#royalnavy — Public Fediverse posts

The UK’s nuclear submarine town at the top of Putin’s target list

Russia’s veiled threats against the UK feel more tangible in Helensburgh, the Scottish coastal town nestled close by…
#EuropeSays #Britain #Europe #EU #UK #Defence #Nuclearweapons #RoyalNavy #Russia #Scotland #SNP #UnitedKingdom #VladimirPutin
https://www.europesays.com/britain/119627/

https://www.europesays.com/britain/119627/ The UK’s nuclear submarine town at the top of Putin’s target list #Defence #NuclearWeapons #RoyalNavy #Russia #Scotland #SNP #UK #UnitedKingdom #VladimirPutin

On 12 July a Submarine the Royal Navy Sold to Canada for £1 Fired the Torpedo That Sank a Decommissioned US Navy Cruiser

On 12 July 2026, in water nearly three miles deep, more than fifty nautical miles north of Kauai,…
#Canada #ColdWar #nato #navy #RoyalNavy #Submarine #Submarines #USNavy #Victoria-Class
https://www.europesays.com/canada/196649/

The Royal Navy Spent £900 Million on 4 New Submarines and Retired the Last After 16 Months Then Sold Them To Canada for £1

Britain spent approximately £900 million at 1993 prices on four Upholder-class diesel-electric submarines, an average program cost of…
#Canada #ColdWar #nato #RoyalNavy #Submarine #Submarines #Victoria-Class
https://www.europesays.com/canada/165955/

The British Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm's fighter / dive bomber the Blackburn Skua from the early years of the Second World War. https://www.destinationsjourney.com/historical-military-photographs/blackburn-skua/ #BlackburnSkua #Skua #divebomber #fighter #FleetAirArm #RoyalNavy #Aviation #aeroplane #airplane #fighterplane #WorldWarTwo

Tuesday, July 28, 2026

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2026/07/tuesday-july-28-2026/

Tuesday, July 28, 2026

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2026/07/tuesday-july-28-2026/

#Russian #frigate #Neustrashimy conducted live-fire gunnery exercise off south coast of #England while under watch of #RoyalNavy with the #warship around 40nm from #Portsmouth when she informed shadowing patrol vessel #HMS #Tyne her intention to fire

Royal Navy was observing the frigate Russians recommending #British vessel move to safer distance before the exercise. A #French #aircraft making radio contact with frigate to clarify what she would be doing

https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/russian-warship-opens-fire-near-english-coast/

Tuesday, July 7, 2026

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2026/07/tuesday-july-7-2026/

Photo of the Day 5th July 2026.

https://mancavgeek.co.uk/2026/07/05/photo-of-the-day-5th-july-2026/

Supermarine Walrus https://www.destinationsjourney.com/historical-military-photographs/supermarine-walrus/ #Aeroplane, #AirSeaRescue, #Aircraft, #Airplane, #Amphibian, #Aviation, #Biplane, #RAF, #RAN, #RescuePlane, #RoyalAirForce, #RoyalNavy, #SecondWorldWar, #SupermarineWalrus, #WorldWarTwo, #WW2, #WWII

Fairey Seafox https://www.destinationsjourney.com/historical-military-photographs/fairey-seafox/ #Aeroplane, #AirSeaRescue, #Aircraft, #Airplane, #Aviation, #Biplane, #FaireySeafox, #FloatPlane, #Floatplane, #RAF, #RescuePlane, #RN, #RoyalAirForce, #RoyalNavy, #Seafox, #Seaplane, #SecondWorldWar, #WorldWarTwo, #WW2, #WWII

HMS Naiad British Light Cruiser https://www.destinationsjourney.com/historical-military-photographs/hms-naiad-british-light-cruiser/ #Cruiser, #HMSNaiad, #LightCruiser, #MaritimeHistory, #NavalHistory, #RoyalNavy, #SecondWorldWar, #Warship, #WorldWarTwo, #WW2, #WWII

