Ships: Various
Clyde
2022
|
*New Links to follow*
|
Tankers 2018
|
Tankers 2017
|
|
Tankers 2016
|
Tankers 2015
|
Tankers 2014
|
Tankers 2013
|
Tankers 2012
|
*Page under construction*
As of 2020, all vessels on the Clyde, whether merchant or naval, will be included in a single Shipping page. A combination of less vessels coming upriver to Clydebank or the Glasgow city docks, further reduced as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, and less opportunity for me to get out and photograph those that do appear, means that it`s no longer worthwhile creating individual pages for bulk carriers, tankers, container ships, general cargo vessels, warships etc. I`ve taken hundreds of nautical shots over the years and many of the ship pages are still incomplete. Due to the volume of entries most of the years gone by still comprise of individual category pages such as Bulk Carriers but I intend to incorporate these into a single yearly entry as and when time permits.
January
Asalet
Saturday 22 January 2022: These are my first `ship shots` of 2022. The bulk carrier Asalet (IMO: 9574169) sailed upriver to the Glasgow Docks on a gloomy afternoon with a part cargo of soda ash. Her journey on this occasion had originated in Turkey and she`d called in at the Port of Liverpool en route, taking just under 24 hours to reach the River Clyde from the Mersey.
This vessel was built in 2010 and currently sails under the Turkish flag. With a length overall (LOA) of 169.37 metres, she is slightly smaller than many of the bulkers that visit the Clyde.
February
Stril Explorer & Sten Hidra
Thursday 10 February 2022: Offshore Supply Ship Stril Explorer (IMO: 9484845) is seen here inbound, passing Newshot Island en route to the KGV. She was built in 2010 and is sailing under the flag of Norway. Her length overall (LOA) is 76.4 meters and her width is 16.2 meters. Stril Explorer is classed as a DP2 multipurpose support vessel with a helideck and 70 berths. The vessel can act as a launch and recovery platform for operations with ROVs, ROTVs, AUVs and geotechnical equipment. The vessel, which has conference rooms, a gymnasium/games room, sauna and an outside swimming pool, is on a long-term charter agreement and is equipped with the latest marine survey technology.
|
With the days gradually getting longer, I was able to snap Sten Hidra as she passed the Golden Jubilee Hospital from my window in the evening. On this occasion the tanker had sailed from Gothenburg, Sweden. She dates from 2007 and also sails under a Norwegian flag. Her carrying capacity is 16,670 t DWT and her current draught is reported to be 8.3 meters. Her length overall (LOA) is 144.12 meters and her width is 23.18 meters.
|
FPV Jura
Another back window shot: Storm Dudley was making itself known across the UK when FPV Jura sailed upriver to the KGV Dock on 16 February.
March
HMS Severn & Stellar Alazani
Sunday 6 March 2022: A superb morning. HMS Severn (P282) headed back out to sea after a visit to the city. A slight breeze ruled out any chance of a decent reflection as the River-class offshore patrol vessel passed the Titan Crane though. This was the first time Id seen her sporting her new WW2-style disruptive camouflage colour scheme.
HMS Severn was built by Vosper Thornycroft in Southampton to serve primarily as a fishery protection unit within the United Kingdom's waters along with her two sister ships Mersey and Tyne. All three were commissioned into service in 2003 to replace the five older Island-class patrol vessels.
Severn was decommissioned in 2017, but the Government decided to recommission her as part of Brexit preparedness. She returned to service in 2020 and was recommissioned into the Royal Navy on 28 August 2021.
|
|
Hundreds of geese took to the air as the warship passed Newshot Island.
Stellar Alazani appeared later, heading in the opposite direction.
|
|
The bulk carrier didn`t leave Glasgow until Wednesday 30 March when she set off for Liepāja, a port city on Latvia’s west coast.
These shots of Newshot Island around dawn were taken on 8 March.
|
|
HMS Queen Elizabeth
(HMS Queen Elizabeth slideshow photos BBC News / Crown Copyright).
Friday 18 March 2022: Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth (RO8) visited the Firth of Clyde for only the second time since her launch in July 2014. The 65,000 tonne vessel was last seen here a year ago when she sailed in to Loch Long to be loaded with ammunition at the MOD`s specially upgraded Glen Mallan jetty. Conditions were superb on that occasion, but the pandemic was at its peak and COVID travel restrictions prevented me from driving along for photos. Following the carrier`s recently completed, first epic operational deployment, she again berthed at Glen Mallan to stock up.
HMS Queen Elizabeth and her sister, HMS Prince of Wales, are was the largest warships ever built for the Royal Navy.
Faslane-bound Minehunter HMS Shoreham (M112) made her way up the firth and sailed past Gourock just before the carrier crossed the mouth of Holy Loch.
