This Super Bowl Sunday, I’d like to introduce you all to the magical curse bowls used in Upper Mesopotamia and Syria in late antiquity. Written in Mandaic (as here) or Syriac Aramaic, they trap demons who trespass on a household by sucking them in with spiraling spells to the center of the bowl.

A new Warships IFR mag is now out & packed with news, views, great pics & a dash of history. Cover pic by Sandy McClearn. It's of Canadian frigate HMCS St. John's returning to Halifax after a very busy time on NATO duties. Avail hard copy & digital sundialmedia.escosubs.co.uk/subscribe/wa...

Long hours across several weeks (day job permitting) in 'the bunker' (with occasional parole) to get 'Martin's Eyes' over the line. The final big edit is done...and dog-eared hard copy seen here. #book #WW2 #historicalfiction #thriller #novel

More info here www.chiselbury.co.uk/bookstore/p/...

If you were expecting us to say the Mary Rose, that was our first thought, but we have a reason for picking the Regent, based on the ship in the original post...

Italy has a saying that goes ‘every roach looks pretty in the eyes of its mother’ and Blackburn went hell for leather proving that by naming its most amazingly ugly offering the Blackburn ‘Blackburn’. This is a plane that had its meal sheets beaten hard. @dreadships.bsky.social @navalairhistory.com

Result of a Tallboy bomb penetrating the roof of a U-Boot bunker in Brest. #WW2 #HISTORY

The RCAF has a Naval Aviation museum in Shearwater, Nova Scotia. Active as an air base since the 1920s, the co-located museum has some breathtaking exhibits. So well worth a visit – here are a few sights that caught my eye… #navalhistory #maritimehistory #coastalhistory 🧵1/11

Revive the TSR II!

Today is my birthday, and the best gift for me will be a retweet. My name is Vitalii. I am from Ukraine and open for commissions, so if you would like to get #SciFi artwork (spaceships, vehicles, dystopian future), I will gladly do this. You can contact me here or via [email protected]

The armored cruiser San Giorgio served in the great war and all along the 20s and 30s. In 1940 she was placed in Tobruk harbor to act as a floating AA and coastal battery. Here's the story: youtu.be/WAcT5tK4_1c?...

An observation test for your inner 8-year-old. You’ll be doing well to spot 12 deliberate mistakes. From Treasure magazine, 1963 Official answers coming soon (Even if you don’t reply, could you please ‘like’ or share this one?)

Anyway, here’s the book www.mortonsbooks.co.uk/book/fleet-a...

Oh yes, always armchair enthusiasts but with this artwork for some reason it's always a majority of people insisting it's wrong - some of them get quite angry! Glad you can pinpoint the account, we took a lot of care! I will try to dig it out when I get a moment

This may look like a child's drawing of warships, but in fact it is a SECRET 1955 CIA HUMINT report on Soviet naval vessels in the Baltic. PSL thread analysing a forgotten report to show value of Cold War HUMINT sources for analysis and intelligence.

Also from @navalairhistory.com. Great print.

Cruiser HMCS UGANDA, with a Fairey Firefly on HMCS WARRIOR in the foreground (1945-1947) (LAC e010777269-v8.jpg) #RCN #Photos #History

Careful, @dreadships.bsky.social, you'll set him off talking about his book...

Six Beaufighters. (May 1943, The Pacific. #WW2 #HISTORY)

For any Titanic nerds out there, my colleagues in the UCL Marine safety group have just published an astonishingly detailed analysis and supercomputer simulation of how Titanic sank, linked to witness statements & the best available evidence. Full paper here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10....

...and 20 colour profiles (with each photograph and profile having an interesting caption with further interesting detail). Well worth a read for anyone interested in the Swordfish, the FAA, or World War 2/naval aviation more generally. (3/3) #histbookchat #NavalHistory

In a week that proves when I'm not being hammered by work I can read a bit, I've happily just finished @navalairhistory.com 's Swordfish Units of World War 2. It contains lots of interesting information on Swordfish Operations, including significant amounts of new material not found...(1/3)

Paint Job Politics: How One Tanker Turned a Sanctions Chase Into a US-Russia Showdown gcaptain.com/paint-job-po...

The US Army Air Corp also tested the Highball (renamed Speedee bombs) but abandoned the project when one of the bombs bounced back off the water and sheared the rear fuselage off an A-26 Invader. youtu.be/PCGpzRzY7fY

Here's some first-person accounts from those involved in this bouncing bomb project (Project Highball): youtu.be/sioR6aXEzUM

My morning has been listening to @drachinifel.bsky.social describing the history of the battleship and why it went away - definitely worth a watch (as always!) www.youtube.com/watch?v=weqj...