Veteran famously paraded on TV by Saddam Hussein recalls mock executions

http://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/veteran-famously-paraded-tv-saddam-37246123

HMS Bonaventure British Light Cruiser https://www.destinationsjourney.com/historical-military-photographs/hms-bonaventure-british-light-cruiser/ #SecondWorldWar, #Cruiser, #HMSBonaventure, #LightCruiser, #MaritimeHistory, #NavalHistory, #RoyalNavy, #Warship, #WorldWarTwo, #WW2, #WWII

HMS Charybdis British Light Cruiser https://www.destinationsjourney.com/historical-military-photographs/hms-charybdis-british-light-cruiser/ #SecondWorldWar, #Cruiser, #HMSCharybdis, #LightCruiser, #MaritimeHistory, #NavalHistory, #RoyalNavy, #Warship, #WorldWarTwo, #WW2, #WWII

The HMS Trinidad was a British light cruiser of the Royal Navy In Mar 42 Trinidad took part in the escort of Convoy PQ 13 to Russia During fighting against German destroyers she fired a torpedo at a destroyer, but it malfunctioned curved back and struck HMS Trinidad After temporary repairs, she attempted to return to Britain in May 42 but was damaged by aircraft and sunk https://www.destinationsjourney.com/historical-military-photographs/hms-trinidad-1941-british-light-cruiser/ #cruiser #hmstrinidad #LightCruiser #maritimehistory #naval #navy #royalnavy #secondworldwar #warship

HMS St. Vincent at anchor, Scapa Flow, Scotland https://www.destinationsjourney.com/historical-military-photographs/british-battleship-hms-st-vincent/ #RoyalNavy #battleofjutland #battleship #firstworldwar #hmsstvincent #warship #worldwarone #maritimehistory #NavalHistory

British Light Cruiser HMS Southampton (1937) Pre-War https://www.destinationsjourney.com/historical-military-photographs/hms-southampton-1937-british-light-cruiser/ #secondworldwar #cruiser #hmssouthampton #LightCruiser #maritimehistory #naval #navy #RoyalNavy #warship

The British heavy cruiser HMS Cornwall was one of the Royal Navy’s County-class cruisers. Cornwall intercepted and destroyed the German auxiliary cruiser Pinguin in May 1941.
Sunk by Japanese dive bombers on 5 April 1942. https://www.destinationsjourney.com/historical-military-photographs/hms-cornwall-1928-british-heavy-cruiser/ #secondworldwar #cruiser #heavycruiser #HMSCornwall #maritimehistory #naval #navy #royalnavy #warship #NavalHistory

LOOKS LIKE KRAUT'S BACK ON THE MENU, BOYS

https://piefed.social/c/noncredibledefense/p/1993254/looks-like-kraut-s-back-on-the-menu-boys

LOOKS LIKE KRAUT'S BACK ON THE MENU, BOYS

https://piefed.social/c/historymemes/p/1993251/looks-like-kraut-s-back-on-the-menu-boys

HMS Pheasant, 1st March 1917, Rora Head, Hoy, Orkney

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://theorkneynews.scot/2026/03/01/hms-pheasant-1st-march-1917-rora-head-hoy-orkney-2/

Manchester Monday 16th February 2026.

https://mancavgeek.co.uk/2026/02/16/manchester-monday-16th-february-2026/

Manchester Monday 12th January 2026.

https://mancavgeek.co.uk/2026/01/12/manchester-monday-12th-january-2026/

#OTD 11 November 1918

The #WW1 #Armistice isn't always mentioned in the log-books of #RoyalNavy ships.
HMS Rinaldo, at anchor off Simonstown, South Africa, did, though.

1.30pm: Guns fired from batteries denoting signing of armistice. Dressed ship overall

The inset shows part of the actual log-book page.

