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Spithead
Spithead is an eastern area of the Solent and a roadstead for vessels off Gilkicker Point in Hampshire, England. It is protected from all winds except those from the southeast, with the Isle of Wight lying to the south-west. Spithead and the channel to the north is the main approach for shipping to Portsmouth Harbour and onwards to Southampton. Spithead itself is an important naval Anchorage (maritime), anchorage. Historically, Spithead was used for assembling Royal Navy ships, including as a formation area for squadrons or fleets at anchor, as well as for the resupply of ships. Geography It receives its name from the Spit (landform), Spit, a Shoal, sandbank stretching south from the Hampshire shore for . Spithead is long by about in average breadth. Horse and Dean Sand lie to the NE side and Ryde Sand and No Man's Land to the South side. As of 2004, the main channel was reported as being maintained at a dredged depth of 9.5m. History There are evidence of submerged prehis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spithead And Nore Mutinies
The Spithead and Nore mutinies were two major mutinies by sailors of the Royal Navy in 1797. They were the first in an increasing series of outbreaks of maritime radicalism in the Atlantic World. Despite their temporal proximity, the mutinies differed in character. The Spithead mutiny was a simple, peaceful, successful strike action to address economic grievances, while the Nore mutiny was a more radical action, articulating political ideals as well, which failed. The mutinies were extremely concerning for Britain, because at the time the country was at war with Revolutionary France, and the Navy was the main component of the war effort. There were also concerns among the government that the mutinies might be part of wider attempts at revolutionary sedition instigated by societies such as the London Corresponding Society and the United Irishmen. Spithead The mutiny at Spithead (an anchorage near Portsmouth) lasted from 16 April to 15 May 1797. Sailors on 16 ships in the Ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan West, Baron West Of Spithead
Alan William John West, Baron West of Spithead, (born 21 April 1948) is a retired Admiral (Royal Navy), admiral of the Royal Navy and formerly, from June 2007 to May 2010, a Labour Party (UK), Labour Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the British Home Office with responsibility for security and a security advisor to Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Prior to his ministerial appointment, he was First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff from 2002 to 2006. Early career in the Royal Navy West was born on 21 April 1948 in Metropolitan Borough of Lambeth, Lambeth, London, and was educated at Windsor Grammar School and Clydebank High School.''Who's Who (UK), Who's Who 2010'', A & C Black, 2010, He joined Britannia Royal Naval College in 1965 and served in HMS Albion (R07), HMS ''Albion'' during her standby duty for the Nigerian Civil War and circumnavigated the globe in HMS Whitby (F36), HMS ''Whitby'', taking part in the Beira Patrol. He was confirmed as a sub-lieutenant on 1 Sept ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coronation Of King George VI And Queen Elizabeth
The coronation of the British monarch, coronation of George VI and his wife, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, Elizabeth, as King of the United Kingdom, king and List of British royal consorts, queen of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth realm, the Dominions of the Commonwealth of Nations, British Commonwealth, Emperor of India, Emperor and Empress of India took place at Westminster Abbey, London, on Wednesday 12 May 1937. George VI ascended the throne upon the Abdication of Edward VIII, abdication of his brother, Edward VIII, on 11 December 1936, three days before his 41st birthday. Edward's Abandoned coronation of Edward VIII, coronation had been planned for 12 May and it was decided to continue with his brother and sister-in-law's coronation on the same date. Although the music included a range of new anthems and the ceremony underwent some alterations to include the Dominions, it remained a largely conservative affair and closely followed the ceremonial of George V's coronat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fortifications Of Portsmouth
The fortifications of Portsmouth are extensive due to its strategic position on the English Channel and role as home to the Royal Navy. For this reason, Portsmouth was, by the 19th century, one of the most Fortification, fortified cities in the world. The fortifications have evolved over the centuries in response to changes in tactics and technology and the area defended has increased. While the first defences focused on Portsmouth harbour, in step with the fortifications of Gosport, later defensive structures protected the whole of Portsea Island and an increasing distance inland. At the same time, the fortifications of Portsmouth and Gosport became part of the wider fortifications of the Solent. Old Portsmouth, on the southwest corner of Portsea Island, has been walled for much of its history. The first fortifications The first fortification in the area was Portchester Castle, which, ultimately, dates back to the Roman Portus Adurni. Its position allowed it to provide a degr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solent
The Solent ( ) is a strait between the Isle of Wight and mainland Great Britain; the major historic ports of Southampton and Portsmouth lie inland of its shores. It is about long and varies in width between , although the Hurst Spit which projects into the Solent narrows the sea crossing between Hurst Castle and Colwell Bay to just over . The Solent is a major shipping lane for passenger, freight and military vessels. It is also an important recreational area for water sports, particularly yachting, hosting the Cowes Week sailing event annually. It is sheltered by the Isle of Wight and has a complex tidal pattern, which has benefited Southampton's success as a port, providing a "double high tide" that extends the tidal window during which deep-draught ships can be handled. Spithead, an area off Gilkicker Point near Gosport, is known as the place where the Royal Navy is traditionally reviewed by the monarch of the day. The area is of great ecological and landscap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spurn
