Steam Pinnace 199 – Newsletter – October 2016
Big News!!
199 Progress – as noted last month, the sacrificial rubbing
strips on 199’s hull had been removed to reveal some
unwanted problems underneath. The strips have been
remanufactured - machined to size and shape by The
Maritime Workshop - and are being fitting by 199
volunteers supervised by Alex Brown, a student craftsman
from IBTC in Boat House 4, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.
Above right – Alex with Alistair Dilley making scarf joints for the
lengthy rubbing strips. Photo by Ivan Steele.
Left - the completed
strips…and yes, they
are of different
lengths!
Right – Alistair
preparing the hull
surface for the new
strips.
We are grateful for
the help from the
staff and students of
the International
Boatbuilding Training
College, Portsmouth.
Right - Alex prepares a cut out in the strip to match an
overboard discharge port - see also photo below right.
Below - trial fit.
Right – Alistair fitting temporary securing screws as the
douglas fir strip takes up shape. The strip was then removed for painting and final fix.
Final fixing in place with the new board on a bed of
Arbokol, a heavy black sealant which cures to form
a firm but flexible rubber. The grain of the douglas
fir boards needed a heavy sanding to obtain a
smooth finish. The antifoul has also gone on (left).
The hull surveyor says “Yes”!
After all the recent setbacks, it is fantastic to
announce that the surveyor, Nat Wilson, until
recently CEO of the IBTC, has finished his survey
and informed Ivan on 3rd Oct: “"The 199 survey
went fine, no problems to report. I will write it up over the next day or two and send it to you." Our
insurance company have confirmed that they are happy to accept this for operational purposes.
Way ahead – Ivan has made a provisional booking for 199 to be re-launched later this month. Hopefully,
she will then be moored alongside for a minimum of 48 hours to allow the seams to take up prior to being
towed back to BH4. Crew members will be informed as soon as the dates are confirmed.
Accidents happen – but if they do and you damage something, please let Ivan know about it. Volunteers
are rarely keel hauled these days, it’s a Human Rights conflict!
Engineering news – 199 chief engineer Frank Fowler has two senior fitter & turner apprentices, Tom
Brading and Joe Salmon, (photo of them in action on the shaft gear below) from Defence Munitions
(Gosport) assisting in the engineering department, one day per week,
commencing 26 Sept. They are a very useful and willing addition to the team.
Congratulations to our
own former R.N.
shipwright, Harry
Stannard, on his recent
marriage to Fina.
Harry’s work on pipework and
welding in particular, is invaluable.
Harry (right) and
Frank (below left) working on the rudder bearing.
Steam Picket Boats by John Robinson
The term ‘Picket Boat’ denotes an armed sentry or guard boat, capable of being hoisted and carried on its
parent vessel with the warship’s own lifting gear. Such boats began to be carried on Royal Navy warships
from the 1880’s, when improvements in high-pressure steam engines made it possible to build steamboats
light enough to lift and lower under a derrick; at 15 tons, they were too heavy for davits. They rapidly
gained favour for defending harbour entrances and countering the threat to capital ships from torpedoes.
Typically, they were armed with a 3pounder Hotchkiss quick-firing gun on the foredeck; some carried
machine guns by Vickers-Maxim or Nordenfeldt, and they could be rigged to launch 14inch torpedoes over
the side. From 1885, the most popular length for picket boats settled on 56 feet.
The First World War produced many opportunities for these formidable vessels to distinguish themselves,
particularly in the Turkish landings in 1915 and at Zeebrugge in 1918.Their design offered only minimal
protection from gunfire to the crews who manned them, and there are many accounts of remarkable
courage and heroism when attacking enemy targets. In peacetime they were regularly employed as
despatch boats, giving opportunities for young Midshipmen to learn boat-handling, usually with an
experienced Petty Officer as mentor. HRH Prince Philip recalls with affection his appointment to HMS
Ramillies in 1940, when as a Midshipman he was given command of one of her picket boats, which he
learned to handle in the sheltered waters of Sydney Harbour.
