The two mystery ships pictured in Newhaven are refrigerated ships. In the forefront is the Soviet Vasiliy Fesenkov, built in 1974 in Gdansk in Poland (6,391gt, 139m length), which was part of the famous and popular B-437 series of 14…
The Royal Navy’s fleet flagship, the amphibious assault ship HMS Bulwark, arrived in London on 29 May for a five-day visit, during which Patrick Boniface met her commanding officer, Captain Dean Bassett, to discuss his career, his ship and the…
The submarine pictured is HMS Aurochs, an A class submarine built by Vickers Armstrongat Barrow in Furness. She was launchedon 28 July 1945 and commissioned on 7 February 1947, too late for service inWorld WarIi. A Class submarines were designed…
Cyril Jones, of Seahouses, Northumberland, sent the accompanying photo and said: ‘I would like to learn anything I could aboutthis ship, which I photographed in Yokohama in 2007. Can anyone help?’ So over to our readers . . . what…
Jill Russell, captain of the expedition cruising ship Safari Endeavour, talked to Steve Newman about Un-Cruise Adventures and sailing on the Sea of Cortés and in Southeast Alaska. Do you come from a sailing background? No, my family are all…
This month’s mystery was supplied by Paul Green, who seeks help in identifying the ships in the photo, which was taken at Newhaven about 40 or so years ago and was scanned from original Agfa transparencies. He says: ‘I would…
The vessel in the centre of the picture is Luymes. She was launched at the Gusto Shipyard in Schiedam, Rotterdam in 1951 as a hydrographic research ship for the Royal Dutch Navy. She arrived at Southampton in November 1973 and…
Commander Walter Hansen attended the DSEi exhibition in London in September 2013 along with his, then yet-to-be-commissioned ship, Holland class patrol vessel HNLMS Groningen. Patrick Boniface caught up with Commander Hansen to talk about his ship and his career. When…
This month’s mystery is a submarine, which is pictured at Weymouth in 1947. Or is it Portland? Can any reader supply more information about the exact identity of the boat? Where and when was she built? How long was her…
Several readers correctly identified the April mystery ship as the motor vessel Photinia. Ray Hedley (3rd Mate Photinia 1969) of Sudbury, Suffolk supplied the following information: Photinia was built by John Readhead & Sons, South Shields for Stag Line Ltd,…