#scapa flow

[thebardostate]

My photos from the Royal Navy cemetery at Scapa Flow, Hoy (Scotland). May 31 1916 was the Battle of Jutland, one of the largest naval battles in history. The HMS Malaya took a beating but survived the battle. These sailors didn't.

As the Royal Navy had done for centuries, boys as young as 14 joined with the rank of Boy.

This lonely grave is that of the sole German sailor.

[heavy-nfld]

SHOW ALERT: Scapa Flow @ Trapper’s Cabin - Friday, January 24th, 2025. Show at 10:00 PM.

[ukdamo]

Today's Flickr photo with the most hits: Lyness, Hoy, Orkney.

Lyness was the site of an immense naval base in WWI and WWII.

Now, there remain a scattering of abandoned buildings, a war cemetery & a small naval museum.

[spilladabalia]

Drop Nineteens - Scapa Flow

[wachinyeya]

Ghost fishing gear – meaning abandoned, lost or discarded nets, pots or lines – is particularly problematic because it continues to catch marine life. Crabs, rays, fish and even birds or larger mammals such as seals and dolphins get trapped in the gear, where they inevitably die and become bait for more marine life. And so the cycle continues.

According to a 2016 United Nations report, each fishing vessel is likely to lose 1% of its fishing gear per year. More staggering still is the stat that for in every square kilometre of fishing ground there are likely to be 4.4km of ghost nets.

Ghost Fishing UK was set up in 2015 by Dr Richard Walker, a scientist and technical dive instructor. Walker was inspired by his time joining Dutch divers from the now defunct Ghost Fishing Foundation, to clean up ghost nets in the North Sea, in Croatia and from first world war wrecks in Scapa Flow, Orkney.

--

It currently has more volunteers than vacancies. [Ghost Fishing UK] estimates there are 300 on the waiting list, drawn to the charity through word of mouth among the dive community. The selection process is rigorous, with technical dive skills prioritised. Divers tend to self-fund their trips, though the organisation also receives support from private donations and from conservation organisations including the Sussex Wildlife Trust, World Animal Protection and the Sea LifeTrust. People can help by donating to support the charity’s work, and by reporting ghost gear via a form on its website.

--

Tom Collinson is senior advocacy manager at Blue Ventures, a charity that seeks to restore the world’s oceans and improve the livelihoods of fishing communities. He is enthusiastically supportive of the work done by Ghost Fishing UK and other likeminded organisations, such as the Scottish Creel Fishermen’s Federation and the Global Ghost Gear Initiative. “Ghost fishing gear presents a unique and complex challenge and if it weren’t for these dedicated groups, our reefs and wrecks would be festering under blankets of nylon and dead marine life,” he says.

But he also cautions that benefits these groups bring are tiny relative to “industrial destructive fishing practices and particularly bottom trawling”. Critics liken the latter to using a bulldozer and then a vacuum cleaner on the ocean floor.

[hajimeme1]

NJ's launch and the aforementioned docking after her first underway period has a few stories like that. For instance:

Upon being launched with 100,000 pounds of grease and too few slewing cables, she decided to reach across the Delaware and give her namesake state a little kiss with her bow.

the aforementioned little kiss caused her to get stuck in the drydock where she had her turrets installed due to one of the wooden riders getting stuck in her hull.

The conning tower welds cracked in the Philadelphia winter, so a wood and tar paper house was built over it to protect it from the elements while it was rewelded. you'll never guess what happened to the wood and tar paper house during rewelding.

the shed built over her conning tower caught fire again after she got back from her first time underway.

During her mighty swing to destroy that outhouse that looked at her funny, various crap got sucked into the main condenser (which caused her main engines to fail. not only that, she couldn't steer because her rudders were stuck in mud and her backup engines overheated because water wasn't getting to them). The crap included a four-foot shark, a snake, and hundreds of condoms.

Incredible that a ship plagued by a comedy of errors would later become the most decorated battleship in the US Navy (and change a little geography, as a treat). Makes me think of Enterprise, which had an unfortunate pre-war career iirc.

Also, I didn't even consider that they'd have to make up for the difference in weight between two turrets and stuff for seaplanes before.

