rritchie71 wrote:MikeJames wrote:USS Roosevelt arrives in HMNB Devonport this morning.
Mike
USS Roosevelt, what a beautiful ship…
Do I detect a hint of bias there Robert?
We see some brilliant images on this Forum, but it is easy to dismiss the relevance of some of the locations. Some detail regarding the third image which might interest some readers, noting that specific dates are hard to pin down and can vary depending on the source viewed:
The large 'shed' type structure in the background, just to the left of Roosevelts upper-works, has just a small smattering of history about it.
Located in South-Yard, the structure stands over No.5 Slip, which was built during the Devonport Royal Naval Dockyard (then known as Plymouth Dock) expansion beginning in 1761. The timber framed cover was added in approximately 1814 to protect the wooden Ships from the elements during their construction. When built, this and similar structures featured some of the widest span roofs in the World prior to the iron framed sheds and stations associated with the British railway age.
Later in its history, a floor base was constructed over the top of the stone Slip and the sides were completely covered in. Then re-purposed as the Yard Scrieve Board, it provided a drawing floor on which the lines of a vessel under construction could be scribed/drafted at full size as a master datum. In 1983, as a young spotty faced Apprentice, I was lucky enough to get a tour of this magnificent building. To the untrained eye, what must be thousands of overlapping, crisscrossing multi coloured scribed/routed lines would mean nothing. But each is meticulously marked with the Ship Class and I.D, purely for example, 'KENT FR24', referring to the Kent Class of Cruiser, Frame 24 (HMS Cornwall was built there). The newest markings, which I was shown, are for the Leander Class Frigates. HMS Scylla, commissioned in 1970, was the last Warship built at Devonport.
Whilst the roof and side sheeting is no longer original, the heavy and intricate timber frame inside that gives the building its distinctive shape is.
It is English Heritage Grade 2 Listed and survives as an amazing piece of history, despite receiving the attention of Herr Hitlers Luftwaffe who rather rudely dropped over fifty incendiary bombs on its roof during WW2.
To give some context to the dates, on 18th July 1814, Englishman Matthew Flinders published a map and book (named 'A Voyage to Terra Australis') describing one of the little trips he took to the other side of the World a few years previously. Unfortunately, he died the day after, aged just forty, probably as a result of gonorrhoea he contracted in Tahiti twenty years earlier.
As some of you will know, he was part of the expedition that included the first recorded circumnavigation of the Continent of Terra Australis in 1800/1803. The map he created was remarkably accurate considering the surveying instruments and methods of the time. It is said that he was the first to suggest the final name of Australia, and that his observations confirmed that New Holland and New South Wales were part of the same landmass. Also, that Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) was a separate island not connected to the mainland except by the stormy seas of the Bass Strait.
The delay in the publication of his findings was due to him being captured during his return voyage to England by the French on Mauritius in 1803.
Accused of being a spy, he was imprisoned there until 1810. What an extraordinary life, read his book if you get time.
Nige