Royal Navy Sighted

The Royal Navy sailed by yesterday evening - or what's left of it. This is probably all we can afford these days, a mine countermeasures ship built in 1985. She's a Hunt class ship, the second with the name, the first being a World War II destroyer. That HMS Hurworth was launched in 1941 but sunk with the loss of 133 lives off Kalymnos in 1943 during the German invasion of Greece. There's more about the ship and her sinking here.

As if to rub in the fact that we've hardly seen an RN ship in the Sound in months, two Swedish navy mine countermeasures ships sailed down the Sound this morning.

To complete the twenty-four hours of intense military activity, two Tornados flew across the Sound just before lunch today, the first we've seen in some time. Perhaps the recent weather has put them off or, as seems more likely, the ones we used to see are either heading for the scrap heap or being sold off to someone like Robert Mugabe who, having recently stolen a large diamond mine off a British company, can afford to run them.