I was in London attending the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) trade show, which I am not going to write much about. I did get to try out the new helmet for the Typhoon pilots, with its heads up display linked into the plane’s cameras. If you look down you can see the ground through the cockpit. It contains excellent night vision and enemy planes come up in red and can be seen miles out – important as everything is happening very fast.

Some of the many tank gun rounds on display

One of the many remote control artillery pieces on display

A modern light armoured vehicle

The BAE 5.5 inch gun with its 5 plus metre barrel, range 70 kilometres

One of the many tanks on display

A remote control rescue vehicle for supplying the troops and evacuating casualties from the battle field.

The interactive Typhoon helmet with heads up display

A mock up of the Typhoon which they allowed me to have a try out of the cockpit.

Another interesting bit of information that I picked up from a BAE guy who manufacture the 155mm guns is that the barrel life on a full charge is around 2000 rounds before they lose accuracy and range. Hence some barrel-makers in Russia, for guns that are firing up to 80,000 rounds a day through a number of guns, must be rather busy.

On Wednesday evening Jim, who had been recently hunting with us in NZ, took Mike, Eric and I to a private club, where his friend, Jeremy, joined us. We enjoyed a nice dinner and great conversation while surrounded by memories of the SOE, who the club was set up for after WWII. It sill sells its own beer displaying the famous aircraft often used to insert SOE agents into France

Friday 15 September 2023

For some years now I have been on the mailing list for the Imperial War Memorial War Museum. There have been a number of articles on the the light cruiser HMS Belfast, which has been tied up between London Bridge and the London Tower Bridge on the River Thames since it has been a museum ship since 1971. Launched in Northern Ireland in 1938, it served the Royal Navy until decommissioned in 1961. At 185m long with two forward and two aft gun turrets, each with 3 x 6-inch guns it’s one of the best museum ships I have visited. It has 5 decks open to the public going right down as far as the shell rooms, of which there is one for each turret. The charge rooms, which are one deck below that are not open yet. On each side of the ship are three 4-inch gun turrets, one of which had a volunteer working on it, telling me it’s nearly back to its fully operational state. He said he really enjoys it when they get to fire blanks through them on ceremonial occasions.

HMS Belfast Town Class Light Light Cruiser 613 ft 9 Inches (186.99 m)

One of the 6″ guns in the aft turret

Some of the later added electronic warfare equipment.

One of several mess halls

Crew slept in all parts of the ship always ready for action stations

Gun turret rotating equipment

One of the two brigs – not the most comfortable space on the ship

The shell room where at the back shells were primed with the required settings then laid down ready to be sent up a lift to the turret.

The admirals bridge just above the captains bridge as this ship normally headed up a fleet.

The massive tangle of steam pipes running the the ships turbines

One of the three boilers

A diagram of the boiler: the fuel is fed into the pink area, which heats the water to steam in the three blue tubes to power the ship.

A steam powered generator to power the ships systems

London Bridge from the captains bridge

During its career the ship served in all the world’s oceans, including escorting convoys through the Arctic to the Soviet Union. With a thousand crew and upgraded with electronic warfare equipment it is quite an impressive ship. I wandered the corridors and gangways checking out the four 3-drum boilers that created enough steam to power the four steam turbines that drove the ship through the water at up to 32 knots, while also powering the ship’s generator. At the Normandy invasion in 1944 the ship fired 4000 rounds from its 6″ guns helping in the destruction of the many German gun emplacements along the coast