FS L'Aigle
Usually there are two large-scale Joint Warrior military exercises held each year, one in spring and one in autumn, with activity mainly centered around the waters of northwest Scotland. This year only one had been penciled-in and that`s due in October. However, with the ongoing situation in Ukraine and the demand on resources to protect NATO`s eastern flank, this may be drastically reduced or cancelled altogether.
A small scale mine countermeasure exercise did take place in the Firth of Clyde though involving at least two French Navy warships in addition to Royal Navy assets. One of the participants, FS L'Aigle (M647) is seen here passing Erskine, Glasgow-bound on Thursday 24 March. The Tripartite-class is a class of minehunters developed from an agreement between the navies of Belgium, France and the Netherlands. A total of 35 ships were constructed for the three navies. They were built in the 1980s-1990s in all three countries, using a mix of minehunting, electrical and propulsion systems from the three member nations. In France, where they are known as the Éridan-class, they are primarily used as minehunters, but have been used for minesweeping and ammunition transport in Belgium and the Netherlands, where the Tripartites are known as the Alkmaar-class.
Northern River
Tuesday 29 March 2022: This is SD Northern River inbound to the KGV Dock on her second visit to Glasgow so far this year. She is a large multi-purpose auxiliary ship operated by Serco Marine Services in support of the United Kingdom's Naval Service and is currently the largest ship operated by Serco Marine Services, both in terms of dimensions and gross tonnage. Her duties involve target towing during naval training exercises, noise ranging and data gathering, as well as serving as a submarine escort. SD Northern River can embark the NATO Submarine Rescue System.
April
Another one snapped from the house. Arklow View is seen here heading for Glasgow`s Shieldhall, light, on 12 April. She had sailed from Ellesmere Port.
Ships from the Air
|
On Good Friday, I finally managed to use a helicopter flight voucher which was given to me as a Christmas present over 2 years ago. The Coronavirus pandemic and unspecified operational reasons given by the company meant that previous bookings were cancelled at short notice. As with my previous successful trip with Adventure 001, I was down for a local departure from one of the farms near Erskine, but this was changed late on Thursday evening to Cumbernauld Airport. Conditions were ideal for flying but a bit hazy for photography. Also, with the Clyde and the area around Glasgow Airport being my main points of interest, a fair part of the trip was taken up flying over the countryside between Cumbernauld and the river.
|
Even so, it was still worthwhile but given potential of cancellation at short notice and the hassle involved attempting to find an alternative slot, which could be a year or more away, I don`t think I would bother again. My voucher included an upgrade to secure the front seat beside the pilot and this is recommended for anyone into photography.
There wasn`t much activity on the river but I managed to get a bird`s-eye view of the Waverley and TS Queen Mary, the tall ship Glenlee permanently berthed at at the transport museum, Type 26 frigate HMS Glasgow under construction at Govan and bulk carrier Adastar at Shieldhall. Lastly, further west, the fisheries protection vessel Minna was tied up alongside Clydebank`s Rothesay Dock.
|
|
Above: The Riverside Transport Museum and much of Glasgow`s West End.
HMS Glasgow under construction at BAE Systems Govan yard.
Adastar had sailed from Derince, Turkey, via Liverpool with a cargo of soda ash.
Below: FPV Minna, West College Scotland and the Titan Crane. The mouth of the River Cart can be seen top left.
FPV Jura
By coincidence, the next ship photographed was FPV Jura, seen here passing the Golden Jubilee Hospital on her way to the KGV Dock on 20 April.
Bro Agnes (& the Renfrew Ferry)
|
|
It had been a while since I did the Renfrew ferry circuit, heading over to the Yoker side of the river, then cycling along to Bowling and returning home via the Erskine Bridge. The only large vessel in sight was tanker Bro Agnes, a regular visitor to the Rothesay Dock oil terminal.
Bro Agnes (IMO: 9348302) was built in 2008 and current sails under the flag of Singapore.
|
|
Preparations for a new bridge over the Clyde are already underway with the access road on the south side of the river partially cleared. The new crossing, which will take vehicles as well as pedestrians, will span the site of the old Lobnitz Shipyard and the waste ground immediately east of Rothesay Dock (below) on the north side, as can be seen in these artist impressions.
Another view of Bro Agnes at the oil terminal.
