Robert Massie’s Dreadnought and Castles of Steel delves into the story of the Battenburg’s and the First Sea Lord’s resignation and name change just prior to WW I. Interesting, yet somewhat sad, tale. They were loyal British citizens and seaman; long and honorable service, but the German Empire definitely spoiled the waters resulting in the name change.
(If you haven’t read the books, I highly recommend! He delves into the personalities and background of the naval arms race prior to the war in Dreadnought and then does an excellent job of following the Grand Fleet and High Seas Fleet throughout the war)
Also my favourite tool before the use of programamble calculators:
The Star Finder 2102-D is an invaluable tool for celestial navigators to locate and identify, by altitude and azimuth, the 57 stars listed in air and nautical almanacs. It can also be used by amateur star gazers for general star identification.Special diagrams permit rapid check of hour angle and also provide a means of finding altitude and azimuth of unplotted celestial bodies or identification of unplotted bodies from known altitude and azimut. The kit contains a durable black vinyl pouch with velcro closure that holds one star base and 10 plastic templates. Basic instructions are included on the back of the plastic protective sleeve. Graphically portrays altitude & azimuth of 57 numbered stars in air & nautical almanacs
Includes one white plastic star base wheel, 10 clear plastic templates (8 1/2 inch (21.59 cm) diameter), one black vinyl pouch
Basic instructions on back of protective plastic sleeve
I know the feeling seeing a single cylinder Lister powered air compressor with less than 100 hours on it go over the side, also in Singapore. I offered to ship it home but no. I was in a funk for a few days and never completely forgave the person that ordered that done.
Interesting, never saw one of those radar plotters. I don’t remember ever using a maneuvering board, either, except to recertify. Always relied on grease pencil when I was a young mate. Used a Star-finder rarely, once I memorized the couple of dozen stars I regularly used to plot a fix, or find gyro error. 249 was my favorite tool, re star fixes.
While in the US Navy as a SWO, I had the privilege of two 6-month deployments with the Standing Naval Force Atlantic (SNFL) in 1977 and 1986.
During these deployments we routinely did such maneuvering exercises (DivTacs) and the maneuvering interval was 500yds for destroyers and frigates. This was fine for the 1977 deployment on FF-1091, but was a major challenge in 1986 on DD-977, the size of a WWII cruiser and twice the size of the rest of the ships in the squadron.
My only experience steaming in formation was on a couple of Coast Guard 378’s - And almost always we were put in plane guard behind the carrier. I think for 2 major reasons - we were pretty darn good at launching helos and boats. but more importantly the Navy had absolutely zero confidence we could maintain station anywhere else. That fear was well founded.
Surprise , surprise Me too . I have found this thing while searching for some clean radar paper plot as I have to finish a long forgotten discussion here with some sorious dude on AIS v/s ARPA and it’s contributions to reported accidents.
The insufferable Brits spoiled the waters despite Adm Tirpitz and German naval command showing and telling GB that their naval buildup wold not exceed 70% of British strength. Who exactly appointed GB as determining how many naval vessels a nation could build in the first place? God apparently and Winston Churchill. Well Winston it took 2 world wars for you to figure out you slaughtered the smaller, less lethal, and wrong pig eh?
Ah, an oldie…Loran plotter from my first collegiate attempt. I kept it in my nav kit and used it through my GLMA time and my first five years on a license, though. In '25 it makes a great key fob for the sugar shack at camp!
Me too . I have found this thing while searching for some clean radar paper plot as I have to finish a long forgotten discussion here with some sorious dude on AIS v/s ARPA and it’s contributions to reported accidents.
