"Firing into the Brown" #43 - Explosion! Museum and stuff..

"So Carnehan weeds out the pick of his men, and sets the two of the Army to show them drill and at the end of two weeks the men can manoeuvre about as well as Volunteers. So he marches with the Chief to a great big plain on the top of a mountain, and the Chiefs men rushes into a village and takes it; we three Martinis firing into the brown of the enemy".

Kipling "The Man Who Would Be King"

Time for another update..

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Managed to get over to Gosport the other day to visit the "Explosion! Museum", the next on my world tour of Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.. 😁

Another brilliant day out - just a few (interest driven) photo's for your enjoyment, but I have to say that this yet another "must see" from me..  in fact two, "must see's" as unknown to me they have also opened another/separate museum on the site, dedicated to the Royal Navy Coastal Forces and covering the period from inception in 1919 to the present day..  the "Night Hunters" [clicky]

I had no idea this museum (they call it a gallery but it's a bit more than that) was even there, but as the volunteer said, it had only opened the previous year so they are just getting up to speed... not a huge museum (it's based in one of the old storage sheds at Priddy's Hard* that I think at one time may have stored mines) but bang for buck it is absolutely fantastic, containing as it does two complete/original MTB's and a host of supporting artefacts from the time..  uniforms, log books, medals, weapons, you name it..

This (following) is MTB 71 [clicky] which was until fairly recently a houseboat on the Chichester Canal (called "Wild Chorus" would you believe..) bought by the owner after the Navy sold her off at the end of the war following her war time service. She was then acquired by the County Council and a Charitable Trust on the death of said owner in 1992..  fully refurbished at the Dockyard and by the British Military Powerboat Trust at Marchwood in Southampton, she looked absolutely stunning - basically a 60 foot engine (and torpedo) carrier - with a full crew she could still do almost 40 knots...!

...and because I'm a wargamer and love the detail (😏) here's a model and the technical details..

..it is very much worth following the link above (and below) to see what her WW2 service career involved - she was largely based in Kent (Dover and Felixstowe) and was regularly in actions against enemy E Boats..

More details her here:

• British Military Powerboat Trust, Coastal Forces, Gunboats, Target Boats, High Speed Launches, Motor Gun Boats, Torpedo Boats, Patrol Boats, Seaplane Tenders (bmpt.org.uk) - Part 1
• British Military Powerboat Trust, Coastal Forces, Gunboats, Target Boats, High Speed Launches, Motor Gun Boats, Torpedo Boats, Patrol Boats, Seaplane Tenders (bmpt.org.uk) - Part 2

..and this is CMB 331 [clicky] - to my eyes she looked much older than MTB 71 (and I have yet to find rhyme or reason in either the numbering assigned by the Navy, or indeed the sheer number of designs and types of MTB and MGB, built by over a half dozen different yards!) but she is actually the last surviving Thornycroft 55-foot Coastal Motor Boat, a design that was originally developed for service in WW1, but was still current when WW2 broke out - in fact she dates to within a year of MTB 71. 

A bigger version of a 40 foot earlier design she could carry two torpedo's and still do over 40 knots..

Note the engine over on the left - that's an Italian made Isotta Fraschini petrol engine rated at 1,150 bhp at 1,800 rpm; MTB 71 had two of them. Once Italy entered the war, the supply naturally dried up and the Navy had to find other power plants..

Note the two slots/troughs in the picture above - that was where the torpedo's were carried - now the completely terrifying bit...  restrictions on weight meant the torpedo could not be fired from a torpedo tube, but instead was carried in that trough - nose of the torpedo to the front of the boat. On firing the torpedo was pushed backwards by a cordite firing pistol (!) and a long steel ram(!!), entering the water tail-first. A trip-wire between the torpedo and the ram head would start the torpedo motors once pulled taut during release. The CMB would then turn hard over and get out of its path. There is no record of a CMB ever being hit by its own torpedo apparently, but the sheer unutterable courage and bravery of doing that, while conducting an attack on an enemy who would very definitely not have been encouraging you to success, beggars belief... a skipper [clicky] on one of these boats not surprisingly won a VC for successfully managing to do that, and sink a cruiser, in WW1.

Originally ordered by the Philippines Navy CMB 331 was requisitioned by the Royal Navy at the start of the war, but ended up only doing a few months in commission spending most of the war in reserve at Gosport..

Just looks like speed personified..  not surprising they were/are known as the Spitfires of the sea..

...and because I'm a wargamer and love the detail (😏) here's a model and the technical details..

Note the torpedoes in the troughs..

Further references:

• British Military Powerboat Trust, Coastal Forces, Gunboats, Target Boats, High Speed Launches, Motor Gun Boats, Torpedo Boats, Patrol Boats, Seaplane Tenders (bmpt.org.uk) - Part 1
• British Military Powerboat Trust, Coastal Forces, Gunboats, Target Boats, High Speed Launches, Motor Gun Boats, Torpedo Boats, Patrol Boats, Seaplane Tenders (bmpt.org.uk) - Part 2

I was hours in there, but as I was conscious that I'd actually come over to see Explosion! I then wended my way over to the main museum.. 😁

Billed as the Museum of Naval Firepower, Explosion! is much more than just that - to be honest, despite the plethora of stunning exhibits - more anon - I found the most interesting stuff to be about the location where the museum is situated (* Priddy's Hard - you knew I'd eventually get to it.. 😏), about the people who worked there, what they did, and how damn long the location was in service... in summary though, 

• originally bought in 1750 to allow for an extension to existing land defences for the harbour - a fort and defending walls was built
• in 1764 though it was selected as a location to store/test/distribute/receive gunpowder from the fleet following concerns raised by the citizens of Portsmouth about the quantity of powder stored in close proximity to the city (!) - it was able to store up to 6000 barrels, and one of the storage rooms, complete with 6 foot thick walls, can still be seen in the museum 
• late 1840's and small arms ammunition manufacturing was moved to the Hard
• late 1860's and they were also filling shells and preparing fuses 
• late 1880's filling new design Quick Firing (QF) shells
• 1890's and new types of explosive were coming into use, including guncotton and cordite.
• an explosion in 1904 lead to a decision to move storage of shells away to a site further from the dockyard, from that point on Priddy's was solely concerned with filling of shells and cartridges rather than storing them
• 1923 and the staff/mission of the former Gunwharf base in Portsmouth were transferred and Priddy's then also became responsible for gun and weaponry refurbishment - they looked after everything from machine guns to depth charge throwers including the large guns battleships would have carried
• during WW2 they would also have been working on, refurbishing, repairing and manufacturing (in addition to everything else), mines, and torpedo's
• The site was last used for significant activity during the Falklands Conflict in 1982, and eventually decommissioned in 1988

Lots and lots of photo's and exhibits of what it was like to work at the site during the war and after - they employed thousands of women during the war as most of the men would have been called up - it had it's own light railway to move shells and ammunition around between Priddy's and the various satellite sites. Absolutely fascinating..

Just a few photo's then of some of the exhibits that caught my eye (mostly because of a connection with my wargame projects!)

Naval Gatling

...a plethora of small arms, captured and otherwise - in this one, the German assault rifle at the top caught my eye...

...and in this one it was the humungous musket in the middle - wall gun, perhaps? Also the boarding pikes and tomahawks...

An honest to goodness Nordenfelt, used (among many other places) as armament on the Nile gunboats

The naval version of the Hotchkiss 1 pdr quick firer.. five 37 mm barrels capable of firing 68 rounds per minute with an accuracy range of 2,000 yards (1,800 m) - a magazine held ten rounds. When people say PomPom gun as per the Boer War  this is what I imagine it would have looked like (though in reality it was the 37 mm Nordenfelt-Maxim)..

...and finally - if the bravery of launching an armed and running torpedo off the back of your boat wasn't enough, this (following) is a "Neger" manned torpedo used by the Germans in WW2, and to be blunt, beggars belief..

...imagine if you will sitting in that thing (itself a repurposed torpedo) but with a live torpedo hanging underneath, fired by pointing yourself at the target and then pulling a lever to release and fire the torpedo...

...there are multiple reports of the torpedo having started running and failing to release (with the obvious consequence!), and despite some successes, the German crews suffered almost 80% losses...

At this time I then decided I was all exploded out.. 😁 A quick trip to the Queens Hotel ensued, and three pints of Gooden's Gold before returning home restored the internal equilibrium - brilliant day out and unequivocally recommended for anyone considering a visit..  next stop, HMS Warrior I think..

Further references..

• Priddys Hard Gosport (pnbpropertytrust.org)
• Neger (torpedo) - Wikipedia

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 ...and per last weeks snippet - well done the Marines!! Barrel of port (speedily) delivered..

Hopefully this following will play for most...  it's worth it..  the Royal Marines bang out a cracking tune, and for me it makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck..  😊

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Laters, as the young people are want to say...