Ship spotting

[B777LR]

Nice ship. Don't see why the US navy needs them though.

Greg,

Nice shots of the Independence.  LCS-1, the Freedom, is scheduled to stop in at Norfolk sometime later this year, before deploying (almost a year early) to the Africa/Southwest Asia Command areas.

That's interesting.  A fast helicoper carrying armed ship in the Indian Ocean.  I wonder how that would work against some of the pirates over there.

Ed

It would be just as effective as all the current 30+ knot ships with helicopters over there. Only the Russians and Chinese have had success so far, by doing convoys free of charge. They will be up against pirates that look like innocent fishermen, or have AK-47s to the head of the captain of the next merchant ship they take.

[Captain Canada]

The mother of all hydros......







And this old CCG boat.....beauty !

[PR19_Kit]

The mother of all hydros......

Cor, that's the 'Bras d'Or' isn't it? Does it still exist?

[Captain Canada]

Yup, you're looking at her ! She's at a museum in QC. We stopped in on our way back from NL.

[PR19_Kit]

Fantastic, that's great news. I thought they'd scrapped her ages ago.

Some of the early hydrofoil designs, the 'Bras d'Or', the 'Flagstaff' and the 'Tucumcari', really had some looks to them. Later on they all got a bit functional looking for my eyes.

[Jschmus]

Lately the weather around here has been crappy, and the docks have been loaded with all the same stuff as the last month or so.  I don't mind taking lots of pics of the Iwo Jima or the various Aegis cruisers, but I know you guys probably get tired of the same-old, same-old.  The last time I went out, before the weather went south, I spotted this odd little craft zipping around the BAE docks.





It appears to be flat-bottomed, and rectangular, like a barge, but it was fast, zipping around the various docks like a hummingbird.  On a related note, I observed the hunting of what appeared to be a kingfisher.  It would take off, hover about fifty feet above the water, then dive and come up with a fish.  My camera's not fast enough to capture something like that, though I did get a couple of spectacular splashes.

[Jschmus]

Over the holidays, the shipyards across the river were empty, aside from the three Aegis cruisers, which are all in for extended work.  I went out for a bit yesterday afternoon to see if anything had changed.

USNS Wally Schirra (T-AKE-8), a Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo ship


A W3 tug


A pair of Coast Guard patrol craft

The larger one in back sports Coast Guard colors, while the one in front is gray with machine gun mounts.

[Captain Canada]

Nice ! That wally Schirra is an interesting looking boat....very wide loking, and big !

[Jschmus]

I'm a lot further away from any significant body of water than I've been in a couple of years, so don't expect too many updates to this thread from me in the near future, but I thought I'd share this monster I spotted on the street in the town of Havana last week:


I didn't notice the roadster in the next lane until after the fact.

[Mossie]

Miss Britain III.  Built & raced by Hubert Scott-Paine (founder of Supermarine, it was the first single engined boat to break 100mph & wasn't challenged for fifty years.  She was powered by a Napier Lion, although the original choice had been the Rolls Royce R.  Quite a beauty isn't she?


Pic taken at the National Maritme Museum in Greenwich.  I didn't actually get to look round, but we were nearby & the missus & her sister needed the loo, so while they queued for the Ladies, I thought it'd be round not to have a quick look around the entrance hall!

[Weaver]

Hell fire - that's got more scoops and vents than a MiG-19!

[Captain Canada]

What a beauty ! Man, to see her run...now that would be sweet. Just imagine the sound !

Down by the river yesterday....

These two CCG boats wintering here again, Cape Discovery and Cape Dundas



The old USCG ship from this area, Bramble. Not sure why she's still hanging around.....



The new Mackinaw. I assume she's red to honour the old Mack ?



After working over the ice the Samuel Risley is heading back up river

[CanisD]

All Coast Guard icebreakers have the red hull.

[jcf]

Miss Britain III.  Built & raced by Hubert Scott-Paine (founder of Supermarine, it was the first single engined boat to break 100mph & wasn't challenged for fifty years.  She was powered by a Napier Lion, although the original choice had been the Rolls Royce R.  Quite a beauty isn't she?

I love Miss Britain III and always have, however her record did not stand for fifty years.
Campbell's Bluebird K3 and Bluebird K4 were both single engined (Rolls-Royce R) and
went well over 100-mph in 1937, 1938 and 1939 with the K4 boat setting the record
at 141.74 mph on 19 August 1939.

As far as records by a true racing boat, as opposed to Campbell's purpose designed record boats,
the Allison V-1710 powered Slo-Mo-Shun IV bumped the record to 160.323 mph on 26 June 1950
and then to 178.497 mph on 7 July 1952.
Slo-Mo-Shun IV is the only boat to hold the World Water Speed Record, Gold Cup trophy and
Harmsworth Trophy (the race that Miss Britain III was built to contest) all at the same time.

Jon

p.s. nice photos BTW 

[jcf]

Nice ship. Don't see why the US navy needs them though.

Designed for littoral work, you know, places like this: