Sunday 21 November 2010

Ship Spotting


Some older and smaller craft.





What is it?

17 comments:

D. E. Reddick said...

Gallipoli or Dardanelles campaign of WW-I against Turkey by British and French forces. The visible small craft appear to be lighters in use to supply the ANZAC forces landed on or near Cape Helles. Just my guess...

GrandLogistics said...

Hello D.E.Reddick,

a very good guess too.
We need the type of lighter.


GrandLogistics.

D. E. Reddick said...

Oh,

Perhaps landings in support of T.E. Lawrence's campaign.

D. E. Reddick said...

Oh - OK,

Which of the five or six vessels pictured do you mean? They do not appear to be exactly the same class / type of vessel, given the differing visible details of each vessel.

GrandLogistics said...

Hello D.E.Reddick,

they are all (or most of them) variations on the same class of vessel.
Lots of builders made them with local variations.


GrandLogictics.

D. E. Reddick said...

X Lighters - the Black Beetles designed by Walter Pollock of James Pollock and Son in 1915 after only four days.

In particular, this picture features (in the foreground) the deck of ‘X’ Water Lighter X28 (L4) Suvla Point (‘A’ West Beach) prior to the evacuation.

GrandLogistics said...

Hello D.E.Reddick,

correct,a better picture can be found here:

http://www.xlighter.org/gallery/016-suvlabay-1.jpg.html


GrandLogistics.

GrandLogistics said...

Hello,

compare that to what the United States Marines were using in 1924:

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/ref/Gators/Gators-1.html


GrandLogistics.

Anonymous said...

Grand Logistics, I have a request. I have never seen a good photo of a German F-lighter. Seen a diagram, and one very blurry image. Can't even find one on the web. Do you have an actual photo of an F-lighter you could post? It's just one of those things. The curiosity's killing me. And you seem to have an extensive collection of images of obscure boats. Anyway, thanks!

Chuck Hill said...

Thanks for the education on an area I knew little about.

GrandLogistics said...

HelloAnonymous,

have a look at these links:

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=159149&start=0

http://atlantikwall.superforum.fr/recherches-et-identifications-f5/bateau-a-port-en-bessin-t450.htm

I think that might be what you are looking for,the Germans had many different types of Flak lighter during the war.


GrandLogistics.

GrandLogistics said...

Hello Chuck Hill,

I have a particular interest in this area.
I have next to me a Turkish officer's pistol belt which an ancestor came across in 1915.


GrandLogistics.

D. E. Reddick said...

Chuck,

Wikipedia has a fairly good introductory treatment of what happened at Gallipoli.

Gallipoli Campaign

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Gallipoli

GrandLogistics said...

Hello,

unfortunately the mistakes of Gallipoli were repeated at Anzio many years later.


GrandLogistics.

D. E. Reddick said...

GL / tangosix,

Yeah, ain't that the sad truth. Lessons not learned and such...

Hesitation and listless apathy are killers in forced entry amphibious ops.

Chuck Hill said...

I immediately recognized the photo as a scene from Gallipoli, but I didn't know anything about the X-lighters.

References I have seen to flak lighters concerned coastal convoys along the Italian Coast as tough adversaries to MTB/MGB/PT boat operations.

Anonymous said...

Wow, ask and ye shall recieve. Thanks! That second link had the best F-lighter photo I've ever seen. Even though that was found off Normandy, it fit the descriptions I've read fron Allied patrol boat sailers from the eastern Med.