Five huge bangs, repeated, RN probably?

[bikedaft]

1830 yesterday, W end Plymouth breakwater, frigate coming in. 5 huge bangs, really loud, repeated twice more. Cpuld feel the noise in my chest (like a Motorhead concert!) V regularly spaced.

ASW? Anti drone?? Any ideas? Cheers

 

[RichardS]

Someone using the heads?

(As that seems to be the topic of the day)

Richard

 

[wombat88]

Remember Concorde testing along the South Coast?

 

[RivalRedwing]

Seahorse environment regulation

 

[sarabande]

RN way of dealing with whale killer dolphins trying to bite rudders.

 

[bikedaft]

Remember Concorde testing along the South Coast?

I did wonder about sonic bangs, but 5 aircraft all doing it spaced out regularly etc?

 

[capnsensible]

1830 yesterday, W end Plymouth breakwater, frigate coming in. 5 huge bangs, really loud, repeated twice more. Cpuld feel the noise in my chest (like a Motorhead concert!) V regularly spaced.

ASW? Anti drone?? Any ideas? Cheers

Saluting guns, most probably.

 

[Bilgediver]

Saluting guns, most probably.

Refugees making safe passage from France underground and blasting their way through the White Cliffs.

 

[sarabande]

I am sure Capt Sensible knows this reference document about gun salutes off by heart.

Chapter 94 - Gun Salutes (mod.uk)


Imagine the kerfuffle on the bridge when an unanticipated salute is received and has to be answered !

 

[SaltIre]

1830 yesterday, W end Plymouth breakwater, frigate coming in. 5 huge bangs, really loud, repeated twice more. Cpuld feel the noise in my chest (like a Motorhead concert!) V regularly spaced.

ASW? Anti drone?? Any ideas? Cheers

From sara's link:

The interval between successive guns of a salute is five seconds

Were they?

 

[bikedaft]

From sara's link:

Were they?

Could have been. By the time i got the phone out to take a vid/sound track they had stopped. 3 groups of 5?

 

[Hermit]

The saluting guns can also be used as warning guns. Plymouth is the host to Flag Officer Sea Training and the guns could well have been fired as part of an exercise to get a ship alongside into a (relatively) hostile port.

 

[Slowboat35]

The ship you saw was not a Frigate, it was HMS Echo, a Naval survey (hydrographic) vessel.
The bangs are a bit of a puzzle, salutes are always returned so you would expect two groups of x shots with an appreciable space between groups, but three of them? Never heard of that. Additionally there is no such thing as a five gun salute as far as I can tell. A Vice Admiral rates 15 but that would entail two groups of fifteen.

I expect an email to Plymouth VTS would set the record straight.

 

[Hermit]

The ship you saw was not a Frigate, it was HMS Echo, a Naval survey (hydrographic) vessel.
The bangs are a bit of a puzzle, salutes are always returned so you would expect two groups of x shots with an appreciable space between groups, but three of them? Never heard of that. Additionally there is no such thing as a five gun salute as far as I can tell. A Vice Admiral rates 15 but that would entail two groups of fifteen.

I expect an email to Plymouth VTS would set the record straight.

Still likely to be an exercise. Saluting guns are nearly the main armament on a survey ship...

 

[RivalRedwing]

Refugees making safe passage from France underground and blasting their way through the White Cliffs.

Bit thin on white cliffs close to Plymouth & a bit of distance from France too

 

[LittleSister]

Plymouth is the host to Flag Officer Sea Training and the guns could well have been fired as part of an exercise to get a ship alongside into a (relatively) hostile port.

So that's how the Navy thinks of Plymouth?

 

[Hermit]

So that's how the Navy thinks of Plymouth?

Certainly that is what the Portsmouth-based ships think!

 

[Rustyknight]

Maybe if the ship has been at sea for a few months its a warning for the local ladies of the night to brace themselves......

 

[Bilgediver]

Maybe if the ship has been at sea for a few months its a warning for the local ladies of the night to brace themselves......

Possibly putting the Day Shift on Stand By

 

[ianat182]

Could they be checking underwater surveying, how far /deep a sub can be heard, as in whale sounds. or perhap the kind of oil searching/geological soundings?

ianat182