But their steam technology was already being overtaken before World War 2, and they were rapidly
supplanted by motor-boats. The Admiralty had announced the creation of a new Volunteer Supplementary
Reserve in October 1936, but evidently under-estimated the flood of volunteers who came forward. A year
later, with no sign of any provision for training the volunteers, two members of the new Reserve went to G
E Watts’ shipyard in Gosport and selected a 56’ steam picket boat from the group there awaiting new
owners after being sold out of the Naval service. Having parted with £150, they hoisted the Red Ensign,
named her Response and steamed in stages around to King’s Reach where, after many adventures in poor
weather, they berthed alongside HMS President on 9 January 1939.Shortly afterwards, two other London
Flotilla members investigated a report of a former Admiral’s Barge deteriorating at Burnham on Crouch
which they purchased for £200, repaired and renamed Reply, again under the Red Ensign. Both vessels
were based at Chatham, but with the outbreak of war, their training role ceased. Reply was chartered by
the Admiralty as a supply boat at Gravesend. These duties took a heavy toll, and she had to be broken up
after the war as unseaworthy. Response was taken from Chatham to a shipyard in Sittingbourne, where
she was sold for only £80 early in 1941. But in the space of a few months, these vessels had introduced
many young RNVSR officers to practical seamanship, and their contribution to the preparation for war was
significant.
No picket boats are known to survive today, but the steam vessel recently inspected by former Flotilla
members in Portsmouth bears many resemblances, being slightly shorter at 50’; she is classed as a steam
pinnace. Built by J Samuel White of Cowes in 1911, she was converted to an Admiral’s Barge in 1916. By
1930 she was the duty boat at Netley Military Hospital. Like many of her kind, she was sold out of Naval
service in 1946 following a period as a dockyard workboat. She was purchased from Watts’ yard in Gosport
in 1949; fortunately, the excellence of her double-diagonal construction and copper sheathing had
preserved her integrity for nearly forty years. Her new owner gradually restored her, and under her new
name Treleague brought her around to the Thames and up to Streatley. Her steam plant was later replaced
with an oil engine, and in 1975 her hull was overhauled by Tough Brothers at Teddington. In 1979 she was
purchased by the Royal Naval Museum at Portsmouth. Although at that time she was usually described as
SL 198, today that number has been revised to 199.
The Maritime Workshop in Gosport worked on her intermittently as funds permitted, and installed a
compound steam engine built about 1910 by Mumford of Colchester. In 1984 she was recommissioned for
occasional ceremonial use within Portsmouth Dockyard. Subsequently she received a new boiler, again at
Gosport, and her engine was again rebuilt between 1999-2001. The volunteers looking after her received a
Transport Trust Restoration Award from HRH Prince Michael of Kent at a ceremony at Brooklands
Museum, and the steam pinnace can occasionally be seen in steam within the dockyard, when she is not
resting within No.4 Boathouse.
About the author: John Robinson worked for 24 years in various technical museums in Liverpool, Glasgow
and London, specialising in industrial and maritime history. He retired in 1994 as Head of the Water
Transport Department of the National Museum of Science & Industry (the Science Museum) in London.
Since retirement, he has worked voluntarily for various maritime history organisations: - Society for
Nautical Research, World Ship Trust, Maritime Heritage Trust etc. He serves on the Executive of European
Maritime Heritage, an international organisation that campaigns in support of the preservation of historic
and traditional ships by operation, so that that they can more easily earn the revenue needed to maintain
them. He serves on the UK Advisory Committee on Historic Ships He sails for recreation, including an
Atlantic crossing, and prefers to sail in traditional vessels of all sorts. He holds a Yachtmaster qualification.
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A New Book – The editor has received a
complimentary copy of a book by Bernd Kuhfuss, a
friend of 199 in Germany. As newsletter readers will
recall from earlier editions, he has been building an
incredibly detailed model of 199. He has now
produced a 25-page book full of photos comparing
the real 199 and the model.
Below is a sample page and the inscription from the
copy that he sent me. 199’er Andrew Berry also
supplied photos for the book.
I can get hold of further copies if there is interest. £22
plus £3 p&p. Drop me an email.
Below – sample page from the book
We would be delighted to arrange a visit for you to 199,
Bernd, hopefully in steam!
Dreadnought rises again?
