Tall Ships 2011 Calendar by Thad Koza

The calendar has been out since July, but I only got around to ordering mine yesterday. Thad Koza’s Tall Ships 2011 calendar features  SAGRESs II, JOLIE BRISE, PICTON CASTLE, WESTWARD, BOUNTY, EUROPA, the schooner THOMAS E LANNON, and five other tall ships. … Continue reading

Bulgarian Women Now Allowed on Bulgarian Submarines, if They Had Any in Service

Last Thursday, Bulgaria’s defence ministry lifted the ban on women serving aboard Bulgarian submarines. Also on Thursday, the Bulgarian parliament voted to moth-ball the only Bulgarian submarine. Bulgaria lifts women in submarines ban — but too late … Continue reading

Vote for the Falls of Clyde !!!

The Falls of Clyde, built in 1878, is the only surviving iron-hulled four-masted full rigged ship and the only surviving sail-driven oil tanker in the world.  After years of neglect by the Bishop Museum, the ship has been taken over … Continue reading

Military ammunition discovered under Seattle cruise ship terminal

The new cruise ship terminal at Pier 91 in the Port of Seattle appears to have been built over an old munitions terminal. Live high explosive ammunition dating back to World War II, and possibly earlier, has been found beneath the … Continue reading

Factory Fishing Ship Athena on Fire in the Atlantic

The factory fishing ship Athena caught fire early today in the Atlantic, 230 miles south-west of the Isles of Scilly. Eighty one non-essential personnel were evacuated to liferafts and subsequently rescued as the  remaining  30 aboard fought the fire, which is now reported … Continue reading

Robert Bourne, Radioman in the Battle Between Navy Blimp and German sub

Robert Bourne, who died on Oct. 13, at the age of 88, was the radioman on the Navy blimp, Airship K-74, on anti-submarine patrol off the southeast coast of Florida on the night of July 18, 1943.  The lookout spotted a German submarine … Continue reading

MV Beluga Fortune Foils Pirates, MV York Not so Fortunate

Over the weekend, Somali pirates seized two ships in two days.  On Saturday, pirates seized the MV York, a liquefied petroleum gas tanker, off the coast of Kenya.   On Sunday, pirates seized the MV Beluga Fortune about 1,200 miles east of … Continue reading

New Russian Masts on HMS Belfast – The Last Convoy Escort

The HMS Belfast, a Royal Navy light cruiser, now a museum ship on the Thames, is the last surviving  escort ship from the Arctic convoy run to Russia during World War II.  Last week, in a ceremony attended by HRH Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh, … Continue reading

HMS Astute: British Nuclear Submarine Aground off Skye

Embarrassing and rather bad timing.  Billed as the “world’s most advanced nuclear submarine,” the recently christened HMS Astute ran aground this morning off the Isle of Skye. Nuclear submarine runs aground HMS Astute: world’s most advanced nuclear submarine runs aground … Continue reading

Trafalgar Day plus One – the Smallest Royal Navy Since Henry VIII

The announced British budget cuts will slash spending across the board but will hit the Royal Navy hardest of all of the military services. Anchors away: Britain’s once-proud navy falls prey to budget cuts In all the carnage, the worst damage, at least to … Continue reading

Attempts to Preserve the Prehistoric Hasholme Boat Fail So Far

The Hasholme boat, discovered in 1984 in a former inlet of the Humber estuary near Holme on Spalding Moor, dates from the late Iron Age ( 750-390 BC ). The boat was cut from a single oak tree and was originally roughly … Continue reading