Along at Bowling I discovered the cycleway had undergone a massive upgrade with a completely new section added since my last visit. Rather than parallel the canal all the way along to the basin, a new fork, the Bowline, takes riders through the woodland and above the arches, following the course of the old railway. This extension is finished to a very high standard and is a pleasure to ride on as well as enabling the location to be viewed from a new perspective.
|
|
May
To Campbeltown and back
I had a couple of days exploring Kintyre this month, going over via Western Ferries from Gourock to Dunoon, followed by CalMac`s Portavadie-Tarbert link and returning home by road. Both ferry crossings take about half-an-hour but it was a gloomy morning and there wasn`t any activity out on the water worth photographing. The following shot, taken on the way to Portavadie from a roadside viewpoint, shows the Kyles of Bute. CalMac`s Loch Dunvegan serves the crossing which connects Rhubodach with Colintraive on the mainland.
|
It was still dull when we reached Tarbert but the weather improved during the drive down the west side of the peninsula as far as Campbeltown. Cruise ship MS Spitsbergen of Hurtigruten Expeditions was paying a visit to the small island of Gigha. She is a product of Estaleiro Navais de Viana do Castelo Shipyard in Portugal and dates from 2009. She can accommodate 180 passengers.
During the 20th century the island had numerous owners, which caused various problems and curtailed development, but a community buy-out in 2002 transformed the island, which now has a growing population and a variety of new commercial enterprises to complement farming and tourism. Attractions include Achamore Gardens and the abundant wildlife, especially seabirds. |
|
Live Fish Carrier Ronja Viking was the largest vessel in port at Campbeltown.
Some of the fishing fleet and the Campbeltown lifeboat.
|
|
Above photo © Royal Navy)
Also present, having been temporarily operating from Campbeltown recently, were RNMB Hazard and RNMB Harrier. Delivered in August 2020, these Autonomous Mine Counter Measures vessels initially came under the remit of Project Wilton, a Maritime Autonomous Systems (MAS) team based out of HM Naval Base, Faslane. Now part of the First Mine Counter Measures Squadron (MCM1), Hazard and Harrier can operate in three modes – manually, remotely and autonomously, giving a large range of flexibility to deploy either Towed Side Scan Sonar systems or Autonomous Underwater Vehicles. This provides the ability to very accurately survey the seabed and, after trained analysis, determine the presence of mines and other underwater threats. The new system offers greater flexibility to deploy around the world where it can be quickly set-up for survey and mine hunting operations.
Davaar Island, at the mouth of Campbeltown Loch, is linked to the mainland by a natural shingle causeway called the Dhorlin. At low tide the crossing can be made in around 40 minutes. In 1854, the lighthouse was built on the north of the island by the engineers David and Thomas Stevenson. The lighthouse was automated in 1983 but Davaar is inhabited by caretakers who run holiday cottages and oversee farming activities including Rare breed sheep, Highland Cattle and goats. The Lookout, a square building standing on a small knoll close to the lighthouse, was built during World War II to house naval crews, whose task it was to stretch anti-submarine nets across the water, protecting Campbeltown harbour and its anchorages. During this time it was known as the Signal Station but it has since been restored and converted into a unique place to stay.
The island is also known for its seven caves, one of which contains a life size cave painting depicting the crucifixion, painted in 1887 by local artist Archibald MacKinnon after he had a vision in a dream suggesting him to do so. The painting caused uproar in the area as it was seen as a sign from God; it is said that when the townsfolk discovered it was MacKinnon, and not God, he was exiled from the town indefinitely. Restored several times since, including twice by the original artist, the painting was vandalised in July 2006, having a red and black depiction of Che Guevara painted over the original masterpiece. It has since been restored again.
|
Tucked away on the east side of the Kintyre peninsula, the working fishing village of Carradale is easily bypassed. It lies 16 miles north of Campbeltown and therefore makes an ideal spot for exploring the area.
The small harbour (above), home to a modest fleet of shellfish boats, offers stunning views across the Sound of Arran to the island`s rugged skyline when the weather permits. Carradale Bay to the south of the village, with a wide stretch of sandy beach, is one of several easy local walks perfect for birdwatching. |
|
Fish Farms are big business in the sheltered sea lochs along Scotland`s west coast and a large one is in operation to the north of the harbour.
|
|
Puffer VIC 32 was at Ardrishaig, the coastal village on Loch Gilp which gives access to the southern entrance to the Crinan Canal. The VICs (Victualling Inshore Craft) were designed to act as supply ships for the Royal Navy and transported various goods and munitions to provision the fleet. Over 100 such vessels were built between 1941 and 1946 with the majority being steam powered and only a few equipped with diesel propulsion. It is thought that during the Second World War VIC 32 was based in Scapa Flow for a time as a supply vessel, possibly transporting aviation fuel. She can often be seen at Crinan from where she operates as a holiday charter offering cruises around Scotland`s West Coast.
|
*New Links to follow*
|
Tankers 2018
|
Tankers 2017
|
Tankers 2016
|
Tankers 2015
|
|
Tankers 2014
|
Tankers 2013
|
Tankers 2012
|
Tankers 2011
|
Tankers 2010
|