Moving on some 15 decades, MOD (N)
recently laid down a challenge and their
youngest and most intelligent engineers
and scientists answered that challenge in a
big way. They were asked to come up with
what they envisioned as the future of the
battleship.
Their response included some of the most
advanced technology the world has to
offer. Some ideas included electromagnetic rail gun with the range of cruise missiles, high speed
torpedoes that travel close to 350 mph, multiple drones, a quad copter that has the capability to fire lasers
and a holographic control room to name a few.
A team was brought together made up of members of the Ministry of Defence, the Royal Navy and several
engineers and scientists from defence contractors to pool their ideas on the subject. This effort has come
to be known as “Dreadnought 2050” paying homage to the 527-foot, 20,000 ton battleship HMS
Dreadnought that was launched back in 1906. According to a press release, this was done because at the
time the HMS Dreadnought “represented such an advance that all other major warships were rendered
obsolete”.
The main objective is to balance the technologically advanced improvements against budget
limitations. Starpoint, an organisation of the Royal Navy tasked with overseeing the project stated “the
mission is to tackle parallel challenges of providing advanced technology set against the backdrop of
funding constraints”.
The current design is quite impressive with its extremely
advanced technology and weaponry. The Dreadnought
2050 is a tri-hull design made of an ultra-strong, see-thru
acrylic unlike the typical steel ship. It has a quad copter
tethered to the ship, instead of the more traditional mast,
that has carbon nanotubes used to transport power for
sensors and a laser gun used for defence to eliminate any
posing threats. It is also armed with weaponry used to
cover great distances.
The bow is equipped with an electromagnetic rail gun that can take down enemy hundreds of miles away.
The outrigger hulls are armed with two tubes that contain “supercavitating” torpedoes that travel so fast
they actually vaporize the water around them creating an air pocket that enables them to “fly” through the
water. There is also a flight deck in the aft section of the ship that can serve as a launching pad for the
drones that are made aboard the ship using 3D printing technology and a moon pool to launch amphibious
troops when necessary
Source: http://www.scout.com/story/1582262-meet-the-uks-incredible-new-warship?s=566
By editor – I recall something like this design appearing in
the Bond film “Tomorrow Never Dies”, made in 1997, as
media mogul Carver’s stealth ship? In fact Carver’s ship
was in turn based on Sea Shadow (IX-529) (photo right) an
experimental stealth ship built by Lockheed for the United
States Navy to determine how a low radar profile might be
achieved and to test high stability hull configurations
which have since been used in oceanographic ships. Sea
Shadow was built in 1984 and was used in secret until a
public debut in 1993. In addition, the ship was designed to
test the use of automation to enable the reduction of crew
size. The ship was created by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the U.S. Navy
and Lockheed. Sea Shadow was developed at Lockheed's Redwood City, California facility, inside the Hughes
Mining Barge (HMB-1), which functioned as a floating dry dock during construction and testing. So the idea
behind the “new” design goes back 32 years!
Interesting that the description of the new Dreadnought design completely misses out any reference at all
to propulsion or power generation? No doubt post Type 45 problems there is a big rethink going on?
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Shadow_(IX-529)
******************
Family History Enquiry – a newsletter reader has asked if MOD(N) has any pay records from the 1950’s –
1960’s available. He is trying to track some close family history. May be too recent for public release?
Anyone know?
*****************
Internal Fire:
The Museum of Power
This is located near Cardigan in Wales. Clive Kidd has
pointed us towards its interesting web site. There is a
huge collection of running order diesel and steam
engines and a long list of engine manuals, drawings and
related documentation.
http://www.internalfire.com/index.php?sid=6a4a6bb897eeb9777049593f0a89dced
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National Historic Ships Photo Competition 2016 – shortlist - There is a range of really good photos at:
http://www.nationalhistoricships.org.uk/shortlisted_photos.php
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Lifejackets
Seen in The Times: A safety announcement made on a boat trip in Canada as
lifejackets were handed out: “If you can’t work out how to put it on, that’s
Darwinian selection for you”.
…and whale watching off Iceland: “Your lifejacket has a useful whistle so you can
play a nice tune while you are drowning.”
