GWX 2.0 Halifax port placement
 

First let me say that the mod is fantastic, since downloading, I have not looked back, and am new GWX convert. The only gripe I personally see is the harbor placement for Halifax, Nova Scotia; docks and port facilities. It's not even close...... I am only going by what the game map shows me is the port facilities location, as I have yet to sail there yet in the game. The map views shows the dockyards placed on the island at the mouth of the harbor, which is McNab's island. This is not accurate. McNab's island held gun casements, and observation posts during the war, but wasn't, and still is not populated to this day. The commercial, and naval docks are on the Halifax peninsula a few km's inland towards the Bedford Basin. I'm not taking anything away from the mod designers here, but I have lived in hfx for 42 years. I think this is important, as those who wish to try to penetrate the port have what seems wide open access to the harbors mouth. In truth the only way in or out of hfx harbor then and now is the narrow channel between McNab's island and Chebucto head. This distance is at best 1-2 kms wide, and during the war was sub netted, and under constant watch. Not to mentioned riddled with shoals. Just wanted to help. Thanks Ted.

Good observations. You might want to post them on the GWX 2.1 thread so that maybe they can be included in the update.

BTW, was this channel you speak of the place where the explosion occurred in WWI? I bought a book on the disaster but I don't have access to it at the moment... :damn:

Yeah, agreed, nice observation Shoopzee :yep: Nice to see a fellow Maritimer
at SUBSIM :up: I am from PEI.

Be sure to post some more here :D


RDP

Hfx explosion
 

I will post correction on the GWX forum..... Thanks.

The explosion happened closer to the opening of the Bedford Basin. If you look on the google Maps, you will see two bridges between Halifax, and Dartmouth on the other side of the harbor. The area around the bridge furthest to the west is where the explosion occurred. This place is called the narrows, and for good reason. It is just before the inner basin. The basin is where all the HX convoys mustered before setting out across the Atlantic. Both my parents grew up in the north end of the city, very near the ground zero of the explosion, and they both have vivid memories of the large sheltered basin filled with ships waiting to be assigned convoys during the war. My fathers family moved there after the Halifax explosion, but my deceased grandmother on my mothers side of the family lost an eye in the explosion. A large proportion of the injuries suffered were a result of flying glass.
Take a look at the basin area on google maps, and whole halifax harbor area environment. It's no wonder no uboat ever tried to make it in. I find it fun how all this ties into a game, when you live in an area that played a real role in the battle of the Atlantic.
As a footnote from the other side of the war, my wifes mother is german, and her mother remarried after her first husband died in the war. Recently we found out that her step father served on a uboat in the war, and we even found his record on the uboatnet webpage. He died several decades ago, but my mother-in-law has told me his stories of being on missions off Nova Scotia. Small world huh. Cheers Ted.
If you like I can post plenty of photos of the many defense installations that can still be found around the harbor. It was really well defended, lots of fun hiking around these areas.:up:

You should start a career with a XID2 and sail out there just to get a peek.

Then you could take some screens, log into photoshop and prepare a power point for the GWX team! Or at least impress us some more with it. :up:

Tis not GWX placed but stock SH3 placed
Wont be moved either as that harbour kit is made to fit the terrain ingame there
No other harbour is anythng like Halifax ( from a game model POV ) and anything added in its place will be worse

hfx info
 

If anyone is interested, perhaps I'll put together some photos, and compare those to some screenies in the game. I'm a photographer by trade, and I have made the investigation of a lot of the ports fortifications a hobby. Halifax has a lot to offer the naval historian. We have a awesome 18th century citadel built by the british, that overlooks the harbor, and is now a military museum, and a lot of the WWII gun emplacements, bunkers, and OP's mentioned in the above threads that were just built around existing batteries built at the time of the French Indian War through to the war of 1812. Down on the waterfront is the HMCS Sackville, a fully preserved WWII corvette.
Q: What is the best way to upload photos onto the forum here? I'm working tomorrow, if I am out around Chebucto Head, I'll take some photos to illustrate what my first thread was trying to explain. Shoopzee.

Thanks -that would be interesting (even if the SH3 equivalent can't be changed). I looked at the satellite renders of Halifax and saw what looked like abandoned fortifications but it was hard to tell - some ground-level pics would be great.

Halifax is not alone. Take a look at Kiel and Wilhelmshaven with Google Earth. They must have changed some in the last sixty years, but certainly not that much!

Wartime aerial shot of Kiel

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/i...000/h97505.jpg