Broad Ambtion & The Royal Navy | Beyond The Harbour

[LondonRascal]

As regular members will be aware, in July Charlie Griffin had organised a trip out to sea with Broad Ambition which would join with HMS Explorer and Trumpeter (HMS Explorer being the last craft Charlie served on in the Navy).  further,  MTB 102 was to take part too and so this was then advertised on here for members wishing to take a trip on board this historic craft could pay a small amount to be put towards her fuel costs and upkeep. 

Come the day BBC Radio Norfolk did a live interview with the skippers of the various craft, along with ITV Anglia News having a film crew on Broad Ambition - it certainly was a day to remember with calm seas, and hot sunshine. 

Now comes the time to share with the wider world a Captain's Blog Special of that special day - this short film charts the progress from our departure at own House Quay in Great Yarmouth, to our maneuvers with the Navy and MTB 102 off the coast of Great Yarmouth and then, taking Broad Ambition down the coast to Lowestoft.

 

Beyond the Harbour

 

[riyadhcrew]

Excellent Robin. Still wiping the salt water off my face. Congrats to you all.

[ScrumpyCheddar]

Absolutely brilliant Robin..

Well done to you all.. Now that's what I call a dream come true congratulations Griff BA looked fantastic out there.. 

 

Mike

[CaptainJoshie]

WOW!!!

Well done to all, what a great day that looked.

What is Broad Ambition's flat out speed?? 

Does life get any better than that Griff, you must have been chuffed to bits and rightly so.

John.

 

[Baitrunner]

Very good Robin.

I am sure we had more cameras than a full BBC outside broadcast team at the Olympics as well!!

What's next Griff?

[grendel]

Robin, That was excellent, when you told me that the two lots of video worked well together you weren't kidding, a very nice memory you have produced there.

The experience was a once in a lifetime one, this memory will keep it fresh forever.

[ChrisB]

3 hours ago, Baitrunner said:

 

What's next Griff?

What about Friesland! Much Broadland history! Loynes had  base there beore WW1. Pleasure wherries were towed there. It is like The Broads on performance enhancing drugs! A really good summer high over the South North Sea and I think you could make it in 12 to 14 hours. I bet plenty of TSDY owners would be willing to shadow you. 

[BroadScot]

Well, well young Robin, you have moved to another level in filming and post production,very professional indeed. 

I am sure Griff will be delighted to keep this video/film as a wonderful keepsake,...I would ! 

Iain

P.S. Loved the choice of background music. 

 

[ExSurveyor]

What an amazing video,  well done Robin,  I loved the shot of Griff drinking his can of beer,  you can almost see him glowing with pride and being 'well chuffed'. 

[Broads01]

Enjoyed that Robin. The shots of BA from MTB102 worked really well. I'm so used to you being in control of all your cameras I found myself wondering how you'd managed to 'jump ship' from one boat to the other! Good to see the BA with the roof lowered on such a sunny day.

[Gretzky]

Good video thanks Robin

 

[deebee29]

Great video of what looked to be a very special day for Griff.

This looked more like a professional tv documentary than a YouTube blog 

Well done Robin

Also credit to Grendel as I believe he provided the footage from MTB 102 (although I stand to be corrected...... As the man said wearing his orthopaedic shoes)

[Hockham Admiral]

Truly inspiring, Robin.           

[LondonRascal]

Thanks for all the comments - it was another example of where I was expecting a things to be a mess but actually came out really well.

[grendel]

2 hours ago, deebee29 said:

 

Also credit to Grendel as I believe he provided the footage from MTB 102 (although I stand to be corrected...... As the man said wearing his orthopaedic shoes)

Quite correct in that assuption. I was filming in video as well as shooting stills, which is why there were occasional camera wobbles as I tried to do both simultaneously. I like the cuts from the footage of MTB coming in at BA and then cutting to the view from the other end so to speak, we did manage to get some well timed video of these occurances - especially considering there was no communication between cameramen.

[riyadhcrew]

I think it was brilliant and well done to both of you.