Considering the amount of military obsessed trans girls I've met I wonder how these inevitably domesticated sophonts would manage to explain to their owners that they need detailed WW2 battle reports for their latest overnet video breakdown of some obscure battle between the USS *insert state* and the DKM unbekannt

[usafphantom2]

TBF Avengers in formation over the carrier USS Ranger with destroyer USS Forrest trailing while training in the Atlantic off Scapa Flow, Scotland, United Kingdom, 4 Sep 1943.

@Hiddenhistory via X

[herprivateswe]

© The rights holder (Q 74287) A group of Naval Officers at Scapa Flow.

[george-the-good]

SCAPA FLOW, MARCH 1943: KING GEORGE VI shares a laugh with senior officers during a visit to the Home Fleet. // British Pathé

[captain-price-unofficially]

German battleship SMS Baden moored at Wilhelmshaven, May 1918. Following the German collapse in November 1918, Baden was interned with the majority of the High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow by the British Royal Navy. On 21 June 1919, Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter ordered the scuttling of the fleet. However, British sailors in the harbor managed to board Baden and beach her to prevent her sinking. The ship was refloated, thoroughly examined, and eventually sunk in extensive gunnery testing by the Royal Navy in 1921.

[scotianostra]

On the 21st November 1918 the German High Seas Fleet gathered in The Firth of Forth to formally surrender.

I've said it before, but this must have been some sight to see from the coastline along North Edinburgh to South Queensferry.

10 days after the Armistice had been declared, the German High Seas Fleet surrendered to the Allies at the Firth of Forth. The anchorage at the Firth of Forth was merely the first stop for the fleet to ensure complete disarmament; the fleet would subsequently be interned around the Scapa Flow a few days later.

One hundred and six years ago today the crews of the British ships sent to escort the fleet would have observed the historic sight of the diminutive HMS Cardiff leading a convoy of 70 magnificent German battle cruisers and destroyers into internment around the Scottish Isles.

“The greatest naval surrender in the world's history” was how the Glasgow Herald recorded the surrender of the German fleet in the Firth of Forth.It signalled not only the end of German naval power but also the public humiliation of the country that Britain had fought bitterly for four long years.

Some seventy journalists, press photographers and marine painters flocked to Edinburgh to witness ��a triumph to which history knows no parallel.” Among them was James Paterson. The artist watched the surrender from the deck of HMS Revenge. This painting is an accurate record of what happened that day. The sun rising through the haze and fog creates a beautiful glow across the water, contrasting against the aggressive forms of the camouflaged vessels, as seen in the painting among the pics, the second painting is from the 22nd and was created and released by the Imperial War Museum taken, or artworks created, by a member of the forces during their active service duties.

[heavy-nfld]

Scapa Flow @ Trapper’s Cabin - Friday, June 7th, 2024. 10:00 PM.

[iffeelscouldkill]

Spray-Painted Spiders (A PunkFlower ficlet)

A/N: In my day job, I work not far from the Leake Street tunnel, a tunnel in London's Southbank totally covered in amazing graffiti. One day, I was walking through and couldn't help but imagine how Miles might react to the place, and this little fic started to write itself in my head...

Originally I was going to have Gwen and Pav join them, but I decided to keep it simple, just Miles and Hobie, and then it turned PunkFlower-ish ;) How to impress your artistic, graffiti-loving crush, by Hobie Brown: bring him to the Leake Street tunnel :D

Pics of the real tunnel after the fic!

---

Miles' whistle echoed around the walls of the tunnel, every inch of them covered in colourfully-painted portraits and landscapes and swirling abstract patterns.

"So people paint... this whole tunnel?" he asked, gaping at their surroundings. "Don't the cops stop them?"

Hobie shrugged fluidly. The two of them were in casual clothing, spider suits tucked away underneath, and the dim light illuminated the smirk on Hobie's face. "They try," he said. "But we're persistent. Besides, they don't like to come down here too much. It's considered an "unsavoury" area."

Miles was busy leaning back to marvel at the ceiling, which was covered in an intricate black and white design. "Woah, how did they get up there?"

The longer his eyes travelled over it, the more the geometric design started to resemble something... familiar. Something like a series of spiralling, interlocking spider webs. "Did you...?"

Hobie's smirk was decidedly wolfish now. Miles was glad that the dark concealed his pink cheeks. "It could use some flair, I think," he said. He unslung the backpack on his shoulder and took out a can of red spray paint, which he presented to Miles with a flourish. "You up for it?"