Spurn is a narrow sand tidal island located off the tip of the coast of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England that reaches into the North Sea and forms the north bank of the mouth of the Humber Estuary. It was a spit (landform), spit with a semi-permanent connection to the mainland, but a storm in 2013 made the road down to the end of Spurn impassable to vehicles at high tide. The island is over long, almost half the width of the estuary at that point, and as little as wide in places. The southernmost tip is known as Spurn Head or Spurn Point and was, until early 2023, the home to an Royal National Lifeboat Institution, RNLI lifeboat (rescue), lifeboat station and two disused lighthouses. It forms part of the civil parishes in England, civil parish of Easington, East Riding of Yorkshire, Easington. Spurn Head covers above high water and of foreshore. It has been owned since 1960 by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and is a designated national nature reserve (United Kingdom), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Queen Elizabeth-class Aircraft Carrier
The ''Queen Elizabeth''-class aircraft carriers of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy consists of two vessels. The lead ship of her class, , was named on 4 July 2014 in honour of Elizabeth I and was ship commissioning, commissioned on 7 December 2017. Her sister ship, , was launched on 21 December 2017, and was commissioned on 10 December 2019. They form the central components of the UK Carrier Strike Group. The contract for the vessels was announced in July 2007, ending several years of delay over cost issues and British naval shipbuilding restructuring. The contracts were signed one year later on 3 July 2008, with the Aircraft Carrier Alliance, a partnership formed with Babcock International, Thales Group, A&P Group, the UK Ministry of Defence and BAE Systems. In 2014 the UK Government announced that the second carrier would be brought into service, ending years of uncertainty surrounding its future. This was confirmed by the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, with at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nab Tower
The Nab Tower is a tower originally planned for anti-submarine protection in the English Channel in World War I. It was sunk over the Nab rocks east of the Isle of Wight to replace a lightship after the war, and is a well-known landmark for sailors as it lies off Spithead and marks the deep-water eastern entry into the Solent. History During the First World War, the British Admiralty designed eight towers codenamed M-N that were to be built and positioned in the Straits of Dover to protect allied merchant shipping from German U-boats. Designed by civilian Guy Maunsell, the towers were to be linked together with steel nets and armed with two 4-inch guns with the idea of closing the English Channel to enemy ships. However, by the end of the war in 1918 only one such tower had been completed, at the then-cost of one million pounds, and was located at Shoreham Harbour, awaiting deployment. While another part-built tower would eventually be dismantled in 1924, there remained th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
First Sea Lord
First Sea Lord, officially known as First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff (1SL/CNS), is the title of a statutory position in the British Armed Forces, held by an Admiral (Royal Navy), admiral or a General (United Kingdom), general of the Royal Marines. As the highest-ranking officer to serve in the Royal Navy, the chief is the principal military advisor on matters pertaining to the navy and a deputy to the Secretary of State for Defence. In a separate capacity, the CNS is a member of the Chiefs of Staff Committee and, thereby, a military advisor to the National Security Council (United Kingdom), National Security Council, the Prime minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister and the monarchy of the United Kingdom, monarch. The First Sea Lord is typically the highest-ranking officer on active duty of the Royal Navy unless the Chief of the Defence Staff (United Kingdom), Chief of the Defence Staff is a naval officer. The post is currently held by General Gwyn Jenkins, Sir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary Rose
The ''Mary Rose'' was a carrack in the English Tudor navy of Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII. She was launched in 1511 and served for 34 years in several wars against France, Scotland, and Brittany. After being substantially rebuilt in 1536, she saw her last action on 1545. She led the attack on the galleys of a French invasion fleet, but sank off Spithead in the Solent, the strait north of the Isle of Wight. The wreck of the ''Mary Rose'' was located in 1971 and was raised on 11 October 1982 by the Mary Rose Trust in one of the most complex and expensive maritime salvage projects in history. The surviving section of the ship and thousands of recovered artefacts are of great value as a Tudor period time capsule. The excavation and raising of the ''Mary Rose'' was a milestone in the field of maritime archaeology, comparable in complexity and cost to the raising of the 17th-century Swedish warship ''Vasa (ship), Vasa'' in 1961. The ''Mary Rose'' site is designated under ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horatio Hornblower
Horatio Hornblower is a fictional officer in the British Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, the protagonist of a series of novels and stories by C. S. Forester. He later became the subject of films and radio and television programmes, and C. Northcote Parkinson elaborated a "biography" of him, ''The True Story of Horatio Hornblower''. Forester's series about Hornblower tales began with the novel '' The Happy Return'' (US title: ''Beat to Quarters''), published in 1937. Herein, Hornblower is a captain on a secret mission to Central America in 1808. Later stories fill out his career, starting with his unpromising beginning as a seasick midshipman. As the Napoleonic Wars progress, he steadily gains promotion as a result of his skill and daring, despite his initial poverty and lack of influential friends. After surviving many adventures in a wide variety of locales, he rises to become Admiral of the Fleet. Inspirations Forester's original inspiration was an old copy of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Portsmouth Harbour
Portsmouth Harbour is a / biological Site of Special Scientific Interest between Portsmouth and Gosport in Hampshire. It is a Ramsar site and a Special Protection Area. It is a large natural harbour in Hampshire, England. Geographically it is a ria: formerly it was the valley of a stream flowing from Portsdown into the Solent. At its north end is Portchester Castle, of Roman Britain, Roman origin and the first fortress built to protect the harbour. The mouth of the harbour provides access to the Solent. It is best known as the home of the Royal Navy, HMNB Portsmouth. Because of its strategic location on the south coast of England, protected by the natural defence of the Isle of Wight, it has since the Middle Ages been the home to England's (and later United Kingdom, Britain's) navy. The narrow entrance, and the forts surrounding it gave it a considerable advantage of being virtually impregnable to attack from the sea. Before the fortifications were built the French burned ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
