Brian Mackie

@brianmackie

WW2 Clyde history. HMCS Niobe / Royal Canadian Navy. Greenock Morton / In the Community. Slava Ukraini!

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Brian Mackie@brianmackie· 8d

Arrived safely in Southampton on Queen Mary 2. From the journey, here is a Mid-Atlantic video, featuring fog and ten foot waves. Very glad not to have to deal with weather such as this, and much worse, on a WW2 Corvette! #navalhistory #maritimehistory

Brian Mackie@brianmackie· 12d

Weather quite a bit worse today, with the Queen Mary 2 about 40 hours (800 nautical miles) from Southampton.

Atlantic Ocean on a very blustery day, seas swelling up to 10-15 feet with plenty of white water surrounding RMS Queen Mary 2

Brian Mackie@brianmackie· 13d

View from the stern of the Queen Mary 2 on a grey and windy day in mid-Atlantic. #navalhistory

View from stern of Queen Mary 2 - a 25-foot channel of disturbed water shows the size of the propellers required to move the ship forward at about 20 knots. Grey blustery ocean surrounds

Brian Mackie@brianmackie· 13d

Views from deck 7 of the Queen Mary 2, of the main deck walkway and of the expanse of ocean far expanding far beyond the horizon....

Queen Mary 2 deck 7 walkway, with wooden caulked boards, a white railing and lifeboats suspended above. The lifeboats have "Queen Mary 2 - Hamilton" painted on the bow. To the left is a wall of windows, with decks built up to 13, so 6 decks higher than the main walkway

View across the Atlantic ocean on a blustery day. Waves only a few feet high. Queen Mary 2 Lifeboats and deck 7 walkway to the left of the picture.

Brian Mackie@brianmackie· 13d

View for'ard in the Mid-Atlantic ocean from the Queen Mary 2 bow, with spare propeller blades stored on deck, just in case...

Queen Mary 2 bow, with white railing and open deck, ploughs into the grey Mid-Atlantic ocean at just over 20 knots...

Propeller blades stored on forward deck - each about 8 feet tall and wide, stored on deck with railings around. Known as the "commodore's cufflinks" these are practical in case of emergency, and something of a naval artistic statement at the same time.

Brian Mackie@brianmackie· 13d

Queen Mary 2 pictures for now as videos too large to upload. Views here from deck 13, in the centre of the Atlantic Ocean...

Looking back from deck 13 bow - red funnel on right, endless grey Atlantic ocean on left, with a walkway and white railing between

View from Deck 13 forward - looking above a covered lookout balcony to a grey sea beyond.

Brian Mackie@brianmackie· 13d

Currently on a Transatlantic voyage on the Queen Mary 2, crossing what before 1943 would have been the "black pit..." ...where allied convoys were beyond the range of air cover, and were therefore highly vulnerable to U-boat attack. Live 2026 footage follows...

A computerized map of ships on the north Atlantic. Many ships are indicated near the north American and British / European coats. The Queen Mary 2 stands out alone
in the centre of the north Atlantic.

A map of air coverage prior to 1943, where a large section of the north Atlantic could not be reached by air coverage. This large area of sea was known as the black pit, and was where U-boats sunk hundreds of merchant ships during WW2.

Brian Mackie@brianmackie· Mar 1

This is Fred Arthur Mascall, 1908-1942, Leading Seaman on HMS Encounter.

A picture of a sailor seated in a studio. He is wearing a white unform with a blue naval shoulder piece. He has short brown hair with a side parting. On his right is a pommel hat with the words "Royal Sovereign", the ship he was then sailing on, in the tropics. His name was Fred Arthur Mascall, he died on HMS Encounter in 1942.

Brian Mackie@brianmackie· Mar 1

An RN rating carries a young girl along a cluttered dock in Greenock, Scotland, March 1, 1945. This famous image, and the story behind it, epitomise naval purpose: protect the high seas, safeguard civilians. This is the story of the Sørøya Island rescue. #maritimehistory #navalhistory 🧵 1/29

An RN rating, wearing a Navy hats and boots, carries a young girl, aged about 10, along a cluttered dock in Greenock, Scotland, March 1, 1945. They are walking past oil drums, tractors and moored ships. The girl is smiling. The rating has the look of someone who has completed a hugely worthwhile task.

