Portsmouth 2022 - Social

 

Portsmouth Ship Anson

Portsmouth Ship Anson IJ DM

Portsmouth Ship Anson Bar

Portsmouth Ship Anson hand pulls

Portsmouth Old Custom House

Portsmouth Customs House NVAA BFT 2022

Portsmouth Old Town

Portsmouth Still and West IJ

Portsmouth Still and West view

Portsmouth 2022 - CWGC Royal Naval Memorial

 The Portsmouth Naval Memorial commemorates 24,659 sailors of the First and Second Word Wars who have no known grave but the sea.

Portsmouth CWGC Naval Memorial

At the end of the First World War, the Admiralty decided that a memorial should be built in each of the three manning ports, the location of where a man was allocated for administrative purposes when he joined the Navy. Three identical memorials were built at Plymouth, Chatham and Portsmouth. The memorials, built by the Imperial (now Commonwealth) War Graves Commission, consisted of an obelisk prominently located so it could be seen by all vessels using those ports. 

The First World War obelisk is mounted on a plinth which records the Naval actions of WW1 and the names of those lost, over 9,600. 

Portsmouth CWGC Naval Memorial
World War One Obelisk

Portsmouth CWGC Naval Memorial
World War One Commemoration

Portsmouth CWGC Naval Memorial
World War One General Actions at Sea

Portsmouth CWGC Naval Memorial
World War One Single Ship Actions

Portsmouth CWGC Naval Memorial
World War One Actions with Enemy Land Forces

The memorial was extended after World War Two, when low walls were added to an enclosure north of the obelisk and panels added to record nearly 15,000 additional names. 

Portsmouth CWGC Naval Memorial
World War Two Commemoration Wall

Portsmouth CWGC Naval Memorial
World War Two Commemoration

Portsmouth CWGC Naval Memorial
World War Two Commemoration

Portsmouth 2022 - HMS Alliance Submarine

HMS Alliance IJ
Royal Navy Submarine Museum

HMS Alliance

HMS Alliance is a Royal Navy A-class submarine which was commissioned in May 1947 and was in service in various roles until 1979.

The vessel was designed to conduct long range patrols in the Far East. It was originally equipped with a gun deck and external torpedo tubes.  In 1947 it conducted a trial with a snort mast which allowed her to remain submerged for 30 days.

HMS Alliance 1947

HMS Alliance external gun deck

HMS Alliance Gosport 1958

HMS Alliance was extensively modernised between 1958 to remove the  gun deck, external torpedo tubes and streamline the hull. These modifications enabled the submarine to run quieter and faster underwater. It carried a shops compliment of 5 officers and 63 ratings.

HMS Alliance 1960

HMS Alliance 1963 SAS President Kruger

HMS Alliance 1967 Gibraltar

HMS Alliance 1967 Gibraltar

was one of three submarines that transited the Manchester Ship Canal in 1967.

Mystery of submarines at Latchford Locks solved! (warrington-worldwide.co.uk)

Manchester Ship Canal

HMS Alliance 1973 Portsmouth final sail past

HMS Alliance 1973 Portsmouth

The submarine was taken off active service in 1973 and used as a training ship at HMS Doplhin, the submarine training school at Fort Blockouse, Gosport. In 1979 she was preserved as a submarine museum. 

HMS Alliance
Royal Navy Submarine Museum

Forward Torpedo

Forward Torpedo Room looking forward

Crew Quarters

Mess 

PO Mess and quarters

Control Room

Submarine Controls

Coning Tower

Periscope

Radio Room

Galley

Engine Controls

Diesel Engine

Rear Torpedo Tubes

Portsmouth 2022 - Astley Arms Whiskey Bottle

 The Royal Naval Base Blyth on the Northumberland coast  was a submarine base during both World Wars. 

Blyth Submarine Base

At 11:00 on 3rd September 1939 the Admiralty sent a signal to all warships “COMMENCE HOSTILITIES AGAINST GERMANY IMMEDIATELY”. A signal that would result in the sixth submarine flotilla being sent to Blyth. 

On Christmas Eve 1939, the submariners of HMS Seahorse were enjoying themselves in the Astley Arms, Seaton Sluice, near Blyth. 

HMS  Seahorse

Astley Arms Seaton Sluice

A raffle for a bottle of whiskey was won by Petty Officer Leonard Wilson. Unfortunately PO Wilson was unable to collect it before HMS Seahorse left Blyth on Patrol. 

Petty Officer Leonard Wilson

The landlady, Mrs Lydia Jackson kept the bottle for safekeeping awaiting the return of HMS Seahorse. Sadly, the submarine never returned, it was lost with all hands.

It is thought that she could have been sunk by the German First Minesweeper Flotilla which reported carrying out a prolonged depth charge attack on an unknown submarine on 7 January 1940.

 The bottle of whiskey remained at the pub till the landlady retired in 1971 when it was presented to the Royal Navy Submarine Museum. 

Astley Arms Whiskey Bottle
RN Submarine Museum

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The loss of HMS Seahorse is recorded on the Lost Submarines Memorial at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum, Gosport.

Royal Navy Submarine Museum 
Lost Submarines Memorial

HMS Seahorse was lost with all hands and the names of the 39 crew members are recorded on the Royal Navy Submarine Museum's Memorial Wall. It includes the name of Petty Officer Leonard Wilson.