Just imagine it. Your quiet watch on the French coast has already been interrupted by what looks like the entire Allied fleet popping up on the horizon, and then this little bugger hoves into view...

Thanks to @rogerlitwiller.bsky.social we have this pic and blog entry to remind us of importance of Logistics in Operation Neptune

Why is musical theatre so often judged on if its songs are earworm's . Are People going to see Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer and humming arias as they walk to the car or going to a concert of Garage music and are disappointed that the tunes aren't stuck in their head for days .

#OTD in 1944, Gosport. Countdown to D-Day. Motor Torpedo Boats were to protect the flanks of the invasion fleet. #WW2 #HISTORY

#OTD in 1944. Countdown to D-Day. DUKWs practicing launching from and embarking onto Landing Ship Tanks. #WW2 #HISTORY

One for Blackadder fans

HMAS Perth The funnel flaps were fitted while in the West Indies . The idea was that they would break up the outline of the two funnels and so confuse enemy rangefinders. . The flaps were worn until the time of her loss @dreadships.bsky.social

So this is actually happening. @rgpoulussen.bsky.social @garius.bsky.social @cedricmas.bsky.social @ww2tv.bsky.social @ima-naval-history.bsky.social @airminded.org @smoorebofb1940.bsky.social @airpowerhistory.bsky.social @rafhistory.bsky.social @jamiemctrusty.bsky.social @karljames1945.bsky.social

@normagraham.bsky.social Can you recommend any book on Juno beach particularly that covers the Naval aspects . Just discovered one of ships I'm researching was there as a Navigational Leader.

womenwhomeantbusiness.com/2021/12/28/e... The amazing story of a lady who built Batchelors Foods and cared for her workers and even tackled the thankless task of improving British Rail Catering @garius.bsky.social

The Malaysian Dead Leaf Mantis uses a brilliant disguise to blend in with leaves and a shocking display to scare off predators. Nature's art of deception is truly captivating.

June 24th sailed with Group D with supply convoy for Operation Husky. Lotus and Poppy leave Gibraltar to unload gold then rejoin convoy - hand over to fast escort. Such a tantalising cryptic reference. What gold ? Why gold to Gibraltar .

www.german-navy.de/kriegsmarine... The Germans in WW2 didn't really carry on any historical naming schemes from German Naval History With one notable exception which are Bremse and Brummer which in English are Horsefly and Bluebottle. Which are names straight out of the RN naming playbook .

USN cookbook of Ice-cream flavour from WW2 Pineapple Grape anyone ? #navalhistory

How many Flowers flock In an RN Dock I'll tell you now of some that I know And those that I miss you'll surely pardon Bluebell, Heartsease and Begonia Meadowsweet and Petunia Gentian, Lupine and Campion Compass Rose, the old Foxglove, Snowdrop, Carnation In a RN Dock

During WW2 there were ships called USS Mastic and HMS Duff which I assume is some kind of plant and a Surname rather than bathroom sealant and a fictional beer

Fascinating series of photos of sinking of HMS Gurkha. Pics taken from Dutch Destroyer Isaac Sweers

www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-... A truly surreal event @dreadships.bsky.social

This is HMS Star , she was built in 1898 and is a destroyer. So technically the Royal Navy had an Imperial Star Destroyer @dreadships.bsky.social @axe99.bsky.social

If you get to final of the Apprentice . You have to rely on a bunch of egotistical back stabbing ingrat, who would die of thirst in a brewery let alone remain sober to launch your brand who have already been eliminated from the process who have by this point have no skin in the game and can run amok

Thoughts from back to the future . How do you get the reputation that you're willing and able to build a nuclear bomb in terrorists circles It seems coincidental that the Delorean needs Plutonium . Which came first the plutonium or the bomb . Did Doc commission the terrorists?

commsmuseum.co.uk/dykes/adopti... Find your local warship #warshipweek ##navalhistory @dreadships.bsky.social @garius.bsky.social @axe99.bsky.social

From 1967 to 1975, 15 ships and their crews were trapped in the Suez Canal after the Six-Day War between Israel and Egypt. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_... @dreadships.bsky.social

From the first Famous Five book On their way to Kirrin Island, George shows her cousins a shipwreck, explaining it was her great-great-great-grandfather's ship. He had been transporting gold when the ship was wrecked in a storm,

I have to admit, this made me tear up a bit. I'm a sentimental old fool.

Weirdly my copy of Aladdin the Musical Soundtrack has vanished from Amazon Music , is this something that can happen or is it some weird Amazon : Aladdin = Arabia = Iran War ban @garius

The Lucy Ashton bought by the British Shipbuilding Research Association who wanted to test different hull shapes to see what effect they had on the resistance to travel through the water, and on speed fitted with four Rolls-Royce Derwent jet engines the former steamer underwent speed tests

SMS Derflinger raised from the bed of Scapa Flow . She spent the entirety of WW2 floating upside down and in fact spent longer afloat inverted than she did verted .

