Those New Navigation Light Piles Outside Portsmouth.

Two things occur to me:
1. Shouldn't we be applauding the RN for good seamanship in encouraging their guys to NOT rely solely on electronics?
2. In time of war electronics and GPS would be switched off or jammed.
 
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1. Shouldn't we be applauding the RN for good seamanship in encouraging their guys to NOT rely solely on electronics?

They're putting oil lamps on these posts?


Can anyone work out if the transit lines up with Nelson's Memorial which I thought was originally an RN transit back in the day but Google is silent on that so maybe I got that wrong.
 
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Accepting that they are necessary (there is a whole other thread there!) there seems to have been no thought to aesthetics in the design of the structures. I would expect to see that sort of utilitarian metalwork in an oil refinery or a chemical plant, but right in front of a holiday promenade I'm sure they could have done better. And I have done a fair amount of structural steel design over the years.

Its done. The Carriers will be operating for 50 years. We will be gone............. to Neptune. :encouragement:
 
They are there because the RN are stinkpots and the 'drivers' don't know what they're doing. Now if the RN still used sail there'd be no need for flashy lights as they'd navigate by their noses and the fragrance of Portsmouth's famous 'lady's of the night'. :encouragement:

How many times have you sailed a yacht through Pompey harbour entrance? Did you call QHM to advise?
 
Must admit that it puzzles me why in the 21st century we are building super-carriers that can go anywhere in the world, but can't find their way in and out their home harbour without additional nav aids!

Puzzle no more. Consider the difference between 'pilotage', 'open ocean passagemaking' and 'expeditionary warfare'. Simple. ;)
 
Must admit that it puzzles me why in the 21st century we are building super-carriers that can go anywhere in the world, but can't find their way in and out their home harbour without additional nav aids!

My guess is it is because there are GPS blockers out there and in the eyes of the MOD they are vulnerable to attack at this point.

the other thing is that the UK is going to switch of Loran-C and this might be part of the preparations.
 
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Can anyone work out if the transit lines up with Nelson's Memorial which I thought was originally an RN transit back in the day but Google is silent on that so maybe I got that wrong.

The new transit passes about a half mile west of Nelson's Monument. No idea if the monument was ever a transit mark or what it would have been in transit with.
 
The new transit passes about a half mile west of Nelson's Monument.

Thanks.

No idea if the monument was ever a transit mark or what it would have been in transit with.

I'm starting to have my doubts. I found nothing with Google and I'm guessing a few YBWers have looked and failed to find anything.

line up the column with the side of a brown block of flats behind it...

Hard to imagine 19thC warships using either of those since once would have been build after 1918 and the other was built in living memory. Also can't possibly line up with the new transit whereas Nelson's Monument is tantalizing close to lining up. Apart from that sounds very likely! :)
 
..and not far from the aforementioned posts, but to be fair this was being towed.. :)

agroundair.jpg

HMS Vanguard. Didn't want to go to the breakers yard.
 
The new transit passes about a half mile west of Nelson's Monument. No idea if the monument was ever a transit mark or what it would have been in transit with.

Looking at the chart and satellite images, it wouldn't be a terribly convenient transit. By the time it is in line for a safe passage into Portsmouth you would practically be entering the harbour. If you tried to pick up a transit any earlier you would be taken over Hamilton and Spit Banks. As Alahol2 says, the new transit passes to the West of the monument.

Unless, of course, the position of the banks and the main channel into Portsmouth has shifted further East over the last 200 years? Although the position of Spit Sand Fort would suggest otherwise.
 
Looking at the chart and satellite images, it wouldn't be a terribly convenient transit. By the time it is in line for a safe passage into Portsmouth you would practically be entering the harbour. If you tried to pick up a transit any earlier you would be taken over Hamilton and Spit Banks. As Alahol2 says, the new transit passes to the West of the monument.

Unless, of course, the position of the banks and the main channel into Portsmouth has shifted further East over the last 200 years? Although the position of Spit Sand Fort would suggest otherwise.

Really good points.

I suppose it could have been a transit up Fareham Creek or to avoid some long since dredged obstacle within the Harbour, but seems implausible.

Having said that I can't help but think that if it was purely a memorial a higher point of the Hill might have been more tempting and there are other tributes to Nelson that are Navigation marks of some kind. Also this tells us: "even today mariners can check their positions by the monument." Which implies it might have been placed with some navigational purpose in mind.

It's here if people want to enjoy a ponder.
https://binged.it/2dwwLBh

Quite nice to have a question that Google doesn't definitively answer in seconds. It's like living in 1993. :)
 
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Having said that I can't help but think that if it was purely a memorial a higher point of the Hill might have been more tempting and there are other tributes to Nelson that are Navigation marks of some kind. Also this tells us: "even today mariners can check their positions by the monument." Which implies it's been of some navigational purpose in the past.

Maybe someone else owned the higher point of the hill? :)

I wouldn't set much store by a throwaway comment from a non-nautical amateur historian.

I've never noticed the monument in question, but presumably one could take a bearing on it. People check their positions by the Fawley Chimney (if they're on a Day Skipper course, anyway :) ) but it doesn't need to form a transit for them to do so.

Pete
 
I've never called QHM to enter either, I only call QHM to cross to Gun Wharf. Do you get permission to enter the harbour?

If for some reason you have to sail in or out (engine failure, or engineless boat) then you're supposed to talk to QHM first.

Pete
 
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