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A. D. Torlesse
Rear admiral (Royal Navy), Rear Admiral Arthur David Torlesse, (24 January 1902 – 19 July 1995) was a Royal Navy officer. He commanded the escort carrier during the latter part of the Second World War, and the aircraft carrier during the early months of the Korean War. In 1952, he commanded the task force that supported Operation Hurricane, the first British nuclear weapons test. Early life and career Arthur David Torlesse was born in Bognor Regis in West Sussex on 24 January 1902, the son of a Royal Navy officer, Captain (Royal Navy), Captain Arthur Ward Torlesse, and his wife Harriet Mary (née Jeans). He had a brother, Ynyr John Torlesse. He was educated at Park High School, Stanmore, Royal Naval College, Osborne, which he entered in 1915, and Britannia Royal Naval College, Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. He served as a midshipman with the Grand Fleet during the First World War. Torlesse was commissioned as a sub-lieutenant on 15 May 1922, and served on . He was promoted ...
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Bognor Regis
Bognor Regis (), also known as Bognor, is a town and seaside resort in West Sussex on the south coast of England, south-west of London, west of Brighton, south-east of Chichester and east of Portsmouth. Other nearby towns include Littlehampton east-north-east and Selsey to the south-west. The nearby villages of Felpham, and Aldwick are now suburbs of Bognor Regis, along with those of North Bersted, North and South Bersted. The population of the Bognor Regis built-up area, including Felpham and Aldwick, was 63,855 at the 2011 census. A seaside resort was developed by Sir Richard Hotham in the late 18th century on what was a sand and gravel, undeveloped coastline. It has been claimed that Hotham and his new resort are portrayed in Jane Austen's unfinished novel ''Sanditon''. The resort grew slowly in the first half of the 19th century but grew rapidly following the coming of the railway in 1864. In 1929 King George V spent three months in the area recuperating, and later that ...
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Nuclear Weapons Test
Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine the performance of nuclear weapons and the effects of their explosion. Nuclear testing is a sensitive political issue. Governments have often performed tests to signal strength. Because of their destruction and fallout, testing has seen opposition by civilians as well as governments, with international bans having been agreed on. Thousands of tests have been performed, with most in the second half of the 20th century. The first nuclear device was detonated as a test by the United States at the Trinity site in New Mexico on July 16, 1945, with a yield approximately equivalent to 20 kilotons of TNT. The first thermonuclear weapon technology test of an engineered device, codenamed Ivy Mike, was tested at the Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands on November 1, 1952 (local date), also by the United States. The largest nuclear weapon ever tested was the Tsar Bomba of the Soviet Union at Novaya Zemlya on October 30, 1961, ...
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Gourock
Gourock ( ; ) is a town in the Inverclyde council areas of Scotland, council area and formerly a burgh of the County of Renfrew in the west of Scotland. It was a resort town, seaside resort on the East shore of the upper Firth of Clyde. Its main function today is as a residential area, extending contiguously from Greenock, with a railway terminus and ferry services across the Clyde. History The name Gourock comes from a Gaelic word for "pimple", in reference to the hill above the town. As far back as 1494 it is recorded that James IV of Scotland, James IV sailed from the shore at Gourock to quell the rebellious Highland clans. Two hundred years later William III of England, William and Mary granted a Charter in favour of Stewart of Castlemilk which raised Gourock to a Burgh of Barony. In 1784 the lands of Gourock were purchased by Duncan Darroch, a former merchant in Jamaica. He built Gourock House near the site of the castle in what the family eventually gifted to the town ...
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Lieutenant Commander (Royal Navy)
Lieutenant commander (often abbreviated Lt Cdr), formerly more commonly lieutenant-commander, is a senior officer rank in the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom. It is immediately junior to commander and immediately senior to the naval rank of lieutenant. The equivalent rank in the British Army and Royal Marines is major; and in the Royal Air Force, it is squadron leader. History Originally having fewer officer ranks than the Army, the Navy previously split some of its ranks by seniority (time in rank) to provide equivalence: hence a lieutenant with fewer than eight years seniority wore two stripes and ranked with an army captain; a lieutenant of eight years or more wore two stripes with a thinner one in between, and ranked with a major. This distinction was abolished when the rank of lieutenant-commander was introduced in March 1914, although promotion to that rank remained automatic following eight years seniority in the rank of lieutenant. Automatic promotion was stopped in ...
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Fleet Air Arm
The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is the naval aviation component of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy (RN). The FAA is one of five :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, RN fighting arms. it is a primarily helicopter force, though also operating the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, F-35 Lightning II carrier-based stealth fighter jointly with the Royal Air Force. The RAF was formed by the 1918 merger of the RN's Royal Naval Air Service with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps. The FAA did not come under the direct control of the Admiralty (United Kingdom), Admiralty until mid-1939. During the Second World War, the FAA operated aircraft on ships as well as land-based aircraft that defended List of Royal Navy shore establishments, the Royal Navy's shore establishments and facilities. History Beginnings British naval flying started in 1909, with the construction of an airship for naval duties. In 1911 the Royal Navy graduated its first aeroplane pilots at the Royal Aero Club RAF Eastchu ...
