Gizmodo: royal navy

Bulova Watch Lost at Sea During WW2 Reunited with Owner After 67 Years, Still Ticking

AddyDugdale — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 06:45:00 EDT

A Royal Navy veteran has been reunited with his watch, 67 years after he lost it during World War II—and, it worked perfectly. In 1941, Teddy Bacon, a lieutenant aboard HMS Repulse, was throwing a line from ship to shore when the gold Bulova watch, bought in the Azores for $55, slipped off his wrist and into Gibraltar Harbor. The timepiece was never found, until the harbor was dredged, seven decades later.

After seeing his watch splosh into the water, Teddy sent down a couple of divers to search for it, but without any luck. So, he informed the deputy harbor-master who logged the missing object. Fast-forward to 2007, and the watch turned up during the dredging of the harbor. When the authorities checked the log, they found Teddy's claim, and sent the watch, still ticking, off to him. Now 90 years old, the reitred sailor couldn't believe his eyes when a package containing his gold watch arrived at his new home.

'To say I was stunned could be considered a major understatement,' he said. "It truly was a miracle that I had been reunited with that watch after a lifetime. Now I wear it every day and it keeps perfect time, even after all those years in the water. It is absolutely excellent and I consider it a long-lost friend.'" [Daily Mail]

Royal Marines' Latest Boat is Swift, Stealthy, Sexy and Skinny

AddyDugdale — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 13:30:00 EDT

This is the secret weapon that the British Navy is hoping will help it in its wars on drugs and terror. As yet unnamed, the slinky little craft has been spotted buzzing around the waters of Poole, where the service's Special Boat Service—the equivalent to the Navy Seals—is based.

With speeds of around 60 knots (70mph), this razor-sharp and super-silent craft leaves barely any wake and is thought to be undetectable by radar. This is due, in part, to its angled design and radar-absorbent coating.

Designed and built by VT Halmatic, the defense company's website is keeping schtum on the boat, thought to be a replacement for two of the SBS's current tubs, the VSV (Very Slim Vessel) and its interceptor craft.

"Nobody knows too much," an anonymous source has been quoted as saying, "because there has been a lot of secrecy about them, but they are British built and have been spotted in Poole going very quickly." So, Shhhhhhh - you ain't seen it, roight?

Marines unveil stealth boat as latest weapon in war on terror [Daily Mail]

Driving a Nuclear Submarine Through Britain's Roads

Addy Dugdale — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 12:15:22 EDT

Remember that Astute-class nuclear submarine that looked like a whale? Well, scrap that, because it really looks like a Calamari Cruiser or a Zentraedi mothership. At least, that's what people must be thinking while they watch it travelling through the roads of Britain mounted on a gigantastic moving platform. Personally, I can't wait for the "My Other Car Is a Nuclear Sub" bumper sticker. – Jesus Diaz

Image of the day [BBC News]

Astute Submarine Looks like a Whale, Never Needs Refuelling

Addy Dugdale — Tue, 08 May 2007 09:28:33 EDT

This is the British Royal Navy's newest class of submarine, the Astute. And this is what the nuclear-powered behemoth can do: generate its own air and water; sit in the English Channel and fire cruise missiles at North Africa; but perhaps the most extraordinary feature of the British-built sub is that it will never need to be refuelled throughout its 25-year lifespan, meaning it can sail round the world 40 times without surfacing—if your seamen don't need feeding, that is.

The Brits have put in an initial order for three of the subs—a snip at $2.33 billion each—and each one is expected to enter into service in 2009, 2010 and 2011. The contractor, BAE Systems, in Barrow, says it learned a lot from US sub builder Electric Boat —namely to build sections of the sub vertically (hence the 12-story construction towers at the plant) which saved on manpower. Check the big beast in the gallery below, and the specs after the jump.

Weight: 7,800 tons
Length: 97m
Time to build: 6 years, 4 months
Power: pressurized water reactor, fueled for life
Crew: 98
Astute Combat Management System (ACMS) receives data from the sonars and other sensors and, through advanced algorithms and data handling, displays real time images on the command consoles.
Tomahawk Block IV cruise missile from Raytheon fired from 533mm torpedo tubes (range 1,000 miles, flies at 533mph)
I-band navigation radars
Thales Underwater Systems Sonar 2076
Atlas Hydrographic echosounder, the DESO 25, is capable of precise depth measurements down to 10,000m.
Rolls Royce PWR 2 pressurized water reactor
2 Alsthom turbines
Rolls Royce pump jet propulsor

Alien submarine breaks technical barriers [BBC News]

– Ad Dugdale