From the Web: As the storm raged, the captain realised his ship was sinking fast. He
called out, "Anyone here know how to pray?" One man stepped forward. "Aye,
Captain, I know how to pray." "Good," said the captain, "you pray while the rest of
us put on our life jackets - we're one short."
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199 Christmas Lunch – early note for your diary. Ivan is planning this event for Tue 20th
December in the Hornet Services Sailing Club clubhouse. Spouses, partners and friends
very welcome to join us. Menu and details to follow.
Book List 77
The Battle of Jutland - John Brooks; Cambridge University Press, 2016, 571 pp.,
ISBN 9781107150140 This is a (another) new account of the Battle of Jutland, the key
naval battle of the First World War in which the British Grand Fleet engaged the
German High Seas Fleet off the coast of Denmark in 1916. Beginning with the building
of the two fleets, John Brooks reveals the key technologies employed, from
ammunition, gunnery and fire control to signalling and torpedoes. He then examines
the opposing commanders’ tactical expectations and battle orders. In describing
Jutland’s five major phases, he offers important new interpretations of the battle itself,
of how the outcome was influenced by technology, and of the tactics and leadership of
the principal commanders, with the reliability of their own accounts of the fighting
reassessed.
Hospital Ships & Troop Transports Campbell McCutcheon;
Amberley Publishing 2015; 128 pages; ISBN-10: 1445638673 ISBN13: 978-1445638676. The biggest shipping loss of both world wars was the
hospital ship Britannic, at almost 50,000 tons. Supposedly safe to travel the
seas, many hospital ships were lost in both wars. From the smallest of
motor launches through steam yachts and converted ocean liners, Campbell
McCutcheon tells the story of the First World War hospital ships.
The Silent Deep: The Royal Navy Submarine Service Since 1945 – James Jinks;
Penguin 2016; 864 pages; ISBN-10: 0241959489 ISBN-13: 978-0241959480. “The
Ministry of Defence does not comment upon submarine operations” is the standard
response of officialdom to enquiries about the most secretive and mysterious of Britain's
armed forces, the Royal Navy Submarine Service. Written with unprecedented cooperation from the Service itself and privileged access to documents and personnel, The
Silent Deep is the first authoritative history of the Submarine Service from the end of
the Second World War to the present. It gives the most complete account yet published
of the development of Britain's submarine fleet, its capabilities, its weapons, its
infrastructure, its operations and above all - from the testimony of many submariners
and the first-hand witness of the authors - what life is like on board for the denizens of
the silent deep. Dramatic episodes are revealed for the first time: how HMS Warspite gathered intelligence
against the Soviet Navy's latest ballistic-missile-carrying submarine in the late 1960s; how
HMS Sovereign made what is probably the longest-ever trail of a Soviet (or Russian) submarine in 1978;
how HMS Trafalgar followed an exceptionally quiet Soviet 'Victor III', probably commanded by a Captain
known as 'the Prince of Darkness', in 1986. It also includes the first full account of submarine activities
during the Falklands War. Outside the normal history period for our book reviews but a fascinating read.
How Sailors Fight: An Account of the Organisation of the British Fleet in Peace
and War - John Blake; Nabu Press 2011 (reprint; first published by London, G.
Richards, 1901.); 268 pages; ISBN-10: 1271373114 ISBN-13: 978-1271373116.
An attractive general work covering the achievements, organisation and operation of
the Edwardian navy at the time of the Relief of Peking and Ladysmith. The author
notes that there is never a problem manning torpedo craft as they are the only
warships to have their rum ration neat as opposed to one-part rum to three parts
water! He sees a great future for Marconi's new invention as it "could not be
intercepted by an enemy and removes the only material objection to the use of
wireless telegraphy in war." Chapter VIII has a trio of torpedo boats attacking an
anchored Russia battleship. Because of sparks from one of the attackers’ smokestack
they are spotted and before she could get within torpedo range she was lit up by the battleship's 40000
candle power searchlight - "The night was so still that on the destroyers they could even hear the hissing of
the carbons of the searchlight." The author notes that once the searchlights were in use the attackers had a
definite aiming point! Illustrated throughout with photographs, many by Cribb of Southsea.