11th Coast Regiment, Royal New Zealand Artillery
The 11th Coast Regiment, Royal New Zealand Artillery was a territorial coastal artillery regiment of the New Zealand Army based at Godley Head. The regiment was formed in 1940 as 11th Heavy Regiment, New Zealand Artillery and controlled the coastal defence batteries around Lyttleton Harbour. The regiment was progressively expanded and by the end of the war had batteries all over the upper North Island. The regiment was reduced to a cadre in 1957 and disbanded in 1967, along with the other coastal artillery regiments (9th and 10th). History Since the First World War, the coastal defences of Lyttleton had come under a single battery, 23 Heavy Battery (23 Coast Battery prior to 1934). In March 1940, 23 Heavy Battery was broken up into three batteries and the overall force increased in manpower. The 11th Heavy Regiment was formed in July 1940 to command the Lyttleton defence batteries, which included both coastal artillery and anti-aircraft artillery. In 1941, the regiment was expan ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cap Badge
A cap badge, also known as head badge or hat badge, is a badge worn on uniform headgear and distinguishes the wearer's nationality and/or organisation. The wearing of cap badges is a convention commonly found among military and police forces, as well as uniformed civilian groups such as the Boy Scouts, civil defence organisations, ambulance services (e.g. the St. John Ambulance Brigade), customs services, fire services etc. Cap badges are a modern form of heraldry and their design generally incorporates highly symbolic devices. Some badges that contain images of Lions or other cats are sometimes informally referred to as Cat Badges. Instances in military forces British armed forces The British Armed Forces utilise a variety of metal and cloth cap badges on their headdress, generally on caps and berets. They are also worn on Sikh turbans. British Army In the British Army (as well as other Commonwealth armies) each regiment and corps has its own cap badge. The cap badge ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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13th Coast Regiment, New Zealand Artillery
The 13th Coast Regiment, New Zealand Artillery was a coastal artillery regiment of the New Zealand Military Forces. It was formed in May 1943 from the coastal defence batteries based in the lower South Island, which were formerly part of 11th Coast Regiment. The regiment consisted of: *82 Battery (Taiaroa Head: one 6" EOC gun; Rerewahine: two 6" Mk VII guns; Tomahawk Beach: two 6" Mk VII guns; Harrington Point: two twin 6-pounder guns and two 6-pounder guns) *141 Battery (Oamaru: one 5" Mk VIII gun) *142 Battery (Bluff: 6" Mk VII gun) The 13th Coast Regiment was disbanded in December 1943 and the batteries returned to the 11th Coast Regiment. Affiliations * — Royal Artillery * — Royal Canadian Artillery * — Royal Australian Artillery The Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery, normally referred to as the Royal Australian Artillery (RAA), is a Regiment of the Australian Army descended from the original colonial artillery units prior to Australia's federation. Austr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Blumine Island
Blumine Island / is an island in the outer reaches of Queen Charlotte Sound / Tōtaranui, in the Marlborough Sounds at the northern end of New Zealand's South Island. The New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage gives a translation of "meeting place of spirits" for ''Ōruawairua''. Description Blumine Island covers and is mostly hill country. The island is located about north of Picton, New Zealand, Picton. It is the site of a scenic reserve meaning anyone can visit the island. A visit by Captain James Cook left the island infested with Invasive species in New Zealand, introduced pests, which have since been eradicated through the use of helicopter poison drops, conducted by the Department of Conservation (New Zealand), Department of Conservation. In May 2008 the island was declared predator free and efforts began to reintroduce Fauna of New Zealand, native species back to the island. During World War II, two gun emplacements were built on the island by soldiers and wor ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bofors 40 Mm L/60 Gun
The Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/60 (often referred to simply as the "Bofors 40 mm gun", the "Bofors gun" and the like, see name) is an anti-aircraft autocannon, designed in the 1930s by the Swedish arms manufacturer AB Bofors. The gun was designed as an intermediate anti-aircraft gun, filling the gap between fast firing close-range small calibre anti-aircraft guns and slower firing long-range high calibre anti-aircraft guns, a role which previously was filled by older outdated guns. The Bofors 40 mm L/60 was for its time perfectly suited for this role and outperformed competing designs in the years leading up to World War II in both effectiveness and reliability. It entered the export market around 1932 and was in service with 18 countries by 1939. Throughout World War II it became one of the most popular and widespread medium-weight anti-aircraft guns. It was used by the majority of the western Allies and some Axis powers such as Nazi Germany and Hungary. In the pos ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tory Channel
Tory Channel / Kura Te Au is one of the drowned valleys that form the Marlborough Sounds in New Zealand. Inter-island ferries normally use it as the principal channel between Cook Strait and the Marlborough Sounds. Tory Channel / Kura Te Au lies to the south of Arapaoa Island, separating it from the mainland. At its western end it joins the larger Queen Charlotte Sound, which it meets halfway along the latter's length. Its eastern end meets Cook Strait close to the strait's narrowest point. The Channel is long, averages in width, and is up to deep, with an average channel depth of . Tory Channel / Kura Te Au forms a substantial part of the ferry route between Wellington and Picton. Erosion attributed to the wake from the ferries, particularly the new faster ones (now discontinued), has resulted in speed restrictions. One of the two candidates for the easternmost point in the South Island (along with Cape Campbell) lies at the entrance of Tory Channel. It is called West He ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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QF 6-pounder Nordenfelt
The QF 6 pounder Nordenfelt was a light 57 mm naval gun and coast defence gun of the late 19th century used by many countries. Note that this gun should not be confused with the short-barreled 57 mm Cockerill-Nordenfelt "Canon de caponnière" or fortification gun, which was used to arm the German A7V tank in World War I. Nordenfelt guns can be visually differentiated from equivalent and similar Hotchkiss guns by having slimmer barrels than the Hotchkiss, hence the Nordenfelt was considerably lighter. United Kingdom The UK adopted a 42-calibre version as Ordnance QF 6-pounder Nordenfelt British forces traditionally denoted smaller ordnance by the weight of its standard projectile, in this case . Mk I, Mk II, Mk III. United Kingdom Naval service They were originally mounted from 1885 onwards for use against the new (steam-driven) torpedo boats which started to enter service in the late 1870s. The Nordenfelt gun was adopted at the same time as the very similar QF 6 pou ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Harrington Point
The settlement of Harington Point (often incorrectly spelt ''Harrington Point'') lies within the boundaries of the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. It is located at the Otago Heads, at the northeastern end of Otago Peninsula, close to the entrance of Otago Harbour. The mouth of the harbour is at its narrowest at Harington Point, only some 400 metres separating the point from the mudflats at Aramoana on the opposing coast. Harington Point is located between Taiaroa Head, the site of the only mainland royal albatross colony in the world, and Te Rauone beach, historically known for its many sand dunes which have eroded. The settlement can be reached via a 45-minute drive from Dunedin City on sealed roads, and is also serviced 7 days per week by a regular bus service taking 60 minutes from the city center, as well as a school bus. Despite its small size, Harington Point offers accommodation ranging from holiday houses to self-contained motel units. Wildlife The settlement of Haring ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tomahawk Beach
Tomahawk Beach is a beach on the Pacific Ocean southeast of the city centre of Dunedin, New Zealand. Located within the Ocean Grove Reserve between St Kilda Beach and Smaills Beach, at the point where Otago Peninsula joins the mainland of the South Island, Tomahawk Beach is a white sand beach popular with casual beach-goers and dog-walkers as well as surfers. Sand is extracted from the Tomahawk Lagoon channel, which runs across the beach, for commercial purposes and to prevent flooding. Name The word "Tomahawk", documented in the ''Otago Witness'' from 1852, is unlikely to be a reference to the weapon; it is more likely an anglicized form of the Māori words ''toma haka''. ''Toma'' means a place of bones, or shrine for bones; ''haka'' is commonly taken to refer to the Māori dance of challenge (hence the interpretation "dance by a gravesite"), but may instead represent the Southern Māori form of the word ''hanga'', to build or create. However, there are no known pre-Eur ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Taiaroa Head
