And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Tuesday, September 21, 2021
Able Seaman R J Allen, one of the gunners on the HMS Albrighton, with a belt of 40mm rounds for a QF-2. 1943.
POM POM POM POM! Unlike the 40mm Bofors, that went BONKBONKBONKBONK! Or the BANGBANGBANG of the Oerlikon. Or the truly vicious WHACK!, of the 5"/38, A nasty, nasty muzzle blast. Sailors received permanent hearing damage from being ahead of the muzzle, as the mount trains round, while tracking the target. Signal men were in particular danger of that, being highly exposed, on signal bridges.
POM POM POM POM!
ReplyDeleteUnlike the 40mm Bofors, that went BONKBONKBONKBONK!
Or the BANGBANGBANG of the Oerlikon.
Or the truly vicious WHACK!, of the 5"/38, A nasty, nasty muzzle blast. Sailors received permanent hearing damage from being ahead of the muzzle, as the mount trains round, while tracking the target. Signal men were in particular danger of that, being highly exposed, on signal bridges.
I often wondered about above-deck sailors in the latter part of WWII in the Pacific!
DeleteEngland once produced men. Now she produces Tony Blairs and Boris Johnsons.
ReplyDeleteNot just England with that problem…
DeleteWhen the RN still was an actual fighting navy, led by fighting admirals and captains.
ReplyDelete