16 April 2012

Royal Navy field gun competition


An oddly mesmerizing video.
The Royal Navy's field gun competition is a contest between teams from various Royal Navy commands, in which teams of sailors compete to transport a field gun and its equipment over and through a series of obstacles in the shortest time. The competition evolved during the early years of the 20th century...

The origins of the field gun competition lie in the Second Boer War in South Africa. The legendary story tells of the siege of the British garrison in the township of Ladysmith in 1899. In support of the British Army, the Royal Navy landed guns from HMS Terrible and Powerful to help in the relief of the siege. The Naval Brigade transported guns over difficult terrain and brought them into action against the Boers... 
If you start watching, you'll probably be hooked for all seven minutes.  This was totally new to me, so I'll offer a hat tip to Ben Fortel for bringing it to my attention.

11 comments:

  1. For some reason the video made me a bit weepy.

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  2. It makes me sad too, but only because it reminds me of the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian, and in particular the book (the Ionian Mission I think? Whatever, it's the one where they go to Kutali) where they snuck around the back of a coastal town and got a couple of cannons from the ship up a very steep hill with block and tackle exactly like this.

    I already read the whole series once before, and then I began listening to the audiobooks, and now I've stopped halfway through Blue at the Mizzen because I don't want to come to the end. I'm going to miss them so much. Anybody else who's read this series will know what I mean.

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    1. There's always Hornblower - a different kettle of fish of course, but none the less enjoyable.

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    2. I know only too well what you mean.
      I've found the only cure is to pick up Master and Commander and start from the beginning again. It gets better every time!

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  3. Cor - I remember seeing that done at the Royal Military Tattoo in Edinburgh - I must have been around 8, so it'd be 1970ish. I was as deeply impressed as you'd expect an 8 year old of that era to be.

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  4. There's a great documentary from the 70's available to watch on YouTube called "To the Limit and Beyond" which goes through the training process. Serious injuries are a pretty common occurrence when they're first learning. It's incredible to me how easy these men make it look.

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  5. This also reminded me of the Aubrey-Maturin series (coincidentally I just finished the Ionian Mission as part of my third run through the lot of them.)

    Stan- As I've gotten to know you through your blogging, more than once I have remarked to myself that the O'Brian series would be right up your alley. Have you read any of them? May have to search through the archives to see if you have any posts pertaining to them.

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    1. I'll save you the search; I've not read them. I'll put one on my books-to-read list.

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    2. Please do... I'd say start at the beginning with the first one (Master and Commander) and encourage you to read at least half way through the second (Post Captain.) By that point it seems most people are either completely hooked or have figured out it's not their thing. With their eclectic combo of Napoleonic war history/politics, intricate naval terminology, early 19th century medicine and taxonomy, word-play/humor, and character driven stories... they can't be beat.

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  6. My sister's ex-husband was on the Canadian Navy's "gun run" team years ago, as part of the Royal Nova Scotia Tattoo. They were exhaustively trained and drilled for months beforehand, all culminating in seven performances wherein they competed against other national teams. He was happy enough to be doing it at the time (as it got him out of a lot of other duties), but afterward he said it was a waste of time that did nothing but put him way behind in the other - real - work that he was supposed to be doing.

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  7. The Army have been involved inthis event for some time now, and are the current trophy holders for the 2014 competition!!

    Check out the blog for the 7 Air Assault Battalion Field Gun Crew: http://remefieldgun.blogspot.co.uk/

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