "same names" as a result of one of the next generation of RN frigates being named HMS Belfast the museum ship in London will be named HMS Belfast (1938) to avoid confusion.
Bloody useless smoke screen. You can see that carrier from miles away. It's right in the middle of the picture.
I'd buy that for a dollar!
www.cnn.com
US aircraft carrier, site of a 1972 race riot at sea, on way to scrapyard | CNN
It was once the biggest symbol of American military power in the Indo-Pacific, battle tested from Vietnam to the Persian Gulf and a survivor of a collision with a Soviet submarine.
I think the picture dates from somewhere between 1927 and 1932. The ship in the background is a Nelson class battleship. They were distinctive for having all three main battery guns forward of the bridge instead of two in front and one behind. The class underwent upgrades in the early 30's which changed the appearance of the masts and the range finder on top of the bridge hence my guess at the date
Dartman
Banned
Definitely prewar, no radar, check out the women's hats, that dates it to the cider_and_toast post
Pokitren
Browser
Indeed, why would all three guns be at the front when one would still be more advantageous at the back. How many of these battleships were made, do you know?
There were two of the class built.
HMS Nelson and HMS Rodney
The design of the ships was heavily influenced by the Washington Naval treaty which placed limits on the numbers, sizes and displacements of ships under construction by the major powers after the First World War.
The location of turrets was carefully planned to give the greatest field of fire and to maintain that while manoeuvring these vessels. The Nelson Class reduced the space required for ammunition handling and storage by placing all three main turrets together while still maintaining relatively wide arcs of fire. The French used a similar solution with their battleship Dunkerque which had 2 quadruple barrelled turrets placed forward of the superstructure.
Pretty much as Bro said. Most go back to be refilled / reused or recycled.
Each ship was allowed to lose so many shell casings during a live fire exercise as they would be ejected through a tube at the front of the turret and some would bounce over the side but most had to be accounted for and returned.
Edit:
Forgot to add, on completion of every small arms shoot (rifles, pistols etc) the range officer would line us all up and make the following statement:
"You are reminded that it is a court martial offence to knowingly remove any live rounds or spent ammunition from this range. When I stand before you, you will make the following declaration 'I have no live rounds or spent ammunition in my possession' and address me by my rank"
He would then proceed to walk down the line and each one of us would have to make that declaration.
After each shoot we'd walk up and down the firing point collecting the spent cartridges and throwing them into an empty sandbag. Any live ammunition would have to be signed back into the ships magazine.
One of my roles on my last ship was an "Officer of the Quarter" which meant I was responsible for stored ammunition. In this case, 3 magazines containing the ships supply of decoy / chaff rockets. Each magazine would be inspected by myself daily, the weapons engineering officer weekly and all the log books checked monthly.
Every single item of ammunition on a ship is checked, mustered, cross checked and accounted for.
Each ship was allowed to lose so many shell casings during a live fire exercise as they would be ejected through a tube at the front of the turret and some would bounce over the side but most had to be accounted for and returned.
Edit:
Forgot to add, on completion of every small arms shoot (rifles, pistols etc) the range officer would line us all up and make the following statement:
"You are reminded that it is a court martial offence to knowingly remove any live rounds or spent ammunition from this range. When I stand before you, you will make the following declaration 'I have no live rounds or spent ammunition in my possession' and address me by my rank"
He would then proceed to walk down the line and each one of us would have to make that declaration.
After each shoot we'd walk up and down the firing point collecting the spent cartridges and throwing them into an empty sandbag. Any live ammunition would have to be signed back into the ships magazine.
One of my roles on my last ship was an "Officer of the Quarter" which meant I was responsible for stored ammunition. In this case, 3 magazines containing the ships supply of decoy / chaff rockets. Each magazine would be inspected by myself daily, the weapons engineering officer weekly and all the log books checked monthly.
Every single item of ammunition on a ship is checked, mustered, cross checked and accounted for.
