An index to all my stories about living on a boat, places I have visited along my wake and matters of my maritime of interest — These stories might not all seem marine-related — but they are, even if only related to life on a boat. You may be surprised… The Battle of the River Plate An innovative design and heavy armament was not enough to save the Graf Spee from the British pursuersmedium.com Self-Steering on a Boat A reader asked me to write about the self-steering system and autopilot on my boat, so here’s what works for me — and…medium.com

A solid Soviet workhorse with some interesting features, still flying 75 years after its first test flight — and China is now building them — Context I’m not a huge fan of ‘things Russian’. I worked in Russia on and off for several years visiting many parts of the country from Siberia to the Black Sea. It was just after the USSR had imploded in 1991 and I was hopeful for the future of the country…

Flying under cover of a Su-30SM fighter wasn’t enough to protect this Sukhoi over Snake Island, so what’s the puzzle? — I saw the report on the 6 Dec 2023 and thought ‘Good news, but a rare event’. I didn’t even mark it as remarkable enough to write about. I then looked at some more details and found more information: According to the Ukrainian Air Force, a Russian Sukhoi Su-24M was…

Putin is stitching a world patchwork of war, coups and insurrection on a backcloth of misinformation and cyberwarfare — In a week in which Henry Kissinger died, I am reminded of the Domino Theory. If you are as old as I am then you will remember that this geopolitical theory underpinned the US’s move into Vietnam and the start of what we call the Vietnam War. …

Another week and another couple of Chinese ‘world firsts’, but if this one stands up it could be good… — Yes, every week I read about another few Chinese inventions that will change the world. Then I write about the occasional one that seems to be half credible but take most of them with a pinch of salt. This week though, one of them has a large quantity of salt…

USS Dwight D. Eisenhower passed into Gulf waters in late November 2023, but what paved the way? — In late November 2023, the carrier strike group led by USS Dwight D. Eisenhower entered the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz well within range of the guns and missiles of Iran. …

A critical transport artery is severed by an astonishing covert operation — is it the deepest ever? — It’s a funny old world, and way back in 1992 or 1993 I think it was, I was actually on a work-related business trip to Novokuznetsk in Western Siberia. We were attempting to sell a major software project to a local enterprise, but the trip was aborted when the firm…

German newspaper Bild reports that the US and Germany have been slow-walking weapons to Ukraine, afraid of a post-Putin geopolitical nightmare if Russia is defeated. What would happen and what could NATO do to control Russia’s nuclear arsenal in the event of Russia imploding? — In this second of two articles I will consider the implications for NATO, the West and the wider world, of a politically chaotic post-Putin Russia with nuclear weapons arsenals compromised. The first is here.

Capturing hostile drones in flight is a challenge and an opportunity, especially when they are much larger and moving quickly — Disclaimer: I have no association with any products or companies mentioned in this story and do not endorse them. That said, let’s take a look at ones of the leading products in the field of drone hunters. I do not mean drone hunters as in mobile teams in 4 x…