#NavalHistory #ArmisticeDay #History

The thread about the Calton Hill Naval Telegraph and the Forth coast’s Napoleonic communication system

Edinburgh’s City Art Centre shared this wonderful 1797 painting by George Walker this morning (July 11th 2023), showing the east of the old city as viewed from the vicinity of St. Anthony’s Chapel in Holyrood Park. This was an extremely popular viewpoint for 18th and 19th century artists and there are any numbers of etchings, watercolours and prints of this vista, making it a good record of the changes in the city over this time period.

This image of course poses the question: “what on earth is that enormous mast on the Calton Hill?!“

Well then, what on earth is that enormous mast on the Calton Hill? The answer is that this was a telegraph. No, not an electric or wireless telegraph, but a naval flagstaff for communication with ships in Leith Roads during the period of the French Revolutionary & Napoleonic Wars of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The word telegraph of course long predates more modern uses and literally means “writing from a distance” and that’s exactly what a systems such as this could do; as and when daylight and the ambient visibility allowed, the mast could communicate by coded messages transmitted by hoisting various combinations of flags and marker balls up the staff.

The telegraph pole is clearly marked on John Ainslie’s 1804 map of the City:

And we can also very clearly see it in an advertising print for one of Robert Barker’s panoramas from 1806 that was exhibited in Leicester Square in London. His first panorama of this view, from 1792, does not show the mast in place.

An earlier print – also in the collection of the city – shows a similar scene to that of George Walker’s painting, however as the Bridewell – Robert Adam’s prison on the lower slopes of the Calton Hill – is missing from this scene it suggests that this is prior to 1795 and therefore that the mast pre-dates the installation of the Admiralty’s signal telegraph chain. The mast is absent in a plan of the city by James Watson and Thomas Brown dated 1793, suggesting it was erected between those dates. A chain of very similar telegraphs had been installed around the Channel Islands in 1792.

This Calton Hill signal post was at the western end of a telegraph chain that stretched between Edinburgh and St. Abbs Head, to forewarn of any French incursions into the Firth of Forth (bear in mind that in 1779, a small American squadron under John Paul Jones had tried just that) and allow the reporting of shipping traffic in and out of the Forth back to the Admiralty in Leith (formally the Commander-in-Chief at Leith and on the Coast of Scotland) . Interception and boarding parties could then be sent out to any unexpected or unknown vessels. This signal chain was apparently constructed in 1801, so would have been an addition to the pre-existing Calton Hill flagstaff. It is likely that the mast was first erected for communicating with ships anchored in the Leith Roads out in the Forth, at this time an important forming-up point for naval convoys.

With thanks to Chris Wright for his assistance in finding a copy of the relevant paper, I have plotted the Forth & East Coast flag telegraph chain onto a map (below). The 8 stations spanned 41 miles of coast from St. Abb’s Head in the east to Calton Hill in the west, for the Admiralty HQ in Leith. Messages that would otherwise take the best part of a day to carry could be transmitted (weather dependent) to and from Edinburgh and Leith in a matter of minutes.

Each station was manned by a lieutenant on half pay, a petty officer or midshipman plus as his deputy and two men. All to have been classed as “unfit for sea service”, meaning they were too old, young, or injured. The structures were hastily constructed and temporary, built largely from timber with canvas for roofing and little remains apart from perimeter walls to keep the sheep out or some levelled platforms for the signal staff and support guys. The wooden huts were painted with a mix of tar, ochre and sand. Life must have been dull, cold and uncomfortable.

For communication purposes, each telegraph was provided with 1 x large red signal flag (18 breadths x 7 yards size), 1 x large blue pennant (5 breaths x 50 yards size) and 4 x hollow canvas signalling balls, painted black (43″ diameter). A system of coded signals used combinations of the red flag, blue pennant and a certain number of balls. For instance the blue pennant plus 3 balls = “Enemy landing to the west“. The below diagram for the Port of Leith flag signals in the 1860s, shows how with just 3 flags and 2 balls, it was possible to unambiguously communicate the numbers 10 – 26 (and the halves in-between). Now make those depth numbers signals in a code book, and you’ve got yourself a telegraphic communication system.

