Nigg Torpedo Boat Base, Invergordon – June ‘09

Fifty years after the Home Fleet sailed out of Invergordon, traces of it still remain … Visited with Zimbob and Bryag …

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This motor torpedo boat (MTB) base was another line of defence for the Invergordon Naval Base: in addition to the gun, mine and boom defences at the Sutors, there was also a seaplane base at Invergordon, and several airfields, including Royal Navel air stations at Fearn and Evanton, plus Coastal Command fields elsewhere. All of these were put in place to protect the capital ships lying at anchor in the Cromarty Firth, and taking on fuel at Invergordon Pier: during both wars, these included the battleships of the Home Fleet, and this base was home to up to twenty MTB's.

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Built shortly before the Great War, the base consists of a cluster of buildings plus a jetty, all served by an internal rail network. There was a Royal Naval auxiliary tied up at the jetty when we visited, so it appears to be in use still, though other facilities like Invergordon Pier have been sold off. The buildings consists of a brick-built magazine set inside a heavy concrete blast wall, plus a giant steel-framed shed – the railway went from the magazine through the shed onto the pierhead, and the torpedoes would have travelled along it on steel trolleys, been checked and fused up, then armed in the shed, and loaded onto the MTB’s which patrolled the North Sea approaches to the Cromarty Firth.

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The roof of the main shed has the tell-tale “sawtooth” northlight profile which naval sheds took on – very similar to the old seaplane hangars at Stannergate in Dundee – and is made from built-up steel trusses, which look delicate but are actually very strong. However, the idea of cladding the shed in corrugated iron was probably to allow it to blow out in an explosion, rather than containing the blast. After the War, the base was used by the military during the 1950’s (Invergordon was given up by the Navy in the budget cuts of 1956) and was latterly taken on by Highland Fabricators as a welding school for the nearby oilrig fabrication yard at Nigg. It appears to have been used by them from the 1970’s through to 2000, and has since lain empty but sealed up.

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The “dazzle” paint camouflage paint on the outside of the buildings survives, but little evidence of the military still exists inside – instead, there are long rows of welding booths with chalked graffiti inside them, and heavy duty cabling feeding the arc welding kit. I intend to return to Invergordon to have a look at some of the other remains of the naval base – including some artefacts which are truly enormous.

Nice work as always, yet another cool find.:)

Cheers - this was a Zimbob/ Bryag special - they'd looked at it before but it had magically opened up!

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Originally Posted by wolfism

... it had magically opened up!

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I'm crap at entry, still got the scars :(

A few of mine from the day :

What we assumed to be the magazine, HUGE blast wall surrounding inner brick-built structure :

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Inside :

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Rails and entrance :

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The main shed :

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Yay for Dazzle-paint :w00t

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Inside, cracking roof-structure, as explained by Mr Wolf in OP ;)

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A bit of a dark shot, but captures the colours of the light coming in nicely :)

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And in contrast, overexposed shot to show the steel :

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I really liked this roof ...

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Rails, leading to pier and the 'magazine' building :

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Said pier, complete with rails - and 'water pikeys' :lol:

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And lastly, and randomly, the world's most useless flask, (pillbox in background to keep it on topic ;) ) cable-tied to the Nigg Ferry sign - just how do you get a drink :confused: :fail

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Originally Posted by wolfism

Cheers - this was a Zimbob/ Bryag special - they'd looked at it before but it had magically opened up!

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They didn't post the lead 'somewhere else' beforehand did they? ;) :D

Nice stuff.

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Originally Posted by foz101

They didn't post the lead 'somewhere else' beforehand did they? ;) :D

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Ha ha - nope, none of that ;)

Nice one Zimbob - I came to the conclusion that the flask was provided for anteaters, as they're the only ones who would be able to take a drink from it.

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Originally Posted by foz101

They didn't post the lead 'somewhere else' beforehand did they? ;) :D

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Whatever can you mean? We'll have no UE parasites here ... this was a local explore for local people. ;) :D