Military Nostalgia – Tank Landing Ship HMS REGGIO L 3511 at Malta
HMS REGGIO L 3511 was a a tank landing ship (LST) Mk 3, of which 80 were built by Canada and the UK. She was built as LST 3511 by Davie Shipbuilding and Repairing Co. Ltd. at Lauzon, Quebec, Canada and was launched in November 1944, commissioning in mid-September 1945 and thus missed the Second […]
Military Nostalgia – Dark Class Gunboats at Malta
A total of 27 Dark Class Fast Attack Craft were ordered for the Royal Navy between December 1951 and January 1952 , but only 18 were completed, the remainder being cancelled in 1955. Fitted with 2 shaft Napier Deltic 16 cylinder diesels, the Dark Class were the first diesel engined fast patrol boats, the earlier […]
Preserved Ships – HMS BRISTOL D 23 bid launched to preserve her – December 2022
A bid was launched to preserve the Type 82 destroyer HMS BRISTOL D 23 , the only ship of her class built for the Royal Navy as a museum ship in Portsmouth. In fact she’s the only FALKLANDS WAR survivor in Britain. During 1991 while she was part of the Dartmouth training squadron, she suffered […]
Former Military – Maltese Fishing Vessel MADONNA TA POMPEI F 14
One of the former British Forces vessels left in Malta and acquired for various services was the Harbour Defence Motor Launch (HDML) ML 1271 built in 1943 by and used as the fishing vessel MADONNA TA POMPEI F 14. As HDML’s their numbers were from ML 1001 to ML 1600, designed by the Admiralty and […]
Former Military – TREVOSE
A prototype General Service Launch built in UK for the Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineeers of the British Army is still trading with her original name – TREVOSE. She was built in 1964 by Thornycroft, Southampton with 74 tons Displacement as a General Service Launch for the War Department Fleet, performing duties with the Royal […]
Emergency Vehicles – M-0032 Dennis F 44 Rolls Royce Fire Engine at Malta
The Fire Section within the Malta Police was set up in 1934. In April 1936, it started making use of the first ever fire engine at its disposal. For many years the responsibility for Fire Services was in the hands of the British services in Malta. In 1883 the Malta Police were given some fire […]
Maltese Fortifications – Fort Leonardo – 22.04.2020
FORT LEONARDO also known as Fort San Leonardo or Fort San Anard, is a polygonal fort (no bastions) in Żabbar, Malta. It was built between 1872 and 1878 by the British between the villages of San Leonardo and Żonqor above the shore east of Grand Harbour as part of a program of improvements to Malta’s fortifications. The fort was to be called Fort […]
Maltese Islands – Sound Mirror (il-Widna) at Maghtab
Believed to be the only sound mirror outside England it is known locally as “il widna”, Maltese for “the ear”. The construction of early warning sound mirrors was proposed in the early 1930s to help protect the key imperial locations of Gibraltar, Malta and Singapore. Four sites were identified in Gibraltar, but there were concerns […]
Maltese Fishing Vessels – F 143 TEMPTATION
One of the British Military Boats left in Malta was the 1943 built former Army GSP, converted as a yacht of which back in 1978 she was acquired by Marsaxlokk Fishermen family and renamed her as TEMPTATION registered as F 143. She was 17.83 m long with the Maltese Registry of Shipping Official Number (O.N.) […]
