MESSING ABOUT ON THE RIVER

Where we live in Helensburgh is next to a large naval base called Faslane. A couple of posts back I was talking about all the men that there are about the place just now ... on the train, in the coffee shops, jogging along the roadside. While I recognize the American accents I am aware that there are quite a number of other accents and this is the reason:

WARSHIPS from eight countries are on the Clyde as part of a huge training exercise.

This is the Clyde Naval Base at Faslane which is the operations centre. Ships in Falsane are British but also overseas vessels are from USA, Greece, Italy, Spain and Turkey.

In another part of the Clyde are a German minesweeper Hameln and replenishment ship Rhein, plus ships from Denmark and France.

In 2017 Britain's entire nuclear submarine fleet is to be based at Faslane on the Clyde. The Ministry of Defence says Faslane currently supports 11,000 jobs. (The base is the largest single-site employer in Scotland.) We know this as there is a steady stream of traffic heading in that direction every morning!