Brian Mackie@brianmackie· Feb 25

I believe the QE was a troop ship already by 1942 - carried 5,600 Anzacs from Sydney to Suez in April 1941 - but the ship's carrying capacity needed expanding. So at Esquimalt they added 5-level bunks and other "enhancements" to enable carriage of many more troops (up to 15,000, as per post).

Bunk beds lining a corridor on the RMS Queen Mary. The beds are framed in metal with a canvas 'mattress', and stored by being folded up along the edge of the corridor to make space. Every square inch of available space is used, horizontally and vertically. In this view, 4 beds are visible stacked atop each other, with a storage rack just below the ceiling for kit bags.

Brian Mackie@brianmackie· Feb 1

The Shearwater Aviation Museum is located across the water from Halifax, Nova Scotia, and next to 12 Wing Shearwater, the centre of naval aviation in Canada and home of the RCAF’s maritime helicopter community. Visit if you can - my thanks to @rogerlitwiller.bsky.social for the suggestion! 11/End

The road-side sign for the entrance of 12 Wing Shearwater – a fighter jet wing mounted so it is vertical to the ground. The signs says “Welcome to 12 12 Wing Shearwater” in English and French, and then has the words “WINGS FOR THE FLEET” in capitals. At either end of the wing are the badges of 12 Wing (a seagull flying over water within a gilded round frame topped by a crown) and of the Royal Canadian Air Force (a roundel with a thick dark blue outer rim bordering a white centre with a red maple leaf).

Brian Mackie@brianmackie· Feb 1

Inside the cockpit of the Sea King – a maze of dials, switches and screens. The Sea King had a crew of 4 - 2 pilots, 1 navigator, 1 airborne electronic sensor operator, with capacity for 3 passengers. 10/11

The cockpit of the Sea King helicopter – two seats for the pilots, with seemingly hundreds of dials and measures ranged between, in front and above them. The windscreen is clear in front of them and the left and right halves of the roof in front of them are also transparent.

The Sea King’s navigation and sensor operator panels, with two seats for the crew. A large number of dials and switches are visible, as well as a computer screen, keyboard and radar monitor.

Brian Mackie@brianmackie· Feb 1

The Sikorsky Sea King, an anti-submarine and rescue helicopter designed for shipboard use, in service with the Royal Canadian Navy from 1963 all the way through to 2018. 9/11

A Sikorsky Sea King helicopter, painted silver with an orange nose and the words ROYAL CANADIAN NAVY at front. The helicopter is wide enough to comfortably manage more than two people seated alongside each other, and long enough to carry a substantial cargo. An RCAF roundel centred with a read maple leaf is visible on the rear fuselage. A substantial rotor mechanism is visible above the fuselage.

Brian Mackie@brianmackie· Feb 1

The Shearwater Aviation museum has two halls and exhibits naval aircraft from all eras of flying. Visible here in the foreground are a 1950s Lockheed T33 Silverstar, and a North American Havard from the 1940s/50s. 8/11

One hall of the Shearwater Aviation museum. The Hawker Hurricane and Fairey Swordfish are visible at rear. Most prominent is an early jet fighter, the Lockheed T33 Silverstar, painted silver with a red nose and tail. The word “NAVY” is in block capitals towards the rear of the fuselage, along with a roundel centred with a red maple leaf. Next to the Silverstar is a propellor-powered North American Havard, also with the words “NAVY” painted on the fuselage. The Havard is painted yellow and was used primarily as a training plane.

Brian Mackie@brianmackie· Feb 1

Map chart plotting equipment used by allied aircrews in WW2, used to plot sorties and allow the crew to make calculations regarding sightings and fuel consumption. The East coast of Canada is seen here. Paper, pencil, measures and brainpower required... 7/11

Map chart equipment, held against a fixed paper map of the Canadian east coast north of Halifax, with multiple pencil lines drawn on the map. The equipment consists of 3 flat bars marked with detailed numerical measures in the manner of a ruler, placed flat against the map, with one bar marked ground speed, one marked air speed and one marked wind speed. All 3 bars stem from a circular 360-degree axis that shows North and allows for the aircraft’s current course to be indicated. The bars then indicate speeds via sliding measures that are placed over each one.

