Thursday was a day trip to the Chatham Dockyard with the retired men of the village.
Lots to see on a visit. Really too much to see on one day. We were there just after 10.00 and set off home at about 3.30. The site is due to shut down over the winter on the weekend so this was a good day to visit as numbers had begun to ease off. We also had a bright sunny day. The ticket included two tours of some of the sites in the dockyard and is a yearly ticket so we have 12 months to return. We may well do this as the Hearts of Oak centre was closed for building work and this covers the early history of the dockyard.
Our first tour was of the rope Victorian Ropery that houses a quarter of a mile long Rope Walk.
This is one of the places where rope was made for use in the Royal Navy. The tour was based in 1875 and demonstrated how rope was made.
The next tour was of the Oberon a 1960's submarine used through the later part of the Cold War. Well worth a visit to get the idea of what little space men had inside these vessels.
This is the housing for the Oberon's sonar. This was the submarine's primary job - to spy on what the Soviet forces were doing.
The next stop was to look at the memorial to the many destroyers lost during World War One.
Britain lost 132 destroyers in the war
We then spent time on the Cavalier a World War Two destroyer
One of the destroyers guns with your author
Next on to the Gannet a Nineteenth Century gunboat
Ships armament
Nordenfelt gun
Rigging was being worked on by a team from Maldon!
We then had a look at the "Big Space" which houses an eclectic collection of large pieces
Most impressive is the actual construction of the space including the roof
A very interesting day out and good Fish and Chips for lunch!
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