Miles reached out to accept the spray can, and their fingers brushed. He answered Hobie's grin with his own. "Yeah, man."

Under cover of darkness, masks pulled down to cover their faces, the two Spiders leapt lightly up the walls and clung to the ceiling. Miles stared at the black and white canvas that stretched out below him. It wasn't often that he built on someone else's work, but this design... Colour leapt into his mind's eye, weaving in and out of the spaces between the webs. He could see it so easily. Mesmerised, and not even aware of Hobie watching him, Miles shook the paint can and got to work.

Hours later, the faint glow of sunrise was creeping into the mouth of the tunnel as Miles and Hobie beheld their completed masterpiece. The webs seemed to glow, highlighted with bright shades of neon green and yellow, while in and around the strands crawled spiders in vivid blue and red. Down the walls, spiders crawled and hid in the crevices of the other artists' work, even scuttling across the floor.

Miles eyed his last strokes critically, adding some pale blue highlights to a hanging spider. It was Hobie's turn to give a low whistle, and Miles looked over to see him nodding slowly in approval.

"It looks good. It looks really good."

Miles thrilled inside, even as he tried his best to play it cool. "Not bad, right?"

He could no longer see Hobie's face beneath the mask, but there was a smile in the older Spider's voice as he answered, "Not bad at all."

Miles took a breath to say something more - and then a shout cut through the air.

"HEY!"

The two half-turned, muscles coiled to spring at the first sign of danger. A police officer stood at the entrance to the tunnel, mouth hanging open. "What the hell..."

Hobie reached out a hand, and Miles took it without a second thought. "Let's Scapa Flow," he said in an undertone, and though Miles had no idea what that meant, he got the message. He squeezed back, and Hobie pulled him along as they sprinted into the dark of the tunnel.

Footsteps sounded and a whistle blew, but the officer was no match for the two Spiders. As soon as they got far enough into the tunnel that they'd be hidden from view, Hobie fired a web and leapt into the air, and Miles followed him. Soon, they were out and swinging through the silvery grey London dawn.

There was no-one around to notice the two figures that alighted on top of the stationary Ferris wheel overlooking the river. Miles was panting a tiny bit from the sudden chase, and with a glance at Hobie, he raised his mask. Hobie followed suit a second later.

"So, d'you like it, then?" Hobie asked.

"Like it? It's amazing. Your world is amazing," Miles couldn't help but enthuse. Playing it cool had kind of gone out the window, but he was too suffused with adrenaline and the thrill of the moment to care. He saw Hobie smile, genuinely pleased.

"You know you can come here any time," Hobie said.

"You mean... like Gwen comes here any time?" Miles couldn't help cautiously checking. Hobie glanced over and raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe a bit different to that," he said. Miles looked at Hobie's profile, wondering if it was the pink glow of sunrise touching his face or something else. He thought he knew what Hobie meant, but he wasn't sure how to be sure. Looking back across the water, Miles was searching for the right words when he felt soft lips press against his cheek.

He turned, surprised, and Hobie drew back a tiny bit, but still so close, his dark eyes searching Miles' features. "Too much?" he checked.

Miles smiled, knowing that he didn't need to find the right words after all. "Just right," he said, and leaned in to kiss Hobie on the mouth.

---

A/N: Scapa Flow = go (Cockney Rhyming slang)

In the real Leake Street tunnel, graffiti is actually legal, and it's quite a tourist hotspot, but since this is Hobie's world I decided to make it a more underground, subversive spot. But I kept the London Eye so that they could have a romantic moment afterwards on top of the Ferris wheel ;)

The tunnel really does have artwork on the ceiling - probably not painted by Spider-people, but who knows :D Here are some photos from my recent visit (the artwork changes every time):

[redarmyscreaming]

SMS Hindenburg arriving at Scapa Flow to be interned, Nov. 21, 1918

[mercurygray]

just because i think this is a fun question, 🔪 ⇢ what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project? — @shoshiwrites

Possibly weird (but not weird to me) topics I have researched for writing projects:

price of beer in Britain in 1943

Anglo-Saxon property laws

Romanichal language

daily life in Jellicoe's navy at Scapa Flow

dinner menus for an Irish Country house circa 1920

roman food culture

google street view of a cathedral

[writers truth or dare askbox meme!]

[z428]

Long time no play. https://fediserve.de/preview.php?id=67cc7bf76708d