Brian Mackie@brianmackie· Feb 1

A Supermarine Stranraer flying boat of No. 5 (Bombing-Reconnaissance) Squadron, based at RCAF Dartmouth, overflies a merchant convoy recently departed from Halifax, Nova Scotia. The Stranraer served as a coastal defence and anti-submarine plane off both Canadian coasts throughout WW2. 6/11

A photograph of a Supermarine Stranraer flying boat overflying a WW2 merchant convoy. The Stranraer is a biplane, with 2 engines mounted towards the centre of the upper wing, two tail fins, and landing floats located at either end of the lower wings. The fuselage is diagonally pointed at the bottom to allow for landing on water. The cockpit is enclosed. The plane had a 1,000 mile range with an 8-hour flight endurance, and a flight cruising speed of 105 mph.

Brian Mackie@brianmackie· Feb 1

To combat German Fw 200 Condor long-range aircraft attacking and spotting convoys, CAM (Catapult-armed Merchant) ships came into service in 1941. They launched a ‘Hurricat’ (converted Hawker Hurricane) on a one-way mission, with the pilot hopefully being picked up after ditching the aircraft. 5/11

A model of the bow of a CAM (Catapult-armed Merchant) ship, showing the mechanism of the catapult and Hawker Hurricat fighter plane ready to be launched. The catapult is about 3 times the length of the plane, and is mounted via a vertical metal scaffold. Visible underneath the scaffold is the catapult mechanism that launches the plane with sufficient speed to enable flight. Two ladders, with a total of about 30 steps, allow the pilot to climb first to the platform and then up into the aircraft, from the deck of the ship. The CAM ships remained in service until mid-1943, when they were replaced by Merchant Aircraft Carrier (MAC) ships.

Brian Mackie@brianmackie· Feb 1

A replica Hawker Hurricane Mk 1, one of the original ten Hurricanes from RCAF Number 1 (Fighter) Squadron, that became 401 Squadron in the Battle of Britain, after being transferred from RCAF Dartmouth. The squadron flew 1,694 combat sorties from August 1940 to February 1941. 4/11

A full-scale Hawker Hurricane Mk 1 replica, mounted on a pedestal. It is a single wing fighter aircraft with a single 3-bladed propellor visible. It is painted in camouflage colours, but the gun port of the four wing-mounted Browning machine guns is painted red. The glass cockpit cover is slid open, and the colours are of the RCAF, with a four-ring roundel coloured yellow, blue, white and red from outside to inside. The tail is painted with a familiar RCAF/RAF inverted French tricolour: red, white and blue parallel vertical line stripes.

Brian Mackie@brianmackie· Feb 1

The versatile Fairey Swordfish biplane (aka the “Stringbag”) saw naval service throughout WW2 and was used by the Royal Canadian Navy / Air Force from 1943. The first allied aircraft to carry radar, it was used as a convoy escort, as well as a torpedo and bombing attack aircraft. 3/11

A Fairey Swordfish biplane is shown, with the outer part of its wings hinged alongside the fuselage, in the manner it would have been kept to save space on an aircraft carrier. Visible is an open double cockpit, with the pilot at front and a gunner / bomb aimer / observer to the rear. A fixed machine gun is visible above the rear cockpit. A very sold fixed undercarriage is prominent – the Swordfish were famously one of the easiest planes to land on a moving aircraft carrier, without damage. A WW2 roundel of the RCAF naval service is panted on the fuselage, with a thin yellow outer border ring, thick dark blue outer ring, thin white middle ring and a red centre.

Brian Mackie@brianmackie· Feb 1

A replica of the RCAF’s Eastern Air Command Operations room map, originally located at RCAF Eastern headquarters in Halifax. 30 radar sites and 22 air stations (of which RCAF Shearwater was the largest) were under command. 80 vessels provided rescue and flying boat anchorage services. 2/11

A huge wall map, some forty feet high and sixty feet long, depicting Canada’s east coast and Newfoundland, with the Atlantic Ocean stretching out to the east. This was based in Halifax at the RCAF’s Eastern Air Command base. Multiple convoys, travelling either along the coast or out into / in from the Atlantic, are marked on the map. A WRCN is standing on a tall ladder placing an update on the map. Desks and telegraphy equipment is placed beneath the map. On the map legend, it is evident that a wide range of items are marked: airfields, seaplane bases, radar sites, convoys, naval escorts, Eastern Air Command aircraft and U-boat sightings.

