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HMS Sharpshooter (J68)
HMS ''Sharpshooter'' was a of the British Royal Navy. Built at Devonport Dockyard, ''Sharpshooter'' was completed in 1937. She served through the Second World War, acting both in her designed role as minesweeper and as a convoy escort, escorting several Arctic convoys. She took part in the evacuation from Dunkirk in 1940, and sank the in 1942. Post war, she was converted to a survey ship, and was renamed HMS ''Shackleton'' in 1953. She was laid up into reserve in 1961 and sold for scrap in 1965. Design The ''Halcyon'' class were a class of dedicated minesweepers, designed to be smaller and cheaper than the dual-purpose (minesweeping and colonial patrol vessel) minesweeping sloops that had been built since the late 1920s (i.e. the , and ), which as their design evolved, were becoming increasingly focused on escort duties and becoming too large for use as minesweepers. ''Sharpshooter'' was long overall and between perpendiculars, with a beam of and a draught of at deep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steam Turbine
A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turbine involves advanced metalwork to form high-grade steel alloys into precision parts using technologies that first became available in the 20th century; continued advances in durability and efficiency of steam turbines remains central to the energy economics of the 21st century. The steam turbine is a form of heat engine that derives much of its improvement in thermodynamic efficiency from the use of multiple stages in the expansion of the steam, which results in a closer approach to the ideal reversible expansion process. Because the turbine generates rotary motion, it can be coupled to a generator to harness its motion into electricity. Such turbogenerators are the core of thermal power stations which can be fueled by fossil- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clyde Estuary
The River Clyde ( gd, Abhainn Chluaidh, , sco, Clyde Watter, or ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. It is the ninth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third-longest in Scotland. It runs through the major city of Glasgow. Historically, it was important to the British Empire because of its role in shipbuilding and trade. To the Romans, it was , and in the early medieval Cumbric language, it was known as or . It was central to the Kingdom of Strathclyde (). Etymology The exact etymology of the river's name is unclear, though it is known that the name is ancient: It was called or by the Britons and by the Romans. It is therefore likely that the name comes from a Celtic language—most likely Old British. But there is more than one old Celtic word that the river's name could plausibly derive from. One possible root is the Common Brittonic , meaning 'loud' or 'loudly'. More likely, the river was named after a local Celtic goddess, '' Clōta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Loch Ewe
Loch Ewe ( gd, Loch Iùbh) is a sea loch in the region of Wester Ross in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. The shores are inhabited by a traditionally Gàidhlig-speaking people living in or sustained by crofting villages, the most notable of which, situated on the north-eastern shore, is the Aultbea settlement. History Due to the rugged and inaccessible terrain in which it is located, Loch Ewe has always been an assembly point for maritime trade. Around 1610 the area at the head of Loch Ewe, today known as Poolewe, was urbanised around an iron furnace using charcoal produced in the surrounding woodlands for fuel. English ironmasters found it more economic to ship the ore to Poolewe for smelting than to ship the processed charcoal to England to run furnaces there. The crofting villages which were established in the 1840s, as a result of the local parish's estate being reformed from run-rig to fixed holdings properties, were always quite small. Bualnaliub, nine miles ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
HMS Thetis (N25)
HMS ''Thetis'' (N25) was a Group 1 T-class submarine of the Royal Navy which sank during sea trials in Liverpool Bay, England on 1 June 1939. After being salvaged and repaired, the boat was recommissioned as HMS ''Thunderbolt'' in 1940. It served during the Second World War until being lost with all hands in the Mediterranean on 14 March 1943. The ''Thetis'' accident happened after the inner hatch on a torpedo tube was opened while the outer hatch to the sea was also open. Four men successfully used the sub's one-man escape chamber before a fifth panicked and jammed it. A total of 99 men died as a result. The sinking led to the redesign of all torpedo tubes on British and Australian submarines. A latch, known as the "''Thetis'' clip", was added to the inner torpedo tube door so it could be fractionally opened to check the tube was not open to the sea before being fully opened. As HMS ''Thetis'' ''Thetis'' was built by Cammell Laird in Birkenhead, England and launched on 29 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Munich Crisis
The Munich Agreement ( cs, Mnichovská dohoda; sk, Mníchovská dohoda; german: Münchner Abkommen) was an agreement concluded at Munich on 30 September 1938, by Nazi Germany, Germany, the United Kingdom, French Third Republic, France, and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Italy. It provided "cession to Germany of the Sudeten German territory" of First Czechoslovak Republic, Czechoslovakia, despite the existence of a 1924 alliance agreement and 1925 military pact between France and the Czechoslovak Republic, for which it is also known as the Munich Betrayal (; ). Most of Europe celebrated the Munich agreement, which was presented as a way to prevent a major war on the continent. The four powers agreed to German occupation of Czechoslovakia, the German annexation of the Czechoslovak borderland areas named the Sudetenland, where more than three million people, mainly Sudeten Germans, ethnic Germans, lived. Adolf Hitler announced that it was his last territorial claim in Northern Europ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scapa Flow
Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern end in June 2009 Scapa Flow (; ) is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray,S. C. George, ''Jutland to Junkyard'', 1973. South Ronaldsay and Hoy. Its sheltered waters have played an important role in travel, trade and conflict throughout the centuries. Vikings anchored their longships in Scapa Flow more than a thousand years ago. It was the United Kingdom's chief naval base during the First and Second World Wars, but the facility was closed in 1956. Scapa Flow has a shallow sandy bottom not deeper than and most of it is about deep; it is one of the great natural harbours and anchorages of the world, with sufficient space to hold a number of navies. The harbour has an area of and contains just under 1 billion cubic metres of water. Since the scuttling of the German fleet after World War I, its wrecks and their marine habitats form an internationally acclaimed di ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Portland Harbour
Portland Harbour is located beside the Isle of Portland, Dorset, on the south coast of England. Construction of the harbour began in 1849; when completed in 1872, its surface area made it the largest man-made harbour in the world, and remains one of the largest in the world today. It is naturally protected by Portland to the south, Chesil Beach to the west and mainland Dorset to the north. It consists of four breakwaters — two southern and two northern. These have a total length of and enclose approximately of water. Portland Harbour was built by the Admiralty as a facility for the Royal Navy (though access was also available to merchant ships); on 11 December 1923 it was formally designated HM Naval Base (HMNB) Portland, and continued to serve as such until closure in 1995. History Creation of harbour of refuge (1844–1872) The original harbour was naturally protected by the south coast of England, Chesil Beach and the Isle of Portland, providing refuge for ships ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pennant Number
In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number (an internationalisation of ''pendant number'', which it was called before 1948). Historically, naval ships flew a flag that identified a flotilla or type of vessel. For example, the Royal Navy used a red burgee for torpedo boats and a pennant with an H for torpedo boat destroyers. Adding a number to the type-identifying flag uniquely identified each ship. In the current system, a letter prefix, called a ''flag superior'', identifies the type of ship, and numerical suffix, called a flag inferior, uniquely identifies an individual ship. Not all pennant numbers have a flag superior. Royal Navy systems The Royal Navy first used pennants to distinguish its ships in 1661 with a proclamation that all of his majesty's ships must fly a union pennant. This distinction was further strengthened by a proclamation in 1674 which forbade merchant vessels from flying any penna ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ceremonial Ship Launching
Ceremonial ship launching involves the performance of ceremonies associated with the process of transferring a vessel to the water. It is a nautical tradition in many cultures, dating back thousands of years, to accompany the physical process with ceremonies which have been observed as public celebration and a solemn blessing, usually but not always, in association with the launch itself. Ship launching imposes stresses on the ship not met during normal operation and, in addition to the size and weight of the vessel, represents a considerable engineering challenge as well as a public spectacle. The process also involves many traditions intended to invite good luck, such as christening by breaking a sacrificial bottle of champagne over the bow (ship), bow as the ship is named aloud and launched. Methods There are three principal methods of conveying a new ship from building site to water, only two of which are called "launching". The oldest, most familiar, and most widel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Keel Laying
Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one of the four specially celebrated events in the life of a ship; the others are launching, commissioning and decommissioning. In earlier times, the event recognized as the keel laying was the initial placement of the central timber making up the backbone of a vessel, called the keel. As steel ships replaced wooden ones, the central timber gave way to a central steel beam. Modern ships are most commonly built in a series of pre-fabricated, complete hull sections rather than around a single keel. The event recognized as the keel laying is the first joining of modular components, or the lowering of the first module into place in the building dock. It is now often called "keel authentication", and is the ceremonial beginning of the ship's li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Depth Charge
A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive hydraulic shock. Most depth charges use high explosive charges and a fuze set to detonate the charge, typically at a specific depth. Depth charges can be dropped by ships, patrol aircraft, and helicopters. Depth charges were developed during World War I, and were one of the first viable methods of attacking a submarine underwater. They were widely used in World War I and World War II, and remained part of the anti-submarine arsenals of many navies during the Cold War, during which they were supplemented, and later largely replaced, by anti-submarine homing torpedoes. A depth charge fitted with a nuclear warhead is also known as a " nuclear depth bomb". These were designed to be dropped from a patrol plane or deployed by an anti-submarine missile from a surface ship, or a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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