Taiaroa Head is a headland at the end of the Otago Peninsula in New Zealand, overlooking the mouth of the Otago Harbour. It lies within the city limits of Dunedin. The nearest settlement, Otakou, lies three kilometres to the south. The cape is home to a lighthouse, built in 1864, and a colony of over 100 northern royal albatrosses, which established itself in 1919 – the only such colony on an inhabited mainland. There is also the Royal Albatross Centre. History The headland is named for Te Mātenga Taiaroa, a 19th-century Māori chief of the Ngāi Tahu iwi. Pukekura, a significant Māori pā was located on the headland, having been established about 1650 and still occupied by Māori in the 1840s. It is associated with a daring warrior called Tarewai who was active in the 18th century. Pilot's Beach was formerly known as 'Hobart Town Beach' from the whaling tryworks established there in 1836 by the Weller brothers employing men from Hobart. Previously it was called 'Measly Bea ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Elswick Ordnance Company
The Elswick Ordnance Company (sometimes referred to as Elswick Ordnance Works, but usually as "EOC") was a British armaments manufacturing company of the late 19th and early 20th century History Originally created in 1859 to separate William Armstrong's armaments business from his other business interests, to avoid a conflict of interest as Armstrong was then Engineer of Rifled Ordnance for the War Office and the company's main customer was the British Government. Armstrong held no financial interest in the company until 1864 when he left Government service, and Elswick Ordnance was re-united with the main Armstrong businesses to form Sir W.G. Armstrong & Company. EOC was then the armaments branch of W.G. Armstrong & Company and later of Armstrong Whitworth. EOC's main customer in its early years was the British Government, but the Government abandoned "Armstrong guns" in the mid-1860s due to dissatisfaction with Armstrong's breech mechanism, and instead built its own rifled ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ripapa Island
Ripapa Island ( mi, Rīpapa), also known earlier as Ripa Island, located just off the shore of Lyttelton Harbour, has played many roles in the history of New Zealand. A Māori fortified pā there played a key role in an internal struggle for the South Island Ngāi Tahu tribe in the early 19th century. Between 1873 and 1885, the island hosted a quarantine station, which was also used as a temporary prison for members of the Parihaka Māori settlement in Taranaki. Fort Jervois was built in 1886 as part of system of defences against a feared Russian invasion. The fort was in military use until the end of World War I, and again during World War II. It is the most complete Russian-scare fort still existing in New Zealand. 19th century Māori history Ripapa Island was a perfect location for a pā (a fortification built by the Māori) and chief Taununu of the Ngāi Tahu tribe built one there in the early 19th century. In the 1820s, Taununu faced a fierce fight with another Ngāi Tah ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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QF 6-pounder 10 Cwt Gun
The British QF (quick-firing) 6-pounder 10 cwt gun"6 pounder" refers to the approximate weight of projectiles, which was a traditional British way of denoting small guns. "10 cwt" referred to the approximate weight of the gun and breech in cwt (hundredweight) rounded up : 10 cwt = 10 x 112 pounds = 1,120 pounds. It was standard British practice to differentiate guns of the same calibre by adding weight in cwt to the description. was a 57 mm twin-mount light coast defence and naval gun from the 1930s to 1950s. Development Following the emergence of small fast attack craft during the First World War, it was decided that the British Royal Navy Dockyards were vulnerable to attack by motor torpedo boats which had the speed to evade the heavy coast defence guns which defended them. In 1925, a design was adopted for a twin-barrelled weapon capable of sustained semi-automatic fire. The barrels of the weapon could be fired singly or together. The pedestal mounting and the gun crew ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |