Medieval harbour discovered in Scotland

Archeologists in Scotland have found the remains of a sophisticated harbour and dockyards at Loch na h-Airde. One of the marine archaeologists at the site is reported to have said about it that:

This site has enormous potential to tell us about how boats were built, serviced and sailed on Scotland’s western seaboard in the medieval period – and perhaps during the early historic and prehistoric eras as well. There is no other site quite like this in Scotland.

The level of sophistication involved in the construction of the harbour, including a sill to maintain a constant water level inside no-matter the state of the tide. Of course up until the invention of the railways rivers and the sea was the best way to get anywhere on this island, and is still the way that the vast majority of all international trade is conducted.

Ramming speed!

During the late Victorian period it became popular to design battleships with rams following Rear Admiral Von Tegetthoff desperate, but successful, use of ramming during the Battle of Vis; and ramming did sink a lot of ships. one of them was the HMS Victoria which sank on June 22 1885 with 358 deaths including Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon. Unfortunately the ship which rammed her was HMS Camperdown, oops.

A long day in the Baltic

June the 21st is the longest day in the year. For Charles Davis Lucas June 21st 1854 must have been the longest day of his life, it was certainly one of the most important. He had joined the navy in 1848 when he was just 13. In 1854 he was serving as a Mate on board HMS Hecla in the Baltic. They were bombarding Bomarsund, a fort in the Åland Islands off of Finland. The soldiers manning the fort were not taking it laying down and were firing back on the Hecla and the other ships in the squadron. One shell from the fort slammed the Hecla and slithered across the wooden deck with its fuse still smoking. A shout went out immediately for everybody to get down, but Lucas didn't. He ran over to the shell and threw it overboard before the fuse had chance to burn down. It was a close run thing as the shell exploded even before it hit the water but thanks to his actions nobody was hurt. Seeing his actions his commanding officer immediately promoted him to Lieutenant. Two years later when the Victoria Cross was created Lucas was one of the first people to be given it. His captain of that day also later gave him his daughter's hand in marriage, but that is not really related to the incident. He ended his career a Captain, and was later promoted to Rear-Admiral when he was on the retired list.

Morse Code

On this day in 1840 Samuel F.B. Morse received his patent on what would become known as Morse code. One hundred years later Morse code would still be the system used for the Royal Navy's wireless transmissions. It was even used between aircraft and carrier despite the RAF having happily used voice for many years, but then the navy had never been very good at technological innovation. With the brief exception of HMS Dreadnough (and only then because it was being pushed so hard by the irrepressable technophile Jackie Fisher) the last time that the Royal Navy had had a real technological advantage was during the Elizabethian period when Drake and Hawkins were up against the Spainish Armarda.

The Canadian fleet is all surface

The Royal Navy might be completely without aircraft, but now the Canadian Navy has no submarines after HMCS Corner Brook ran aground on a training exercise has put it back in port for repairs. Oops.

Swimmers of the Lost Ark

For the first time since the aircraft carrier was invented the Royal Navy has none. As was found out in the defence of Crete during the Second World War a fleet without air support are sitting ducks, so this means that until the two carriers that have been ordered arrive, and the air groups to go on them, the Royal Navy will only be able to operate with either a allied fleet with carriers, or under the protection of RAF aircraft flying from a land airbase. This could mean that for the first time ever the Royal Navy is reliant for protection on the French.

However the scraping of the current carriers is definitely going ahead and their air groups went years ago. Tenders have even gone out asking for bids as to what to do with the Ark Royal. The tender document makes clear that they should not go to another fleet, and one option is to sink it to produce an artificial reef as a dive site off the Devon coast.

World Ocean day

Happy World Ocean Day to everybody!