Reshared post from +David Arkwright

Scapa Flow, The Orkneys, and HMS Royal Oak, sunk October 1939.

Glasgow-built Type 45 in visit to the Clyde…
 

The state-of-the-art Type 45 destroyer HMS Defender will visit Glasgow – her adopted city – for the first time since she was delivered to the Royal Navy.

HMS Defender sails in under the command of Commander Philip Nash, who also served on the city’s previous twinned ship – HMS Glasgow; a proud and welcome return for him.

HMS Defender will go alongside at King George V Dock near Braehead at around 10am on Friday November 29 and Glasgow school pupils will have the opportunity to get up close and personal with their ship in the afternoon with pre-arranged tours.

The ship’s company will be hosted by the city at a special reception in Glasgow City Chambers in the evening – an honour which they are looking forward to with great pride as an opportunity to further strengthen ties with their twin city.

But it is on Saturday when Glasgow’s people will get a chance to go on board this impressive ship.

Opening her gangway to all from 11am to 4pm (last entry to the ship at 3pm), HMS Defender’s crew members will be on hand to guide visitors around her decks, chatting to them about the role of HMS Defender at the heart of the Royal Navy, as well as their experiences in the Senior Service protecting our nation’s interests – at home and further afield.

Access is free and there are several ways to arrive at the ship.

Intu Braehead Shopping Centre has kindly allowed a shuttle bus to run from the Blue Car Park at the Primark entrance to the complex; shoppers will also find a Royal Navy stand in the centre’s West Mall and regular announcements about the ship will be made.

Visitors can also arrive by car at the docks – there is plenty of parking; postcode for directions is G51 4SD. Or there is foot access for those who wish to arrive on the service bus route – the entrance to the dock is off Renfrew Road close to the junction with Bogmoor Place.

“This is our first visit to our adopted city since the ship left Scotstoun after her initial sea trials,”

said Commander Philip Nash, HMS Defender’s Commanding Officer.

“She has now proved herself at sea and is operating within the Fleet alongside her other five sisters.

“I am hugely proud to be the first Commanding Officer to bring her back to the city and river where she was built; my ship’s company and I feel extremely privileged to be affiliated to Glasgow and are honoured to have been invited by the Lord Provost and Glasgow City Council to a special reception at the City Chambers.

“Glasgow has a very proud and distinguished maritime heritage and Defender is an extremely visible reminder of that.

“I also served on HMS Glasgow and have experienced the true warmth and hospitality this great city has to offer – we are particularly looking forward to welcoming visitors on board during our visit – especially when the ship opens to the public on Saturday.”

Glasgow's Lord Provost Sadie Docherty said,

"It's thrilling to welcome HMS Defender back to Glasgow. I am looking forward to spending the evening with the crew at a civic reception in the City Chambers this week.

“Glasgow has a strong ship building and maritime tradition, and next year the Royal Marines will be given the Freedom of the City to acknowledge our highest respect for the proud history of the Royal Marine Corps and mark its enduring links with Glasgow."

Schools included in the visit programme include Bannerman High School, Johnstone High School and Smithycroft Secondary School. North Clyde District Sea Cadets will also get a chance to visit, as will members of Glasgow’s Royal Naval Association.

A number of the ship’s company will also have a celebration of their own shortly after arrival in Glasgow

While HMS Defender was making her journey from Portsmouth to the Clyde, an energetic group from the ship decided to climb their way north by completing a three-peaks challenge.

Having already completed both Snowdon and Scafell Pike, the group will finish their Ben Nevis climb they will travel back down to join their crew mates at the ship having raised plenty of money for charity, including Kelbourne Park School in Glasgow, which is one of the ship’s affiliated organisations.

Destroyers are part of the backbone of the Royal Navy, committed around the world 365 days a year hunting pirates, drug runners or submarines, defending the Fleet from air attack, and providing humanitarian aid after natural disasters – indeed HMS Defender’s sister, HMS Daring, is currently involved in relief operations in the Philippines in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan.

HMS Defender is the fifth of Britain’s six Type 45 destroyers which are the most advanced warships the nation has ever built. Their mission is to shield the Fleet from air attack using the state-of-the-art Sea Viper missile system.

The Type 45s can also be used as general-purpose warships; they have huge flight decks to accommodate helicopters up to the size of a Chinook. There’s enough space on board to host a Royal Marines detachment up to 60-men strong.

As for the ship’s company, they enjoy ‘creature comforts’ only dreamed of by their forebears: no sailor lives in a mess square for more than six people and there are no communal heads (toilets) or showers.

HMS Defender was accepted into the Fleet in March this year.

The ship will leave Glasgow on Sunday December 1.

Source: Royal Navy 

Major disruptions plague Cook Strait ferry services again today after Bluebridge's Santa Regina ferry missed two sailings with an hydraulic ramp problem. 

Bluebridge spokeswoman Wendy Pannett confirmed the Santa Regina missed its early morning sailing from Picton to Wellington and the return Wellington to Picton 8:30am sailing because of the ramp hydraulic problem.

Interislander, which is already a ferry down on the route with its propellerless Aratere laid up on Aotea Quay, has been relying heavily on Bluebridge to pick up excess freight and passengers on the Santa Regina and Straitsman.

Ms Pannett suggested the problem with Santa Regina appeared to involve getting the ramp up off the wharf prior to sailing.

Santa Regina was still at Bluebridge's Waitohi Wharf berth in Picton at 12pm with engineers endeavouring to hurriedly sort out the problem.

Affected passengers were being accomodated on other Bluebridge or Interislander sailings, Ms Pannett said.

An extra sailing of Bluebridge's Straitsman was also planned for tonight.

In the meantime, in a rare move, Bluebridge's Straitsman used Interislander's Kaitaki berth in Picton to discharge and load passengers and cargo during its turnround this morning. 

At 9:45am Interislander's flagship was still berthed at its Wellington terminal. It was scheduled to sail on its amended schedule at 9am. It finally sailed for Picton at 10am.

Arahura too was 1 hour 45 minutes late getting away from its Wellington berth this morning when it sailed for Picton shortly before 9am. 

To rub further salt into the ferry problem wounds, the stricken Aratere's bow was blown off its Aotea Quay berth last night in a repositioning manoeuvre as it endeavoured to shuffle its way along its Aotea Quay wharf last night. 

A tug, which was 100 metres away at the time attending to a cruise ship departure, was hurriedly called in to resolve this problem.

There were just three ferries – Interislander's Kaitaki and Arahura and Bluebridge's Straitsman – still in working order on Cook Strait this morning. 

Reshared post from +Maersk

Did you know the Effie Mærsk was built at Odense Steel Ship yard in 1955 and took a trip to Hong Kong that same year?

Reshared post from +David Arkwright

An oldie, destroyer HMS Aisne and carrier HMS Theseus.