@dreadships.bsky.social An example Euryalus and Cleopatra v2 2 RN MTB's off Sicilian Coast . ID challenge was not answered, shots were fired and torpedoes fired. Cruiser: You were very lucky , I was about to blow you out of water MTB: You were even luckier, we've fired 4 torpedoes and missed

Victoria Alexandrina Drummond, MBE , was the first woman marine engineer in the UK and the first woman member of Institute of Marine Engineers. In the Second World War she served at sea as an engineering officer in the British Merchant Navy, and received awards for bravery under enemy fire.

My favourite from this series: a Wren in flight. The leaping Wren is Yvonne Trewin from Paignton, nicknamed 'Inches' because she was the smallest member of her boat's crew (Imperial War Museum A 26510).

Women have always gone to sea and faced the sea's dangers. Women were in many of the naval losses chronicled here, and are numbered among the casualties. Remembering them, and all the women afloat and ashore whose lives are caught up with the sea, on this #InternationalWomensDay #NavalHistory

A few more photos of the French landings in Haiphong, 6-8 March 1946, that I neglected to post previously. The auxiliary cruisers Barfleur and Cephee are apparently depicted but not clearly identified. #Vietnam #France #MilitaryHistory #NavalHistory #Indochina #ColdWar #OnThisDay #OTD

Perla left Massawa on 1 March 41 under the command of captain Bruno Napp. Just as she departed she was attacked by a Bristol Blenheim with depth charges without any success. Perla traveled submerged through the Red Sea & the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait & only surfaced once she reached the Indian Ocean.

HMS Welshman . Happy St David's day

The terms Allied Chinese Ships and Allied China Fleet refer to 32 vessels of the Hong Kong-based China Navigation Company requisitioned by the Royal Navy and the Royal Australian Navy during World War II.

Ronald "Carl" Giles OBE (29 September 1916 – 27 August 1995), often referred to simply as Giles, was a cartoonist who worked for the British newspaper the Daily Express.

Ronald William Fordham Searle CBE RDI was an English artist and satirical cartoonist, comics artist, sculptor, medal designer and illustrator. He is perhaps best remembered as the creator of St Trinian's School and for his collaboration with Geoffrey Willans on the Molesworth series.

HMS Peony Herbert Geoffrey Willans was an English writer and journalist. He is most famous for creating the funny schoolboy character. During the Second World War, Willans obtained a temporary wartime commission in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve,

@dreadships.bsky.social Have you ever explored the world of WW1 River gunboats ? navtechlife.com/Guns_on_Barg...

23 Jan 1944 // While operating in support of Allied landing operations at Anzio, destroyer HMS Janus was sunk by a German aircraft using either a radio-controlled glider bomb or a torpedo (accounts differ). 158 of her crew lost their lives. (Imperial War Museum FL 3695) #RoyalNavy #WW2 #NavalHistory

Cancelled V&W destroyers Wye Vashon Vengeful Vigo Vigorous – renamed Wistful Virulent Volage Volcano. Wager Wake Waldegrave Walton Whitaker Watson Wrangler Werewolf Westphal Wave Weazel White Bear Wellesley Wheeler Whip Whippet Whelp Willoughby Winter Westward Ho Yeoman Zealous Zebra Zodiac

@garius.bsky.social @dreadships.bsky.social @dralexclarke.bsky.social @drachinifel.bsky.social HMS Blankney was adopted by Nantwich. The town still has two roads named after the destroyer, Blankney Avenue and The Blankney. Let's see if we can track down other reminders of adopted Warships

😆 Close your eyes, imagine you're in a medieval monastery, the scriptorium and then the abbot walks in... youtu.be/mW7_9Pqhi1s?...

Unwilling to accept defeat, Smallbones hunts for a solution. He realises the USA is sneakier about how it blocks Jews from immigrating. It gives them visas, but then only lets a certain percentage a year use them. He thinks about how to 'hack' this, and comes up with a British-based workaround. /7

Smallbones was exactly the kind of chap he looks like in this photo (with his wife Inga). Small 'c' conservative. Described as a bit dull but always good company. Happy family man. A solid diplomat. In 1932, the Foreign Office sent him to Munich. By '38 he's British Consul-General in Frankfurt /2

The US granted visas to Jews but only allowed 30,000 in from Germany a year. You had to wait for your number to come up. Meet Robert Smallbones. An unassuming British diplomat who 'hacked' this system so effectively (saving 48 THOUSAND Jews) the UK government kept his scheme secret for decades /1 🧵

Haven't written one of these in a while! sillylittlewalk.substack.com/p/i-go-on-a-...

In the 2010s, the Icelandic tv station Channel 2 accidentally added subtitles from a gritty crime drama to an episode of Teletubbies. I have translated some of the highlights