CHILDREN had the chance to bake and learn about food that sailors on a submarine would have to eat.
The Royal Navy Submarine Museum in Haslar Road, Gosport, invited children of all ages to take part in a summer activity.
Sammy Sardine’s Summer School had children discovering the food that sailors ate on board a submarine during the Second World War.
On board HMS Alliance, children got to see a Frog in the Bog, also known as Toad in the Hole, illustrated by the museum’s Horrible Science of a Submarine exhibition.
Gareth Brettell, education manager at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum, said: ‘Everyone had a great time cooking the different cakes inspired by the submarine.
‘They got to pick their favourite that others had made, then they had the chance to cook their own.
‘They enjoyed making their little cakes with different parts of the submarine in different flavours and ingredients.
‘We had a tropical fruit cake and a coconut and chocolate cake which the kids loved.’
As well as the cooking classes, families who visit the museum can also learn old ways to communicate.
Kids will have the opportunity to learn Morse code, semaphore and how to write using invisible ink.
Once they have mastered this, they can write secret messages and send a signal across the museum.
The communications day is on August 13.
Gareth added: ‘There is something for everyone this summer
Two Navy servicemen on a ‘Stickleback’ submarine in 1954. Picture: Royal Maritime Museum
A MULTI-million pound museum to create the biggest memorial in the world to more than 5,300 Commonwealth sailors killed in the line of duty, and honour Scotland’s role in the development of submarine technology, is planned for the banks of the River Clyde.
Award-winning architect Gareth Hoskins, who designed the £47 million National Museum of Scotland redevelopment, the Culloden Battlefield Memorial Centre and the Bridge Arts Centre, has been asked to draw up plans for the new £6m building overlooking the Firth of Clyde at Helensburgh.
Funding for the proposed Scottish Submarine Centre is being sought from a consortium of private and public bodies with organisers claiming to have secured pledges of more than £1m so far.
An application for £240,000 is due to go before the Scottish Regional Armed Forces Community Covenant Awards Board for approval later this month.
The Community Covenant grant scheme was launched by the Ministry of Defence in August last year. It offers funding of £30m over four years to UK projects which strengthen ties between serving and former military personnel with their communities.
The proposed Submarine Centre will be the only one of its kind in Scotland. Already, the Royal Navy Museum has agreed to donate an X51-class submarine as a centrepiece of the state-of-the-art digital museum to act as a memorial to submariners from around the world.
The midget submarine is a direct descendant of the X-class subs whose crews trained in the Firth of Clyde during the Second World War to develop the techniques needed to attack enemy shipping in the narrow fjords of Norway. The X51, improved on the wartime midget submarines, was first unveiled in 1954 on the Gareloch in the Firth of Clyde. Capable of carrying a crew of five, the miniature subs were used for a variety of roles. However, the history of submarines and the Clyde is much longer.
It is hoped the new facility will open by the end of 2016 in time for the 100th anniversary of the K13 disaster. Thirty-two people died when the steam-driven submarine failed during sea trials in the Gareloch near Helensburgh on 29 January, 1917 within sight of the location proposed for the new museum and memorial. Brian Keating, a Helensburgh-based businessman who is driving the project, said: “Helensburgh and the Clyde have been associated with the submarine service for more than 100 years. A lot of work was done here to pioneer the technology.
“The Clyde has also played a major role as a home to submarines on active duty. Many of the most famous and daring missions carried out during the Second World War either began here or were in some way connected with the Clyde.
“We want to create a world-class museum which celebrates the marine engineering heritage of the Clyde shipbuilders involved in the development of submarines and serves as a memorial to the brave men from all over the Commonwealth who served in the ‘silent service’.”
Architect Hoskins, a native of Helensburgh, was recently awarded a series of top awards.
The restoration of a World War II submarine is expected to be completed next year.
HMS Alliance, based at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum in Gosport, Hampshire, is undergoing a £6.75m revamp.
The project, which was awarded £3.4m by the Heritage Lottery Fund, still has a shortfall of £200,000 and efforts continue to raise the cash.
Work on the 1940s submarine, which will be a memorial to 5,300 British submariners who gave their lives in service between 1904 and the present day, started in October 2011 and expected to finish in
ALLIANCE RENOVATION UPDATE – Video Clip
TAKEN FROM WIKIPEDIA
HMS Alliance is a Royal Navy A-class, Amphion-class or Acheron-class submarine, laid down towards the end of the Second World War and completed in 1947. The submarine is the only surviving example of the class, having been a memorial and museum ship since 1981.
