Italian deployments for COVID-19.

IVECO .

At this time most of us across the globe cannot escape the serious requirement to stay indoors because of this virulent virus that is spreading and worsening as it has in both China and now Italy?

It is noted with the deployment of the army to maintain a lockdown some vehicles deployed came from the Iveco range, Trakker At190T, LMV (2) Light, the MUV utility M40.is Torpedo and the WNS Ambulance version.

These type are the basis of a paramilitary support to the Police and are the versatile end of a successful range of good quality military hardware!

We tend to only know Iveco for limited number of heavy goods vehicles in which they are employed in the building industry, but Italy has its own manufacturing base for many important types and their own equivalents the Jeep?

Norton is back!

British racing Bikes 2018!

It is amazing that the Norton motorbike manufacturer is back with a new composite design and making fifth place in the Isle of Man TT races!

Some will say for how long in comparison to what is coming out of Japan and others such as Italy and BMW, but some of these countries have started to slacken off a bit economically and Britain can once more get a foot on the rung?

Individual designed bikes look like the future course and the introduction of electric versions are also another course in the development of these machines? Only time will tell if the British police forces buy this new Norton model or not!

Submariners. Part-One.

Submarines, and Drones.

Many nations around the world still build, buy and use the submarine, technology has moved on with computing, nuclear power and drone ability? The early vessels were cramped and many crews on board died from fumes poisoning. The U.S lead with the first Holland Class vessels, which the British and many other nations copied and adapted.

But it was Imperial Germany that made the advances in the submariner world, with their own design which remained effective into the 1920's. With the advance of National-Socialism in Germany a new improved class of boats came into effect that was well ahead of all the nations.

Britain and the U.S. did catch up quickly during the second world war (1939-45), while others lagged behind such as Italy. It was the development of Sonar from Radar that gave Britain and the U.S the advantage of knowing where the enemy was. Many other nations opted for the Midget subs along with Britain and these small boats if they survived their missions could be quite effective, but they were really very limited?

From the Cold War era (1948-1994) it was the Soviet Union and the U.S.A that have dominated the design and construction of some seriously advanced vessels, while Britain and France have not been left out of the picture with their own. Nuclear powered vessels do not need to surface to be refuelled, they can remain hidden for months at great depths.

Advancements in miniaturization has allowed for drones of various type and robotic subs to be put into service doing dangerous work, without the cost of human life and losses.

Entertainment Trailers. Part-One.

Ancient times to the Present.

People have always wanted to be entertained or to see something new?

Today many trailers are designed for music systems or mobile bands, in fact a trailer can be used for many things in this area? In ancient times a long waggon was used like a caravan or stage coach for the transportation of Royalty or other military usage.

The recording of the first serious entertainment trailers was in the 16th Century when showmen appointed by various wealthy families where commissioned to display Menagerie's of animals, lions, wolves, birds, elephants, snakes and other unknown animals to the British Isles.

Similar developments also travelled across the rest of Europe, while Italy and France may have seen the first mobile plays. But the trailer did not come to the fore until the development of the steam engine and the German inspired organs, where today these fascinating machines can be seen at the many steam and vintage fairs across Britain.

Sea Power In the Med. Part-One.

European Force. 

There at this time two major areas of European involvement with Naval vessels, the Gulf of Aden between Yemen and northern-Somalia protecting western shipping from being hijacked. The other is in the Mediterranean dealing with refugees fleeing Libya or north-Africa.

Ireland last year donated their Emer Class Corvette LE Aoife P22, to the Maltese Navy as P65. It is the first warship for Malta, since the Crusades 1091-1340. It is now part of the European force, that has seen the U.K. deploy two Frigates and one support ship HMS Hermes.

Everyday the Italian Navy is overwhelmed by the number of crap boats trying to get to the island of Lampadusa, many hundreds of people are drowned each day on these fatal crossings. 

Finland and Sweden, along with France and perhaps the British patrol the Arabia sea, Gulf of Aden and the narrows into the Red sea. The task here is to protect gas and oil tankers heading to Europe with their cargoes from the Persian Gulf. Hijacking and hostage taking is big business for Al-Shabab and other affiliated Al-Quida militants in this region.

Snow Patrol. Part-Two.

The elusive white Stuff.

This year the Britain, Ireland and Northern Europe are experiencing some of the warmest winter temperatures on record. But in the southern-hemisphere New Zealand and Antarctica, the warmest also for their summer.

Santa must of forgot something this year? 

Despite the lack of snow here, America and Canada are having severe storms and drifting and even their specialised machines cannot operate because of the heigth of the drifts. Despite many clever designs that are available, there are just times when non of them can get out and do their thing.

Many modern snow ploughs now, do much more than shovel snow, they can heat the tracks, sand, de-ice and brush a path through. Italy-Switzerland employ such trains daily to keep their mountain railways open. Some of these machines have been adapted to work on air crafts, allowing them to continue to operate in snow and ice conditions.

Under Water. Part-One.

The Submarine.

This year marks the 100th Anniversary of World War-I (1914-18), when the advancement on the Irish inventor Holland was deployed by the British Royal navy against their Imperial German equivalents. Britain, America. Japan and Italy where some of the first to have this new 'warship of the deep.'

Compared to all that has been learnt with two World Wars and the 'Cold War,' they were really basic and very much death traps, but at the time very secret and state of the art. 

These early submarines was very effective in taking out merchant shipping and if not detected naval ones also. It was believed for some time that Imperial Germany may have sunk the RMS Titanic, meaning that they were operational from 1910.

These first subs really operated just below the water line or sea surface and were not the real divers of the 'Cold war and present day.

Blue Sky M.

Abandoned Ships.

This has now been under way for some time with various boats crossing the Mediterranean Sea to Italy or to the Island of Lampadusa. These migrants were generally from Libya, Somalia, Eritrea and various other north-African countries, were life is not really worth living.

Now it seems that the phenomena has moved to the Adriatic Sea and these are mostly Iraqis and Syrians. This form of purchasing cheap vessels is nothing new, enough money can be made from the extortion of desperate people to buy more and more ships, fishing boats and other rickety vessels for the one way trips.

The sad fact about the whole world of the shipping industry as we are starting to see, is that it can sometimes be very hard to find who actually owns a vessel. The flags of registration do not really tell us much about the origin of the vessel and who makes up the syndicates that share the profits. Meanwhile many of the crews of these ships are paid pittance or never paid at that.