Each station was provided with an inventory that included:

• 163 yards of roofing canvas
• A 30 foot flagstaff
• A 50 foot topmast for the staff
• 100 fathoms of 1.5 inch and 77 fathoms of 2.5 inch rope
• officer’s bath stove
• fire grate for the men’s quarters
• 6 chairs, 2 tables

Four chaldrons of coal (about 5.25 m3), £3 of candles and £1 of stationary were allowed per annum. It wasn’t until 1803 that the Admiralty made an allowance for 1 x cot bed (for the officer) and 3 x hammocks (for the men), and only upon written application. I have also inferred that the officer may not have lived permanently on site as he was given a travel allowance. The illustrations below, made by Royal Engineer Captain William Smith, show the telegraph station at Malin Head in Ireland in 1804. The flagstaffs and cabins would have been similar on the East Coast of Scotland.

Exceptions exist however. The stations at St. Abbs, Dowlaw and North Berwick seem to have been more substantially built from the local stone, perhaps due to their isolation or exposure? Good remains of the stone buildings remain on North Berwick Law above the town.

In case there was any doubt it was a military structure, rather than a shepherd’s bothy, one of the stones has been neatly inscribed with the cipher “G. R.”

And a section of flag staff (quite remarkably, if it’s original) remained in situ during the archaeological site survey in 2018!

I can find almost no mentions of the East Coast telegraph being used in the newspapers. The earliest is in the London Oracle on 26th October 1798, which records a scare that French warships were in the Forth when two friendly Russian warships did not give the correct signals and in consequence “the signal post on the Calton Hill was at work most part of the day“. A decade later in 1808 the Caledonian Mercury reported that the St. Abb’s Head station sent a message to Edinburgh that the damaged merchant ship Cygnet had drifted inshore there. An 1802 aquatint shows that the mast was still in place at that time:

Plans of the city include it up to 1809, but construction of the Nelson Monument from 1807 onwards soon made the flagstaff surplus to requirements – however the below illustration below by John Harden clearly shows the Monument in place where the flagstaff once stood but also shows the flagstaff standing to the east of it. This suggests that the staff was moved to an alternative location while the monument was still under construction.

The Monument was designed to effectively be a 160 foot tall flagstaff in its own right, to act as a signal station, with accommodation for the signallers, the officer in the tower itself and four injured seamen pensioners in the building at its base. It was intended that the duties of the occupants would include hoisting news of British naval victories and celebrating past triumphs on their anniversaries. For the latter purposes, flags bearing the names of these events were to have been provided.

The design of the monument by Robert Burn is said to be inspired by Nelson’s folding telescope. You have to admit that it was a big improvement on the obelisk style from an earlier draft by Alexander Nasmyth that had been rejected as too expensive.

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  the cover of OU5274 Handling Ships.

I am very pleased to announce that I have scanned, and am now am making available a PDF copy of OU 5274 Remarks on Handling Ships. 

This volume from 1934 (reprinted in 1941) is the predecessor to BR 2092 Handling Ships (1954). This is a really interesting document to me. As discussed in that other post, the matter in this manual would become Admiralty Manual of Navigation, Vol 4. 

This was one of the first things I purchased once I realized that it existed. I purchased it through a store in Auckland, New Zealand, and was delighted to find out that it was actually published in Ottawa, Ontario for the use of the Royal Canadian Navy. Reprinted in 1941, this would have been one of the very last manuals to still use the OU (Official Use) numbers, which were replaced by the BR series in 1942.

The OCR’d PDf can be downloaded here.

#20th-century #admiralty #admiralty-manuals #archival-documents #archives #digital-humanities #discuss-a-doc #ou-5274-handling-ships #royal-navy

https://globalmaritimehistory.com/discuss-a-doc-ou-5274-handling-ships-1934-1941/