The Amphion-class submarines were designed for use in the Far East, where the size of the Pacific Ocean made long range, high surface speed and relative comfort for the crew important features to allow for much larger patrol areas and longer periods at sea than British submarines operating in the Atlantic or Mediterranean had to contend with. Alliance was one of the seven A-class boats completed with a snort mast – the other boats all had masts fitted by 1949.
History
From 9 October 1947 until 8 November the submarine undertook a lengthy experimental cruise in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa to investigate the limits of the snort mast, remaining submerged for 30 days.
Between 1958 and 1960 Alliance was extensively modernised by having the deck gun and external torpedo tubes removed, the hull streamlined and the sail replaced with a larger (26 feet 6 inch high), more streamlined one constructed of aluminium. The purpose of these modifications was to make the submarine quieter and faster underwater. Following the modifications the wireless transmitting aerial was supported on a frame behind the sail; but was later replaced with a whip aerial on the starboard side of the fin which could be rotated hydraulically to a horizontal position.
The original gun access hatch was retained however, allowing Alliance to be equipped with a small calibre deck gun again when serving in the Far East during the Indonesian Confrontation of the earlier 1960s.
In May 1961 the pennant numbers of British submarines were changed so that all surviving submarines completed after the Second World War were now numbered from S01 upwards, and Alliance was given the number S67.
On or around 30 September 1971 a fatal battery explosion occurred on board, whilst at Portland.
From 1973 until 1979 she was the static training boat at the HMS Dolphin shore establishment, replacing HMS Tabard in this role. In August 1979, she was towed to Vosper Ship Repairers Limited’s yard at Southampton to have her keel strengthened so that she could be lifted out of the water and preserved as a memorial to those British submariners who have died in service. Since 1981 the submarine has been a museum ship, raised out of the water and on display at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum in Gosport.
Damage to the stern of Alliance in 2008
Although listed on the National Historic Fleet, Core Collection, in recent years as many as 100 pigeons have been nesting in the submarine, causing extensive corrosive damage. She also sits on cradles over sea water, adding to problems of corrosion and preventing easy and economical maintenance to her exterior. Urgent restoration work is required to save the boat, and a major restoration program is underway, which includes reclaiming land beneath HMS Alliance using a cofferdam and backfill. This will also provide easy access for future maintenance and new viewing platforms for visitors, additionally opening up the conning tower and casing. A new HMS Alliance gallery is also part of the project to help ensure visitors fully appreciate the significance of this submarine and what she represents. It was announced on 30 May 2011 that HMS Alliance would share in a £11 million Heritage Lottery Fund grant. Alliance will receive £3.4 million to repair her bow and stern and address extensive surface corrosion.
HMS Alliance on display at Royal Navy Submarine Museum
Career
Ordered:
1943 Emergency war programme
Builder:
Vickers Armstrong, Barrow-in-Furness
Laid down:
13 March 1945
Launched:
28 July 1945
Commissioned:
14 May 1947
Decommissioned:
1973, static training boat until August 1979
Identification:
Pennant number: P147 (S67 from 1961)
Fate:
Museum ship/memorial since 1981 at Royal Navy Submarine Museum
General characteristics
Displacement:
1,360/1,590 tons (surface/submerged) 1,385/1,620 tons after streamlining
Length:
281 ft 4.75 in (85.7695 m)
Beam:
22 ft 3 in (6.78 m)
Draught:
17 ft (5.2 m)
Propulsion:
Two 2,150 hp (at 450 rpm) supercharged Vickers 8-cylinder diesel engine, Two 625 hp electric motors for use underwater, driving two shafts
Speed:
18.5/8 knots (surface/submerged) 18.5/10 knots after streamlining
Range:
10,500 nautical miles (19,400 km) at 11 knots (20 km/h) surfaced 16 nautical miles (30 km) at 8 knots (15 km/h) submerged 90 nautical miles (170 km) at 3 knots (6 km/h) submerged
Endurance:
36 hours submerged at 2.5 knots
Test depth:
500 ft (150 m)
Complement:
5 officers, 56 ratings (63 ratings after modernisation in 1960)
Armament:
Six 21-inch bow torpedo tubes (including 2 external dry close fit) Four 21-inch stern torpedo tubes (including 2 external dry close fit) 20 torpedoes carried (externals could not be reloaded at sea) Mark V mines could be launched from the internal tubes External tubes removed during streamlining/modernisation. One QF 4 inch Mark XXIII deck gun on S2 mounting One 20 mm AA Oerlikon 20 mm gun on Mark VII mounting Submarine was briefly fitted with a twin Oerlikon on Mark 12A mounting. All guns removed during streamlining/modernisation.
Submarine Diary 