Submarines. Part-Two.

UN Debate on Drone Weaponry?

A great debate is underway in relation to drone military weapons and how they are to be deployed and used in the near future? Concerns are in relation to target identification, can it tell the difference between hostile and non hostile and how will it know when a conflict is over if it was to meet its equivalent on the battle field?

As more and more aircraft become pilotless, so does the submariner drones based in the Midget subs these have similar capability? But it is not known if they are mini-Subs in their own right or just do reconnaissance work?

Despite money still being spent on the development of new classes of submarines, sometimes it is safer for machines to have that human override and the ability to identify friend from foe/ The next fifty years will ultimately see the introduction of more unmanned craft at sea, while armies will have vehicles without humans.

The advantages will be more weapons capability and choice to deploy in war, meaning that space of the design can be utilised to the best of ability? Much of this has arisen because of the Nano technology that one has in ones phone today, and the 'Posnotronic' brain of Science-Fiction will soon be a reality.  

Built into each unit will be advanced sensor's, sonar and so much more, that the mini-sub drone may never return to base in its life time, since it will be able to self repair and be upgraded via military GPS?

Hunters of the Sea. Part-One.

Fishing Industry.

Have you seen the two recent programmes on television in relation to what fishermen get up to at sea? The Catch and Trawler Wars open to the general public where our hake and cod today comes from and the risk endured daily by crews in all weathers at sea.

Fishing vessels come in all sizes from small one man and his fishing rod to factory ships, but generally they are in the Trawler class. These classes of vessels vary from nation to nation in how they are built and laid out, but they basically all try to do the same thing.

These two programmes and I am sure their are many other, reveal that the fishing industry is surviving on the edge. European quota's and many other International agreements do not benefit fishermen from individual nations, because it now allows others to fish in their waters and vise versa.

Tugboats. Part-One.

Sea Haulage.

There is quite a lot more to the humble tugboat than meets the eye! Haulage is big business on land, in the air and so it is also at sea. Tugboats have a great expanding history to them from their first introduction, as a ship type in 1830 to the present day.

With the introduction of this seaborne assistant no major changes were made for the first seventy years of service in the British Isles. But over the last 110 years much has changed to the various new classes and their roles, which now include search and rescue, floating fire engines and a few newer type oil rig towing and recovery roles.

The RNLI. Part-Two.

'Always on Call.'

We have seen one of the worst winters across the British isles in this past year, with storms, high winds and severe flooding. Through it all and every day the men and woman of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution carry on with their daily call outs to save lives.

The R.N.L.I. founded in 1824 is unique in that it is funded by public contributions from the public and most, if not all staff are trained volunteers, The service operate a number of different type of boats from inshore to deep water. Types such as the Oakley and Waveney, various inflatables and now hovercraft to cross vast areas of sand.

There has been various improvements in relation to boat design leading to the new nearly unsinkable version, but the main stay remains the Arun, Clyde, Tyne and Mersey classes. All Life boats are fitted with powerful engines to operate at sea in severe weather and wave conditions.

Trawlers. Part-Two.

Issues.

When we talk about the fishing industry today many people get upset about the lack of stocks and the problems of overfishing. Yet every nation that has a coast or large lakes will have fishing families that rely on the industry in one form or another.

People need to sit back and do some research into the history of the industry, one hundred years ago the traditional fish supper fed the masses of the working classes in Britain and Ireland and perhaps in a few other countries too.

The word sustainable is big amongst those who know very little about livelihoods and the dangers of working the seas and lakes with any kind of boats. Many fisher  people have been drowned on a lake with a line and hook, apart from severe weather at sea.