Like this post, Dave was late to the beach again yesterday by several hours and was surprised to find how packed it was. The water was warmer which may explain the prevailing green mist. There was no-one else in the water except for one or two scaredy-cats wading in the shallows. 4 laps from the island to the pipe was all Dave could manage in choppy conditions – a strong nor’ easter was blowing. Fortunately Dave only discovered the button-like blue bottles on the shoreline after his swim. There were hundreds of the little blighters. Realising that he was unfit and lacking sun, Dave walked around the oval and up to Georges Heights to take in the sights before heading home. All in all he managed a 940m swim and 5.6km walk. Well done Dave 🙄
I snapped some photos of the coastal naval gun (BL 6 inch Mk XI) that is well concealed at Lower Georges Heights. The naval gun resided at Port Wakefield Proof Range, South Australia, before its relocation to Mosman in 2006. After a bit of investigation, here are some facts that may be of interest:
- The guns were used to setup coastal defences around Australia and came from decommissioned World War I cruisers – HMAS Sydney, HMAS Melbourne and HMAS Brisbane
- The guns were used in the leadup to Word War II and remained in service until the 1950s.
- The range of the gun is 10 miles or 16kms. If it was fired over land it would hit Warrawee to the north, Warriewood on the northern beaches, Port Botany to the south, and land just shy of Sydney Olympic Park to the west… maybe with a strong tailwind…
The abbeviations found on the gun mean:
- AN = Australian Navy and top of gun (orientation that results in the least amount of droop)
- B.L. 6 In wire XI = Breech Loading 6 inch (15.2 cm) gun of wire wound construction Mark XI
- VSM 1912 = Built at Vickers Sons & Maxim in 1912
- No2305 = Serial number 2305 (sourced from www.navweaps.com)
