Photo: Sheila Weir / Royal Navy
The War Zone column from the Drive.com blog recently featured photographs of a Royal Navy Vanguard class submarine returning to HM Naval Base Clyde, which is also known as Faslane, on the west coast of Scotland, after a 197-day nuclear deterrent patrol. The nuclear ballistic missile sub looked like what they describe as a “sea monster that had emerged from a long slumber at the bottom of the ocean.” The hull is indeed covered by an impressive growth of marine fouling.
Of course, the mission of ballistic missile submarines, often referred to as “boomers,” is to serve as undetectable launch platforms for intercontinental missiles, which is to say that their job is to go find a place to hide in the ocean for extended periods of time. The opportunity to keep the hull free of maritime growth is, at best, limited, even with the latest anti-fouling coatings now available.
An updated repost. There is a line from a Paul Simon song, “these are the days of miracle and wonder.” One might not think to apply that lyric to the events of 9/11, 22 years ago today. Yet for at least part of that strange and horrible day, they fit.
North Korea has unveiled a 
We recently 
We are saddened to learn that 
Richard Starkey, better known as Ringo Star, wrote the song, 
In 2021, 
The P&O cruise ship 
We recently posted 
In addition to devastating the historic town of Lahaina on the Hawaiian island of Maui, the recent wild fires also destroyed most of the boats in the harbor. After almost two weeks, 
An unlikely nautical relic of World War II, the 
Panama, the 
After 61 years of service, the one of its kind research vessel 
The sad saga of the 
Almost 200 years ago, 
When Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, at least 100 Ukrainian Navy vessels, representing 75% of the Ukrainian naval fleet, were captured by Russian forces. In the Russian invasion of 2022, much of the remaining fleet was destroyed or scuttled to prevent capture.