ABC Wednesday - Numerical X and also X Craft

The Roman numeral X represents 10.   On its side 1,000 (you will have to turn your head to one side to imagine it) and with a dash over the top 10,000.  In algebra and mathematics in general x represents an unknown quantity.  Not an unknown quantity in this photo however for the stones are from the old dock, measuring depth.  Today they placed within a little amphitheatre

with an a tiled compass point forming the 'stage'. I would have liked to have taken a better photo than this but nature intervened

 

with a covering of snow.  This little space is by the side of the Dock Museum, an old Victorian Graving Dock, which in times past had a shipyard by the side of it building sailing ships from 1872-1884 both of wood and iron, what a pity none of them had names starting with X.  Oh well what about another look at those numbers carved in stone

or perhaps look towards a covered dock that is still active.

Looking from the amphitheatre, past the maritime themed playground is Devonshire Dock Hall, referred to as the DDH by those that work within and the Big Shed by everyone else. Today huge submarines are built inside this structure, such as the 492 foot long trident Vanguard class, but from 1943-1944 this shipyard, then known as Vickers, built the X class midget submarines, which in contrast were 51 feet long.  Their full complement was a commanding officer, first lieutenant, engineer and a diver. They were used in WW2 or should I say WWII most famously for the attack on the Tirpiz in a Norwegian dock. Six set off towed 1000 miles and then naviagted their way through minefields, dodged nets avoided guns to place limpet mines on this famous ship, only 2 returned. A film was later made of this operation called Above Us the Waves with

a suitably claustrophobic poster.  Other X boats, not made by Vickers were used to survey the landing beaches for Operation Overlord, mostly of what is now Omaha beach in France. The range of these midget submarines was limited to 14 days or up to 1,500 miles at a 2 knots. They were usually towed to within a few miles of the target by conventional submarines or under surface ships or launched from the deck of submarines and surface ships. The diver came out of a wet and dry airlock.  I don't think I would have liked to be in one of these for 14 days

Control Room of an X Craft

X or Cross across to ABC Wednesdays's new home for all things beginning with, this week, X