Brian Mackie@brianmackie· Feb 1

The RCAF has a Naval Aviation museum in Shearwater, Nova Scotia. Active as an air base since the 1920s, the co-located museum has some breathtaking exhibits. So well worth a visit – here are a few sights that caught my eye… #navalhistory #maritimehistory #coastalhistory 🧵1/11

A painting memorializing the service of aviation in the Royal Canadian Navy through the decades. A scroll with the words “Our History, Our Pride” sits at the top, with eight head and shoulder figures clustered beneath and appearing to float in the sky, wearing uniforms from the last 100 years, both naval and aviation. The front figure is a woman, one of the seven men is black, the rest are white. In the seas beneath are aircraft carriers, naval rescue ships and a naval helicopter, with a jet plane visible on the deck of an aircraft carrier.

Brian Mackie@brianmackie· Dec 25

Commander John R Hunter serving the crew of manning base HMCS Niobe, Greenock, Scotland, December 25, 1944. The Royal Canadian Navy tradition of the senior officer handing over command to the youngest member of the crew, and the officers serving a festive meal, started in the 1940s. #navalhistory

Acting Commander (and Commanding Officer) John Rooke Hunter of HMCS Niobe, a Royal Canadian Navy manning base in Greenock, Scotland, serves Christmas drinks to RCN Ratings and WRCNs, December 25 1944. Commander Hunter is wearing his full uniform, with the three stripes of his position prominent on the cuff of his jacket. The stripes are "wavy", indicating that he was an officer of the RCNVR (Volunteer Reserve). Commander Hunter is holding a large jug of tea (or other drink) and is pouring into the cups and bowls of seated and uniformed RCN Ratings and WRCNs, who are smiling broadly, clearly enjoying the moment of their commanding officer serving them. Commander Hunter appears to be enjoying the moment also, leaning in to the task. Men from further down the row are looking on, also smiling at the scene. In the background, some bunting is hanging between the windows of the large room where the serving is taking place.

Brian Mackie@brianmackie· Nov 9

St John’s is now a city of just over 100,000 people. It was less than half that size in the 1940s. Yet it was a favoured destination for sailors, who were well catered-for by a population who knew what it was to go to sea. And the locals are still just as welcoming – visit if you can! 13/End

St John's and the harbour viewed from Signal Hill, in the present day. It is a warm summer's day, and the water of the harbour is deep blue and calm. A tourist ship is visible moored in the centre of the harbour, with the town rising on the hillside behind it. Canadian coastguard ships are visible on the left side of the harbour.

Brian Mackie@brianmackie· Nov 9

The U-190’s periscope and items from the ship are preserved at the Crow’s Nest, a St John’s club established in January 1942 for seagoing Naval officers, that is unchanged to this day. The wall decorations, original to wartime, tell stories that only such artifacts can. 12/13

The periscope of the surrendered U-190, fixed in one corner of the Crow's Nest Officers club in St John's Newfoundland. The periscope can still be used to view above the building. Behind it is a cabinet full of artifacts from U-190.

The Periscope is fixed to the floor and extends fifteen feet up to the ceiling and beyond, with brass control handles and an eyepiece at shoulder height.

A view of the Crow's Nest Officers Club in St John's Newfoundland. Unchanged since it opened in 1942, the walls are covered in wartime artifacts, including many copies of gunshield art from Canadian corvettes and destroyers. In the foreground, a barber pole memento from the Canadian barber pole C3 and C5 escort groups is visible.

At the rear of the picture is a bar, out of picture is a central seating area and fireplace.

Brian Mackie@brianmackie· Nov 9

Hundreds of convoys, each a battle in and of itself, were escorted from St John’s, primarily by the Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Navy. At war’s end, one of their tormentors, U-190, was surrendered and brought into port. 11/13

A German U-boat, U-190, floats in the centre of St John's harbour in May 1945, surrounded by multiple small craft. Men are seen on the deck and in the conning tower. Others are rowing out to visit the ship. The buildings of the town of St John's are visible in the background, on a cloudy day, but where the sun is nevertheless trying to break through the clouds and partially lights up the water.