Merry Christmas from Armoured Carriers! Maintaining the theme, here's a quick look aboard HMS Victorious on Christmas Day, 1941: #NavalHistory #ww2 #history

Just time for a thread of airfield dogs before the big day, I think - starting with ‘Kim’, owned by an unidentified pilot who flew Spitfires on Met. flights. Apparently determined to fly with his owner, he would jump onto the aircraft and had to be told repeatedly to get off! 📷 IWM CH 9041 🧵1/13

“Flight Sergeant James Hyde, a fighter pilot serving with No 132 Squadron, Royal Air Force, pictured by a Supermarine Spitfire with 'Dingo', the squadron commander's pet dog, at Detling, Kent, England, December 1943.” Hyde was shot down and killed near Nijmegen in Sept 1944. 📷 IWM CH 11978 🧵12/13

“‘Flash', a German Shepherd dog and mascot of No. 19 Squadron, pictured seated on the nose of a Spitfire at Fowlmere, September 1940.” 📷 IWM CH 1467 🧵13/13

Convoy HG 76 sailed from Gibraltar on 14 December. The convoy came under attack from 12 U-boats. Martlets from Audacity shot down two Condors; U-131 was attacked on 17 December. U-131 shot down a Martlet, but was unable to dive after the attack, and was scuttled by her crew, who were taken prisoner.

Since everything is awful and it’s nearly Christmas, who’d like some pictures of ship’s cats? Don’t worry dog lovers, a canine thread’s coming soon! Let’s start with Tiddles, sitting in his favourite spot on the carrier HMS Victorious in 1943 (he liked playing with the bell rope) 📷 IWM A 10646 🧵1/17

An often overlooked aspect of WW2 in the Pacific.

From the mouths of the survivors. Force Z is often criticised through cursory analysis. But there is no doubt HMS Repulse was not up to the job. Here's how the sailors who served upon her experienced her demise. #OTD #WW2 #HISTORY #Navalhistory youtu.be/5_NkGtIBK_M?...

(1943.) Australia. There's no such thing as too many Spitfires. #WW2 #HISTORY

It took a while, but here's my Memories of War cut of historic film footage and veteran accounts for the controversial performance of the Supermarine Seafire over the Salerno beachhead. Pretty niche, but fascinating for naval aviation officianados. #ww2 #navalhistory #history youtu.be/afmxhriNT1Q

FADM Chester Nimitz believed the U.S was fortunate that the attack on Pearl Harbor came as a surprise. Had the U.S. known of the approaching Japanese fleet, the American fleet would have been sent to intercept it and then been entirely lost to a superior force. #PearlHarborDay

Well, that's South Dakota and she was for sure back in the Pacific at that point. And her sailing with Furious makes this early 1943 and North Atlantic

Not sure on place or time of some of these, but any good? And a link here wargamingmiscellany.blogspot.com/2024/12/hms-... last one, I didnt know they did "Dazzle" in Aircraft carrier size?..

Anyone notice something out-of-place in this photo? (It means I can't fudge it and use the image in my upcoming vid on Salerno / Operation Avalance) #NavyHistory #WW2 #RoyalNavy

Of that one, yes. Not this one:

Thanks, but yeah. There are a some profile shots - the standard dockyard ship recognition types. What I'm looking for are images of her in action in the Med. There seems to be only one small photo-set, from shortly before Torch:

That's HMS Rodney, with her very distinctive dark and wavy camouflage scheme. Nelson's was somewhat lighter and more in patches than wavy lines

The obvious explanation is that unicorns can only be captured by virgins, not official war photographers. They probably didn't want to be bullied.

'Battleships Reborn!?' is the latest Warships Pod episode pod.fo/e/357416 with Dr James Bosbotinis & myself discussing the prospect of latter-day battleships - a topic James returns to in our forthcoming Jan 2026 edition, which is in production right now. Current Dec ed also looks at battleships.

I hate this! I'm browsing for images related to Salerno. But keep finding niche, but ultra-relevant, images for other "Memories of War" videos I have already done. Here, HMS Pursuer briefs on a fjord model where Tirpitz was hiding for Operation Tungsten: IWM (A 23053) #NavalHistory #WW2 #RoyalNavy

yes bsky.app/profile/hush...

A 46 cm (18 in) Sanshiki shell displayed at the Yamato Museum.

Thank you. However, I understand Japanese, so I can read the detailed battle report of the Yamato if necessary. www.jacar.archives.go.jp/das/image/C0... I've also created a page about the Yamato. hush.web.fc2.com/name/y/Ya/Ya...

Nice find. The only account I've ever heard of using main guns against aircraft was the Tirpitz opening up on Lancasters from 13 miles.