[BroadAmbition]

Well didn't Robin and Grendel do well there then?  How lucky was I that day?  The filming - well impressive. I'm never gonna be able to properly thank everyone for making that day so special

Griff

[riyadhcrew]

They don't need thanked Griff. All they had to do was look at you and the joy was there for all to see.

[Vaughan]

Lovely film Robin, and Grendel. A fitting tribute to a truly memorable occasion, even for those of us who couldn't be there.

We were talking about flags the other day on here and I noticed that MTB 102 followed the tradition of making her call sign in signal flags when leaving harbour. Mike Foxtrot Romeo Quebec.

The Navy lowered their union jacks as soon as they slipped their moorings but 102 was wearing the banner of St George at the jackstaff when under way. A unique honour awarded by the Queen Mother to the Little Ships of Dunkirk.

I liked the York Rose ensign on B.A. which went well with the York Rose on the side of HMS Trumpeter. I assume this shows her ties to the York universities for whom she is a training ship. She also had the crest of the MTBs on the superstructure, which is fitting, since she is their successor.

These scenes made me think what Gt Yarmouth must have looked like in the war, when it was a base for coastal forces MTBs during the Battle of the Narrow Seas. The coastal forces bases were named after stinging insects - such as HMS Hornet (Portsmouth), HMS Beehive (Felixstowe) and HMS Midge - Gt Yarmouth.

"Beware the sting in the tail."

[grendel]

Vaughan, I thought that the 'beware the sting in the tail' motto was derived from the fact that the original MTB's had rear facing torpedo tubes that dropped the torpedos behind the boat, where they then ran under the boat, thus the sting in the tail?

[BroadScot]

50 minutes ago, grendel said:

Vaughan, I thought that the 'beware the sting in the tail' motto was derived from the fact that the original MTB's had rear facing torpedo tubes that dropped the torpedos behind the boat, where they then ran under the boat, thus the sting in the tail?

American version did?

[Vaughan]

1 hour ago, grendel said:

Vaughan, I thought that the 'beware the sting in the tail' motto was derived from the fact that the original MTB's had rear facing torpedo tubes that dropped the torpedos behind the boat, where they then ran under the boat, thus the sting in the tail?

You are quite right Grendel, and here is my father driving one of them! They had 3 Napier Lion engines and the local Chinese fishermen called them the "wind thunder boats". Note the MTB crest.

 

The next photo is not one of the same flotilla, but the same design of boat. The triangular framework on the aft deck hinges backwards, and projects out from the transom to form rails for the torpedos as they come out through ports in the transom (just visible). The torpedos were stored on rails in the engine room and to launch them, you just took off the lashings and then put the boat "flat out". The acceleration rolled them out of the back and they were armed by a lever as they went out. As simple as that. In theory!

I once asked my father how close you had to get to an enemy ship before launching them. He thought for a moment and said "Well, to be sure of hitting it, about 2 cables.". That's 400 yards, going straight ahead, under close enemy fire! No wonder the Navy soon developed a better way of doing it!

As a matter of interest, if you look at the preserved RAF air/sea rescue launch in the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, this is exactly the same 60ft Scott-Paine design.

 

And here is a nice one of 102, taken before the war and "making her number" in Naval code flags.

 

And here is what she became, once they had gone into full production.

The famous Vosper "Short 72" - known by many in those days as the Spitfire of the seas.

 

[BroadScot]

Also Brittish version too!

[LondonRascal]

Fantastic photos there

[Vaughan]

1 hour ago, BroadScot said:

 

This is the 73 ft Vosper, built later in the war with 4 tubes, and later immortalised by an Airfix plastic kit. They were also well known in the North Sea.

Your earlier photo is a PT (patrol torpedo) boat, designed by Scott-Paine of the British Powerboat Co, after he lost the "short 72" contract to Vospers, with their prototype 102. So you are basically looking at the same boat as the gunboat Morning Flight, in Thorpe. I believe the Americans had some way of launching their torpedos sideways, by tipping them over the side. Doesn't sound any safer than the stern method!