The MV Vega went out late this afternoon escorted by an MOD Police boat.  The Vega hove to off of Cumbrae probably to let an Admiralty Pilot off.  

If this makes no sense to you, have a look at the Firsts Page.  

Good catch

I had a look at the AIS data for the Clyde just now, but there's no sign of the Vega, but the channel is mobbed - any idea who she belongs to?

A lot of the facilities are handled by civilians if there is no military content - Serco does all the stuff like building and site management, and everybody in here must know that QinetiQ does all the technical operation. MoD personel now only come in for the sharp end stuff. A bit like the merchant shipping if I understand that correctly, when the seamen looked after the sailing, while military personnel were carried to operate things like guns.

Nothing to do with the naval or maritime ops at Faslane, but I almost managed to take over part of the operations there as a commercial venture, but they dropped the idea and I lost touch, so can't say if the idea of operating it commercially (and simply have the base served as another customer) was just forgotten and they carried on as before, or if someone else (another company) stepped in.

Oops, almost forgot to mention, the Clyde's police launch seems to be a permanent member of staff at Faslane at the moment. According to the data, it's moored there.

Was this one underwater as it passed the nest?

http://www.pbase.com/zak355/image/97018903

Unusual to see one of these 'smoking'

Missed that one.  Mind you I only spot the occasional thing.  It depends what work I am doing and where.

That wasn't the Vega the other day.  I had another look at the pic in the paper and the Vega has no deck cranes whereas the one I saw ( in the distance ) had 2 or 3 large heavy lifting gantries.  Also if I had read the last paragraph more carefully I would have realised that she was only at Faslane over night and then away.

It does beg the question as to what Babcocks are taking away from Faslane, and also what is the future of the base!  

Well, you'll see more than me

Although past investment is no guarantee of future existence, and I cite the case of RAF Machrihanish which had millions poured in to it in its latter years, then almost everyone pulled out and the place is becoming a millionaire's holiday retreat, complete with its own original, Scottish style golf course!

The Faslane facility has seen a lot of money in fairly recent years, together with Coulport depot - which was recently reported to have expanded and gobbled up the last piece of history that remained on the ground from the old settlement there. The submarines aren't going anywhere (other than underwater once they leave) and their programme isn't going to disappear overnight, or in the next few years, regardless of what the even more dangerous protesters that still descend on the place want or think.

With the model of old east-west Cold War still fresh in one's mind, it's hard not to wonder what the government strategists are working on at the moment, given the swing from the west to the east in terms of prosperity, growth, manufacturing, technology, profitability and... culture, as China and North Korea soak up everything the west has developed, but refuses to learn from its mistakes, adopt hugely polluting methods outlawed or frowned upon there, and still keeps up its borders to against 'outsiders' and... develops its own nuclear weapons. And sends all the wrong signals by deploying weapons that the west may have, and had for years without using. Who used a satellite killer, and created an orbiting debris cloud that didn't affect them, but has put all the satellite already in orbit at risk of being struck by one of the thousands of pieces left behind?

Early crows this morning were entertained to the view of the Grand Princess sailing up the Firth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Princess

Seems to be a fairly frequent visitor for some reason, maybe part of the "package" is a sail past of places where the occupants can recline in their suites and spy the local peasantry, using high powered optics so they can keep their distance!

She, or one her sisters, recently featured on a documentary, and the running cost was mentioned at some point. Unfortunately it was just too long ago for me to recall the detail now, but I remember the figure was ridiculous, $500,000 per something. Maybe someone else remembers the something. A week seems likely, a day's too short, and a month seems too long, but I'm not claiming to be correct in this case, so if someone comes up with the right number, so much the better.

I always wonder how the obviously wealthy passengers feel when they wake up and find the ship tied up at the container terminal ( Greenock Ocean Terminal).

There is an impressive sight off of Largs.  This is the weekend of the Fife Regatta.  Fife's was a boatyard in Fairlie and built an impressive array of wooden yachts most of which are now over a hundred years old.

http://www.fiferegatta.com/