Allied Naval officers and men on the conning tower of U-190, St John's Harbour, May 1945. A British Naval Jack is flying above the Nazi flag of the surrendered U-Boat. A sailor stands atop the conning tower and holds the end of the British flag, making sure it dominates the smaller German flag below for the picture. Ten officers and men look on from the conning tower.

Brian Mackie@brianmackie· Nov 9

The St John’s dockyard, owned by the Newfoundland Railway Corp, worked 7 days a week from 1940-45 and recorded no less than 1,312 ships repaired and upgraded over that time. Ships with torpedo, collision or weather damage were a common sight in harbour. 10/13

Crew members from the Destroyer HMCS Saguenay stand amidships in harbour in St John's, Newfoundland on November 18, 1942. They are looking at what would be the aft section of their ship, which has been sheared off. The ship is miraculously still afloat. HMCS Saguenay had been rammed in bad weather by the merchantman SS Ezra, and the ship's stern was lost when her depth charges exploded.

Brian Mackie@brianmackie· Nov 9

On March 4, 1942, U-587 attacked the old steamer ‘Terra Nova’, as the ship was leaving St John’s. One torpedo exploded below Fort Amherst’s gun battery, another was caught in the torpedo nets. A sunken ship would have caused severe problems to harbour access. 9/13

St John's from the air in wartime, viewed from above the entrance to the Narrows. Multiple ships are viewed at anchor in the harbour, and the building of the town are viewed rising from the shore on the far side of the harbour. Staggered torpedo nets are visible on both sides of the entry channel.

Brian Mackie@brianmackie· Nov 9

The Newfoundland Escort Force was assigned to the western North Atlantic, handing convoys over to escorts based at Londonderry, Northern Ireland in mid-ocean. Both bases were disconnected from the mainland and were smaller in scale than major ports. But they were ideal as convoy escort hubs. 8/13

River Class Frigate HMCS Montreal (K319) moored up in St John's in 1944, alongside other Canadian and Royal Navy small escort ships. A snowstorm is blowing, and the ship is partially obscured by falling snow. A forward 4-inch gun is visible, as is the central control tower and pennant number painted on the side of the ship.

Royal Canadian Navy minesweepers moored alongside each other in St John's harbour. Four ships are visible moored side-by-side, including HMCS Milltown (J317) and HMCS Sault Ste Marie (J334). The Sault Ste Marie sits higher in the water and is a larger Algerine class minesweeper, the Milltown and two other ships are smaller Bangor class minesweepers.

The Bangor class was primarily for coastal defence and was not designed for ocean-going escort duties. The Algerine class minesweepers were built to handle magnetic and acoustic mines and were equipped with more anti-submarine weapons, and were designed to be used in Arctic waters.

Four inch guns are visible towards the bow of each ship, and a covered control tower is also visible on each. The smoke stack of the Sault Ste Marie is roughly 10-15 feet higher than that of the smaller vessels.

Brian Mackie@brianmackie· Nov 9

Concrete underground gun emplacements were built at Cape Spear, Newfoundland, with 10-inch naval guns in operation by January 1942. The site can be visited today and is reminiscent of similar, and perhaps more familiar, gun emplacements in north-west Europe. 7/13

A concrete underground bunker, excavated from within a hillside, viewed in the present day. The entrance has a large concrete overhang and is about twenty feet wide. Immediately outside, a large concrete circular bunker with steps all the way around leads down to the gun position of a 10-inch cannon. The gun barrel is rusting but still in place. The elevation mechanism has been removed.

An underground corridor of the Cape Spear gun battery. The corridor is square, about eight feet wide and eight feet high. The walls, floor and ceiling are made entirely of smooth concrete. Along the corridor is the ammunition storage room, where 10 inch shells were stored in wartime. On the walls are wartime posters depicting soldiers, the Union flag and approaching aeroplanes and ships. The posters are headlined "Canada On Guard", "Defending Our Coast" and "Let 'Em Have It!" in both English and French.

Brian Mackie@brianmackie· Nov 9

Fort Cape Spear was first manned in June 1941, the same month that the Royal Canadian Navy based its ‘Newfoundland Escort Force’ at St John’s. The men of the 103rd Nova Scotia Coastal Battery staffed the fort, in all weathers, right through to the end of the war in 1945. 6/13