Reminders of war .... (part 2)

[The_Toe_Of_Bo]

Recently, I posted a thread about artillery shells and 6 under wing machine guns being discovered on Shoebury East Beach, which is 5 minutes from where I live.

Well .... it's got worse.

Southend Council has closed East Beach in Shoebury to the public after more artillery and mortar shells were found washed up a couple of days ago.

A spokesman for the Council said "Due to the increasing amount of unexploded ordnance items being found within and near to East Beach, and with public safety our first priority, we feel we must take the decision to temporarily close the beach. The MOD has started surveying works which once completed will allow us to properly assess the risk and make an informed decision as to what we do next. We are working with them to get this work done as quickly as possible. As part of this, we also need to consider the implications of the increasing number of unexploded ordnance being washed ashore.”

It is thought that the recent bad weather experienced across the country, including high tides and waves, has led to more ordnance being washed up around the country, including East Beach.

New signs are to be put in place from today, along with fencing by the weekend.

Even to this day, certain sections of East Beach are permanently closed off to the public. Whilst the old artillery barracks are now closed, the sneaky beaky secret squirrel testing station on Foulness Island still regularly test fires all manner of weird shit over the East Beach range.

Map of prohibited beaches - Barge Pier to MOD Shoeburyness boundary

Just to show what Foulness has got up to in the past, below is a picture of Britain's biggest gun ..... an eighteen inch railway Gun which was developed at the Ministry of Defence, Proof and Experimental Establishment during the war.

It's pictured being moved to the Royal Artillery Museum at Woolwich.

This is no ordinary gun, it weighs over two hundred tons!!

The firm that moved the gun had to use 250 ton capacity crane to lift the Barrel out of the Railway Mounting and it weighed in at one hundred and twenty tons. The Mounting weighed at a mere ninety five tons.

At Woolwich, the gun was placed on a short stretch of railway track especially constructed by the Royal Engineers.

The ceremonial handover, for the gun, was completed in the presence of Colonel ‘Monty’ Cleeve. He was the Commanding Officer of the Royal Artillery’s Railway Super Heavy Guns that were used to defend Britain’s coasts in 1940 and his personal connection with ‘Bochebuster’, one of the sisters of this gun, qualified him Guest of Honour at the presentation.


By the way ....... the shell fired by this gun weighed 2,500 lbs with a maximum range of 14.3 miles.

Woof!!

[Aviation21]

What in the world were they hoping to hit from the English coast that was 14.3 miles away? France is what 21 miles. I can't imagine being lucky enough to hit a ship even if it was anchored.

[PapaPnut]

Still having live ordinance minutes from your house is ...well.... really scary. As far as what they were planning to hit with the rail gun, I'll bet they were just getting prepared for continental drift. The second France gets within 14.3 miles...wham.....

[The_Toe_Of_Bo]

UPDATE:



Just found out that East Beach was closed, for safety reasons at the end of last week, after 15 artillery and mortar shells and 12 machine guns turned up!!!!

To think I used to play soldiers on that beach as a kid.

Could have been playing it for real instead of using my finger as gun.

[DaddyWabbit]

Southend Council has closed East Beach in Shoebury to the public after more artillery and mortar shells were found washed up a couple of days ago.

A spokesman for the Council said "Due to the increasing amount of unexploded ordnance items being found within and near to East Beach, and with public safety our first priority, we feel we must take the decision to temporarily close the beach. The MOD has started surveying works which once completed will allow us to properly assess the risk and make an informed decision as to what we do next. We are working with them to get this work done as quickly as possible. As part of this, we also need to consider the implications of the increasing number of unexploded ordnance being washed ashore.”

It is thought that the recent bad weather experienced across the country, including high tides and waves, has led to more ordnance being washed up around the country, including East Beach.

New signs are to be put in place from today, along with fencing by the weekend.

Even to this day, certain sections of East Beach are permanently closed off to the public. Whilst the old artillery barracks are now closed, the sneaky beaky secret squirrel testing station on Foulness Island still regularly test fires all manner of weird shit over the East Beach range.

I am betting that is where they keep P-nuts Elite Hamster Squadron as well, but one can only guess.

[PapaPnut]

That is still highly classified information........letting the general public know about the devastating effectiveness of well trained hamsters would cause panic in the general population. Rioting in the streets, stock market crashes and the collapse of the entire global economy. It's a risk the DOH (Department of Hamsters) is just not willing to take.

[DaveSchilling]

Still having live ordinance minutes from your house is ...well.... really scary. As far as what they were planning to hit with the rail gun, I'll bet they were just getting prepared for continental drift. The second France gets within 14.3 miles...wham.....

I would also fire at France if it came close..!

By the way ....... the shell fired by this gun weighed 2,500 lbs with a maximum range of 14.3 miles.

Damn, I would love to hit a Fucker Wulf with that thing! The 57mm is just not enough for those pricks!

[The_Toe_Of_Bo]

That is still highly classified information........letting the general public know about the devastating effectiveness of well trained hamsters would cause panic in the general population. Rioting in the streets, stock market crashes and the collapse of the entire global economy. It's a risk the DOH (Department of Hamsters) is just not willing to take.

We so need to rename AOD to DOH!!

[donaldduck1975]

at ft.sill oklahoma usa there is a large collection including atomic annie the only gun to shoot a nuke. might want to make that site for a bucket list for any buff of history

[B.Rubble]

The Smithsonian Atomic Testing Museum here in town has some interesting things. A B53 gravity nuke casing,lots of previously un-seen nuke test footage,including footage shot from the top of Atomic Liquor,which is STILL open here in town. We have Nellis,AFB which offers tours and if Ya "know" Someone,those tours often include hangars of current inventory, and a great history lesson. The Atomic Test sites are open *Some of them* and many of the air-tours here in town will fly ya over most of em in the area.Some are up around Tonopah,and that's a bit extra

[B.Rubble]

this is from the series "Ghosts of Europe/world war" in which history buffs have re-created angles/times of days for iconic WWII battle sites,etc. Then,melded them with current location/etc to stunning effect..this one got My attention the greatest. Amazing work. Reminds Me of exactly HOW Young a Country America truly is.