I doubt the observation is unique to me, but it's funny how it's always "women should simply fight the pain" and not "men should simply fight the flaccid penis"...

"We are a lighthouse. Your call."

I’ve just come by a lot of photos from a line-crossing ceremony aboard HMS Albion in the 1950s, and I’d like to do a blogpost about them. Is there anyone in my circle who’s RN or ex-RN who’d be willing to answer some questions about the tradition of line-crossing, and talk about their experiences?

Today in 1940, War Office Film Unit cameraman Harry Rignold visits the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch miniature railway in Kent, and films troops of the Somerset Light Infantry manning an improvised armoured train. Full film: IWM AYY 38 www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...

I doubt the observation is unique to me, but it's funny how it's always "women should simply fight the pain" and not "men should simply fight the flaccid penis"...

Hey look @dreadships.bsky.social you can get a Great Panjandrum transporter for model railways

Moby Dick is a novel full of amazing depths and beautiful, aching strangeness. You could read it a hundred times without ever truly knowing it. And sometimes Melville just calls me out directly, the bastard:

Imagine sticking your ensign on this thing and actually admitting it's yours???

I like it. It's got the brutalist style of a 1970s inner city tower block. I hope it's got better water ingress protection though.

Imagine sticking your ensign on this thing and actually admitting it's yours???

Although old, no longer amphibious (?), and not all active, the vintage Be-12 MAIL remains in active use for maritime patrol off Crimea, detecting Ukrainian small boat and USV operations

Moby Dick is a novel full of amazing depths and beautiful, aching strangeness. You could read it a hundred times without ever truly knowing it. And sometimes Melville just calls me out directly, the bastard:

Today's unnecessary paperwork had been brought to you by Fracas! At The Flower Show

Stealthgas? Stealthgas?!? YOU'VE PAINTED IT BRIGHT ORANGE!!!

Stealthgas? Stealthgas?!? YOU'VE PAINTED IT BRIGHT ORANGE!!!

This strange beast is the Hillson FH.40 ‘slip wing’ Hurricane. It emerged from an experimental monoplane designed to evaluate the use of a jettisonable upper wing. This could carry extra fuel, or the increased lift on takeoff might allow heavier payloads to be carried. 📷 vintagewings.ca 🧵1/2

Speaking of which - you don’t happen to have late 1800s or early 1900s naval gunnery tables lying around? :) Would love to find some hard data about dispersion, or even just hit rates. Especially for guns smaller than ten inches.

The sound of the English summer... The gentle thwack of leather on willow, the applause of the crowd, and the traditional announcement of yet another arbitrary points deduction for Somerset.

A happy International Talk Like A Pirate Day to Lt. Cmd Max Horton, who might not have talked like a pirate but damn well flew a Jolly Roger like one.

Oh, Dawkins is it?

It’s International Talk Like a Pirate Day, so here are some things you didn’t* know about pirates (*unless you already did), and which I didn’t know until I read my niece’s Masters dissertation a while back. Firstly – remarkably – pirate ships were democracies with a pretty flat management structure

I love it when people do my homework for me!

Random obscure Max Horton factoid: my maternal grandmother was engaged to him before WW1. They broke it off after Jutland and he married someone else. She kept the engagement ring. It is now my wife's ...

A happy International Talk Like A Pirate Day to Lt. Cmd Max Horton, who might not have talked like a pirate but damn well flew a Jolly Roger like one.

Hey, @scornflakegrrrl.bsky.social - they're playing our tune!

There ought to be an achievement on Skycards for capturing your own wife

One of my favorite headlines ever was on the recovery of the wreck of the CSS Hunley: “Cracker U-Boat Finally Makes Port”. It’s hard to write something that is equal parts poignant and hilarious.

Photos: Cargo Ship Thamesborg Remains Grounded in Northwest Passage maritime-executive.com/article/phot...

People sometimes praise my alt text but it misses the mark here because in my excitement I didn't make it clear that Glatton is modelled on Fatso the Fat-Arsed Wombat. This is a genuine criticism - I ought to have described the torpedo bulges more explicitly.

Teaching people the difference between a confined space and Permit Required Confined Space often causes brains to hurt. The easiest way to graduate to the capitalized version is to have a confined space you than add another hazard to. Lasers are a hazard...

As with all @dreadships.bsky.social threads, read the ALT text...

How long does an application for a letter of marque take to be processes these days? Asking for a friend

PEN NERDS. These caught my eye - I feel like the shape of these pens are very Caran d'Ache Ecridor-y to me? But then I saw the second photo and the shape of the end of the clip, and the slit, suggests it's a Sheaffer? I'd say Targa but unless I'm mistaken that would be very vintage, and unlikely.

This thing here, exhibit A in "the danger of leaving our ships to melt in the hot sun", is HMS Glatton. And on this day in 1918 things went even more pear-shaped than they already were...

7,000 tons of "Do Not Disturb."

Excellent thread on HMS Glatton. One of my favourite: "No Artoo! Shut them ALL down!" Royal Navy moments.

Talking about object biographies made me think of this. It’s an Ever-Ready Razor, dates to the 1930s and like all the best most unimportant things you keep hold of, it has a story.

At the risk of sparking another thread, was Cossack "passing by," or was it still being repaired after blowing its own ass off with depth charges?

This thing here, exhibit A in "the danger of leaving our ships to melt in the hot sun", is HMS Glatton. And on this day in 1918 things went even more pear-shaped than they already were...

"You've let me down, you've let the squadron down... and worst of of all you've let yourself down."

"You've let me down, you've let the squadron down... and worst of of all you've let yourself down."

Yachties taking the Dayskipper course might have struggled to learn the lights of a dredger and on which side to pass. Most though will have remembered to at least *choose* a side. Not so the sailing ship Storebaelt, which split the difference - and its bowsprit - by hitting it head on...

By 1943, the Fleet Air Arm was confident it had the ugliest possible strike aircraft in the Fairey Barracuda Mk2. Fairey's design office replied 'hold our beer' and produced the Mk5

Yachties taking the Dayskipper course might have struggled to learn the lights of a dredger and on which side to pass. Most though will have remembered to at least *choose* a side. Not so the sailing ship Storebaelt, which split the difference - and its bowsprit - by hitting it head on...

The idea of the Royal Navy taking part in the Battle of Britain is inherently amusing, yes. Only one problem with laughing at it...

One of my smartest colleagues calls Generative LLMs “the ultimate force multiplier for morons”

No idea where my colleague’s lunch is going or at what speed

During afternoon suspect Russian fishing boat M Stepanov was escorted out of Öresund by both UK Royal Navy and Swedish Coast Guard. I am sure there is another explanation but SE CG drive like a dog chasing their owner and taking a lap around the house (Ven island) while at it.

More from Nieuwpoort, Belgium.

Hi...I'm looking to find someone with a background in torpedoes that I can ask a question concerning the use of pure oxygen as a fuel and it's solubility in water. If you understand what I'm talking about, please feel free to send me a dm. #navalhistory