Article
- Discussion
- Edit this page
- History
- Upload
HMS Varbel II
HMS Varbel II was a shore facility established at Ardtaraig, at the northern end of Loch Striven, about eight miles (12 km) northwest of Dunoon, on the eastern shore of the loch, half a mile (1 km) from the head of the loch, and a similar distance southwest of Loch Tarsan.
According to a note recorded by RCAHMS, Ardtaraig had originally been a farmhouse, which was later extended by Greig, