Classic British Flight Sim

Hi Boys

A few shots taken down in Pompey.. mostly from yesterday morning

The Southsea/IOW Hovercraft.. a bit pricey too :shock:


That white sign used to say HMS DOLPHIN and the base was at one time HQ of CaptSM and SM1. I guess that with the demise of our diesel subs, there was no longer a need for Dolphin although the 'Tank' is still there and it's the only one I know of :think:


The very impressive Spinaker Tower. Where this is and the trendy shopping mall behind used to be Gun Wharf.. part of HMS Vernon (now gone)


HMS Warrior.. the worlds first Iron Clad warship. A jolly fine job they've made on the restoration too


HMS Victory.. been there, seen it, done it For those not in the know, Victory is the oldest commissioned warship in the world and is the official flagship of CinCNavHome. She also rests in the worlds oldest dry dock


A model of HMS Vanguard.. Britains last battleship. Posted this for DelP as his father was a telegraphist on it


HMS Hermes (model) taken in the newly opened Falklands Exibition. I just love these models


HMS Andromeda (model).. my last ship before leaving the Andrew


There was reference to this in another post a few weeks ago and by chance, I came across this in one of the museums in the dockyard..


HMS Bristol. Now looking a shadow of her former self.. build 1 of a planned 4. Sadly, the Labour government of the day put paid to the other 3 so she became a 'one off'. Nice to see she was saved from the scrapyard though and now is a base for local Sea Cadets. That berth is at Whale Island..


A brace of batch1 Type42 destroyers on Fountain Lake jetty with Invincible in the background (in 3 basin) awaiting her as yet unkown fate. At present, shes being used as a source of spares to keep the other 2 afloat :shock:


Batch3 Type 42 destroyer.. HMS Manchester. Note the longer front end.. done to improve her seakeeping


Down the Trot. Two Falkland veterans.. HMS Intrepid and HMS Fearless. These are awaiting disposal with no option of sale (not that anyone would want anything this old) due to the amount of asbestos onboard. The 3 batch1 Type 42's with her (one being Newcastle, another Glasgow) could possibly be sold but in my experience, when ships end up down the trot, there's little hope of them ever serving again :sad:


HMS Illustrious..


and HMS Ark Royal. Though they look quite big here (and I had very little space left on my 18-50mm lens).. it would not have been possible to 'squeeze in' the old Ark (IV) from the same distance. They're around the 20,000tonne mark and are the worlds smallest aircraft carriers :shock: Note the badge on one of Ark's funnels.. this shows she is NOT currently in service as an aircraft carrier but instead, a helicopter carrier.


Batch3 Type42 HMS York sitting on my favourite berth.. South Railway Jetty. The reason we liked berthing here so much is that the main gate was only a few hundred yards away


And finally.. a nice shot of a busy Portsmouth Harbour. I was never totally keen on seeing it from that position as it meant I was going to sea


So there you go. Aye, Aye Matey's

ATB

DaveB :tab:

Thanks for that Dave

Pompey is an integral part of my childhood..HMS Dolphin even more so..

I could never figure out why dad's sub was always the last one out from the shore...all those gangplanks... :shock: ...after 'family days' having to shimmy around the tower because the aft hatch was shut and the gangplank was forward...

I have no problem with pics of ships..it's the water in between that I have a problem with..

Cheers mate...

Derek

edit: For those who haven't been aboard HMS Victory, there's a plaque on the deck that says: 'Admiral Nelson fell here'...I'm not surprised..I tripped over it myself........ :whistle:

Nice pics Dave

Looks the perfect weather as well nice and sunny bright summer like light and not too hot.

The model of the carrier underway is amazing. :shock:

I had a great uncle that served on the Victory. Great stories from him.

He joined the Navy by accepting the Queens shilling in 1899.

Just wish he was still around now as I have so much to ask him :sad:

Garry

Arrrrr! Thar she blows! Ha hawww!

jonesey2k wrote:Arrrrr! Thar she blows! Ha hawww!

Sorry jonesy, but I'll have to put my 'serious' hat on...there is a major RN connection for certain members of this forum..

Your comment was not needed...

ATB,

Derek

Thanks for those Dave...Nica just came up to my "Flight Deck" to look at those and she enjoyed them. Here is her old ship "Stuft" and leaving Gib in 1982, bound for Ascension and the Falkland Islands:-

Hi Peter

Is that the Uganda that was an educational cruise ship?

Garry

Lovely shot of the 'Uganda' there Peter and very much in keeping with my somewhat melancholy visit to Pompey

I suppose 18-years is a long time between visits but so much had changed. The 'Main Gate' as mentioned above is no longer the main gate but the entrance/exit to the 'Historic Dockyard'. There seemed to be so little RN activity there.. in general, that you'd be hard pushed to know there was a base there at all. No matelots loafing.. no little blue pussers Land Rovers whizzing around. Even HMS Nelson had it's main gate closed with little sign of any activity inside so how you get into Nelson now, god only knows :think: There is ONE new building inside the dockyard that wasn't there in my day and is occupied by VT Shipbuilding where they made this little tinker.. the RN's newest warship..



She is currently fitting alongside ready to go on the long voyage 'Down South' which is where the majority of her service life will be spent. She's the first warship to be built in Portsmouth for 30-odd years.. the last being my last ship.. HMS Andromeda, featured above in model form

I have a few more I can squeeze in if you're all bored enough

EDIT.. Yes, its the same Uganda Garry

ATB

DaveB :tab:

Thank you David

Having little or no real connection with the Senior Service some of the
references are a bit beyond me (my nautical terminology was learned
listening to the Navy Lark on Sunday afternoons) But HMS Warrior totally
took me by surprise - Im curious as to where it was "found" was it another
of the hulks that sat in Portsmouth Roads and used as storage or a
Brig or something? And we share a love of beautfiully crafted scale
models - I would spend hours in the Naval section of the IWM just staring
at the detail.

Isnt it nice to go 'home" now and then???


Leif

Yes it is Garry...she was taken up from trade and had a helicopter platform added in just a few days at Gibraltar. The red crosses were also painted on there and Nica was one of two Theatre Sisters among the 40 Q.A.R.N.N.S nurses on board...They converted her into a Hospital Ship on the way to Ascension and she moved in and out from the "Hospital Ship Square" to Grantham Sound in the Falklands, throughout the conflict. She took on casualties from helicopters and the patients were then transferred when fit enough to three smaller ships with names beginning with "H"...Hecla was one. These then took them to somewhere like Montevideo to be flown back to UK in VC10s. Over 500 operations were performed on Uganda during the conflict...Some on Argentinian casualties.