Visit to retired HMNB Chatham (image heavy)

[Kapitan]

Last week despite the poor weather myself and my friend Jo decided to take a wonder around to Chatham, for those who are not aware Chatham is a very famous naval base and it is also the place where HMS Victory was built.

The naval base itself closed in the 1980's due to the huge defence cuts the conservative government made which would ultimately see most of the Royal Navy dwindle in coming years.

The base itself does hold many types of displays, including model workshops the rope making sheds, life boat sheds and three dry docks supporting 3 very different types of warship.

In the first dock we see the Victorian sloop HMS Gannet (1878) she is still undergoing restoration and there is little to see as she is pretty much and empty shell inside.
DSCN0038 by Blair shaw, on Flickr

DSCN0060 by Blair shaw, on Flickr


She never fired her guns in anger but did shadow the wars in the pacific region at the time and she did search for other ships of interest in the mediteranean and red sea.


Over in the next dock is the one vessel we all come to see she is the submarine HMS Ocelot S17, Chatham is her home she was built here in 1962 she was also the last vessel built at Chatham for the Royal Navy.
She is the centre piece of the trio she has guided tours inside her she is small but well worth the visit!
HMS Ocelot is an Oberon class conventional submarine her design was successful and was exported to Chile, Canada, and Australia despite being built in the late 1950's early 1960's most of the Oberons saw at least 25 years of service and in the case of the Chiliean Oberons the last one paid off in 2008 !

HMS Ocelot S17 by Blair shaw, on Flickr


The Oberons were a follow on class an improvement over the earlier Porpoise class, HMS Ocelot's log books remain classified and are likely to remain so for at least the next 30 years but suffice to say its very likely she spied on Soviet activity in the Barents sea Baltic and Norweigen sea's.
We do know however her sister ship HMS Onyx who was part of the Birkenhead museum until it closed, was deployed to the Falklands and undertook Recon work for the fleet and other duties, she was however damaged when she hit a submerged rock which damaged one of her torpedo tubes.

HMS Ocelot S17 by Blair shaw, on Flickr

HMS Ocelot S17 entered into Royal navy service in 1964 she served with the 1st and 3rd submarine divisions before ending her service in 1991 after a career spanning 27 years, her sister submarine HMS Oracle featured in a 1980's documentary called Perisher split into 4 or 5 parts here is the link:



My friend trying to hold up the submarine
HMS Ocelot S17 by Blair shaw, on Flickr


Between Ocelot and the next dock is something I found rather touching rather moving in a way, this is a simple monument to all those who died in destroyers in WWII.

Odd Bits of Chatham by Blair shaw, on Flickr

Odd Bits of Chatham by Blair shaw, on Flickr


In Dock number 2 or as it is known Victory Dock sits the WWII destroyer HMS Cavalier, she is a C class destroyer with service in WWII she is also the last surviving WWII destroyer in the UK and has now been placed on the national historic fleet register and survives as a monument to all those who died in WWII in destroyers.

HMS Cavalier 1944 by Blair shaw, on Flickr

The dock she sits in is probably the most famous part of Chatham as back in the day a little known warship HMS Victory was built in the very dry dock HMS Cavalier now resides.

HMS Cavalier 1944 by Blair shaw, on Flickr

HMS Cavalier was built in 1944 and served in the artic and also the pacific regions, later in her life she was converted to carry sea cat missiles as you can tell in the other pictures in my album that X turret has been removed and the aft end has a new superstructure.
HMS Cavalier is one of few ships that hold a warrant allowing her to retain the prefix HMS and fly the white ensign something enjoyed by HMS Belfast also.
In September 2010 HMS Cavalier fired the first full broadside from a ship flying the White Ensign since a firing by the destroyer HMS London in December 1981. This was due to the work of the heritage naval gun crew who restored all three 4.5-in guns back to working condition in conjunction with the Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust.

HMS Cavalier 1944 by Blair shaw, on Flickr


Once we had left Chatham we headed to Rochester to have a look at developments with the Russian Foxtrot class submarine, what we do know is that she is in fact the submarine B-49 and she served in the Northern fleet and also The Baltic fleet being transferred to the latter in 1972.
Today she is still in a dilapidated state and still awaiting investment I don't have much faith in the fact she will remain her much longer and I am still trying to reach the owner to try and see if I can get on board.

Soviet foxtrot class Submarine by Blair shaw, on Flickr

Soviet foxtrot class Submarine by Blair shaw, on Flickr



There are many more pictures of each vessel inside my album (too many to post) feel free to comment or question the link is as follows:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/131313936@N03/