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Air Observer
An air observer or aerial observer is an aircrew member whose duties are predominantly reconnaissance. The term originated in the First World War in the British Royal Flying Corps, and was maintained by its successor, the Royal Air Force. An air observer's brevet was a single wing with an O at the root. Although today sometimes a crewed aircraft is still utilised for aerial observation, industry and the military use both satellites and remotely piloted vehicles for this function. The term is also used in some non-military contexts, such as police helicopter units. The first recorded RAF "kill" of the Second World War, on 20 September 1939, was by air observer Sergeant F. Letchford, aboard a Fairey Battle, flown by Flying Officer L.H. Baker. Observers were also issued with weapons, and expected to engage with enemy aircraft in the early days of military aviation. Over time, the role changed and separate gunnery specialities emerged. By the Second World War the RAF commo ...
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Lieutenant (navy)
LieutenantThe pronunciation of ''lieutenant'' is generally split between , , generally in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Commonwealth countries, and , , generally associated with the United States. See lieutenant. (abbreviated Lt, LT (U.S.), LT(USN), Lieut and LEUT, depending on nation) is a commissioned officer rank in many English-speaking nations' navies and coast guards. It is typically the most senior of junior officer ranks. In most navies, the rank's insignia may consist of two medium gold braid stripes, the uppermost stripe featuring an executive curl in many Commonwealth of Nations; or three stripes of equal or unequal width. The now immediately senior rank of lieutenant commander was formerly a senior naval lieutenant rank. Many navies also use a subordinate rank of sub-lieutenant. The appointment of "first lieutenant" in many navies is held by a senior lieutenant. This naval lieutenant ranks higher than an army lieutenants; within NATO countries the na ...
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Grand Fleet
The Grand Fleet was the main battlefleet of the Royal Navy during the First World War. It was established in August 1914 and disbanded in April 1919. Its main base was Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands. History Formed in August 1914 from the First Fleet and part of the Second Fleet of the Home Fleets, the Grand Fleet included 25–35 modern capital ships. It was commanded initially by Admiral Sir John Jellicoe.Heathcote, p. 130 The 10th Cruiser Squadron carried out the Northern Patrol between Shetland and Norway and cruisers from Cromarty and Rosyth operated a second line (and screened the fleet) in enforcing the blockade of Germany. The administrative complications of the distant blockade across the northern exits of the North Sea overwhelmed the capacity of Vice Admiral Francis Miller, the Base Admiral in Chief from 7 August 1914, devolving on the commander in chief, Admiral John Jellicoe. To relieve the administrative burdens on Miller and Jellicoe, the post of the ...
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Midshipman
A midshipman is an officer of the lowest Military rank#Subordinate/student officer, rank in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Royal Canadian Navy, Canada (Naval Cadet), Royal Australian Navy, Australia, Bangladesh Navy, Bangladesh, Namibian Navy, Namibia, Royal New Zealand Navy, New Zealand, South African Navy, South Africa, Indian Navy, India, Pakistan Navy, Pakistan, Republic of Singapore Navy, Singapore, Sri Lanka Navy, Sri Lanka, and Kenya Navy, Kenya. In the 17th century, a midshipman was a Naval rating, rating for an experienced seaman, and the word derives from the area aboard a ship, amidships, either where he worked on the ship, or where he was Berth (sleeping), berthed. Beginning in the 18th century, a commissioned officer candidate was rated as a midshipman, and the seaman rating began to slowly die out. By the Napoleonic era (1793–1815), a midshipman was an a ...
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Britannia Royal Naval College
Britannia Royal Naval College Dartmouth, also known as Dartmouth, is the naval academy of the United Kingdom and the initial officer training establishment of the Royal Navy. It is located on a hill overlooking the port of Dartmouth, Devon, England. Royal Naval officer training has taken place in Dartmouth since 1863. The buildings of the current campus were completed in 1905. Earlier students lived in two wooden hulks moored in the River Dart. Since 1998, BRNC has been the sole centre for Royal Naval officer training. History The training of naval officers at Dartmouth dates from 1863, when the wooden hulk was moved from Portland and moored in the River Dart to serve as a base. In 1864, after an influx of new recruits, ''Britannia'' was supplemented by . Prior to this, a Royal Naval Academy (later Royal Naval College) had operated for more than a century from 1733 to 1837 at Portsmouth, a major naval installation. The original ''Britannia'' was replaced by the in 1869, ...
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