Busy Day at Shoeburyness firing range

Bear with me... Posted before completion...


It has been a busy day at Shoeburyness testing range. Shoeburyness has a history with military matters going back as far as Roman times, but the garrison and testing ranges, which still stand today, have been in use by the British Armed forces since 1854, during the Crimean War.

The garrison is now a housing complex, but the testing ranges are still in use, although they are now run by an organisation called Qinnetiq. They still perform testing on both weapons platforms, and the shells they fire, and today they have been very busy indeed. Volley after volley of shots can be heard being fired, either from a mobile gun, or from a tank. I happen to have been lucky enough to be invited to open days at the ranges during my childhood, so I know the set up for such tests pretty well. Targets are suspended between scaffold towers, from steel cables. Shells are fired, usually remotely, from within an armoured bunker or shack, and the trajectory of the round is tracked by cameras mounted around the target, and at the firing point.

Like I say though... A very busy day. More often than not, the guns are silent. Today they have been firing five round volleys with stunning regularity. Dogs bark in response, windows shake in their frames, doors jar and flex, even two miles from the muzzles of these large guns... Something is evidently being put through its paces on the range today!

a reply to: TrueBrit

A bear with you?

Use the force man. Wrestle it into submission.

originally posted by: Kester
a reply to: TrueBrit

A bear with you?

Use the force man. Wrestle it into submission.

*Snicker*


iTruthSeeker

Shoeburyness?

a reply to: Kester

It's on him.Goodbye,TrueBrit.

It was nice knowing you.

originally posted by: TrueBrit

Bear with me...

Done already. Leo won an Oscar for it.

a reply to: InTheLight

Yes, Shoeburyness, in Essex, England. The place I call home, to both my family, and my business.

Shoeburyness ranges also tested the engines for the Thrust SSC supersonic car, amongst other propulsion systems for other projects over the years. The proving grounds there have a great deal of history to them, which I will link to now...

www.southend.gov.uk...

a reply to: TrueBrit

I just never encountered such an odd name before.

a reply to: InTheLight

There are a great deal of strangely named towns, districts, and the like in the British Isles. A book detailing the names of British towns and villages would probably throw up many more obscure and bizarre names!

So shots are fired at the shooting range.

Is there a specific point you are trying to make?

a reply to: DutchMasterChief

Well, given that the site has been quiet as a tomb for a good long while, the point is that the site is suddenly very active. This is what prompted me to post the thread.

a reply to: TrueBrit

Ok, so any thoughts on the importance of it being active? Start of WW3 or something?

Or just a slow day in Shoeburyness?

Sometimes hubby and I will visit War of 1812 re-enactments in forts, and here and there, and those guns are quite loud.

a reply to: InTheLight

Well the rounds that main battle tanks, mobile guns, and artillery pieces fire these days are usually propelled at much greater velocities than those which might have featured in a battle in 1812. The ground underfoot can be felt trembling, even two miles away from the gun. That should give you some idea of just how loud these things are up close!

a reply to: DutchMasterChief

Not really.

I choose not to speculate. However, that does not stop others doing so. If you have something to add or thoughts on the matter, feel free to post them. This is more of a heads up that testing has commenced in earnest, so either something is afoot, or new gear is being tested before being put to market or taken up by the MoD.

Which it might be, what the alternatives are, who is to say? I am just reporting what I have heard, and what I have heard is at least twenty rounds fired in five shot volleys in the past four hours. That's a considerable jump from nothing for months and months.

a reply to: TrueBrit

Sorry for the bear quip. I was trying to be supportive, making light of your mistake.

So having read your report I wonder if it makes most economic sense to cram it into as small a time as possible.

a reply to: Kester

I can understand your suggesting that, but the difficulty I have with believing that, is as follows. Let us assume that you are right, and that testing gets crammed into a few short days, or weeks out of a year. That would mean that if all the testing is done in two or three weeks in summer, the rounds might never be tested in certain atmospheric conditions. It's a summery looking day out there today, with hazy sunshine and a fair bit of humidity. Let's say that this continues for the next two weeks.

If that is the case, then the round will not be tested in rain, hail, thunder and lightning storms, high winds, or snow. With many of the modern rounds being guided these days, able to alter course mid way through their arc of travel, you would have thought that as many different conditions should be tested in, as possible. The reason I say that, is because it would make the testing less than informative, in terms of the workability of the round or weapons system being tested.

a reply to: TrueBrit

When is their budget due for renewal?

I once hitched a lift from a man driving a flatbed army truck carrying another army truck. He regretfully told me the purpose of his mission was to help spend as much money as possible to boost the next budget. They had him driving broken trucks back and forth between different repair depots without getting them fixed.

Though thinking about it you can't hide earth shattering explosions as easily as wasted journeys. OK. Scrap that idea.


Here's a better one. They got wind of a sabotage plot in the shell factory to make a proportion of the shells duds. So they tested them all.

a reply to: TrueBrit

Expired or stressed ammunition is also disposed of on site . . .

. . .


“I can only describe the vibrations from the explosions as being absolutely horrendous at times.

“The noise and vibrations have a real impact on people’s lives and it certainly bothers people here.

“While the noise may be within the limit near to where it originates in Shoebury, when the blast crosses the open water and along the coast it can be multiplied up to four times.

“It gets so bad, at times you can quite literally see the water shake in your glass, it is that strong.

www.echo-news.co.uk...

a reply to: Kester

Yes, I am aware of their EOD and other disposal operations. However, I also happen to know one of the operators who used to do that particular kind of work. For a start, when doing controlled explosions of certain materials, the tendency is to have one or two cages full of material get burned up or otherwise destroyed at one time. This generally results in either no explosion at all, or one large one.

Today, I heard five and ten round volleys being fired. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. When they are disposing of waste metal and/or explosives, you generally expect to hear one big, fat, flat whump, then nothing for a time, then maybe another one after an hour or so. Don't get me wrong, those controlled explosions used to make my old house tremble on its foundations when I was a kid, but they feel very different to artillery fire, leave alone the difference in timing.

It is literally impossible to mistake one for the other, when one has lived close to the ranges like I have for three decades!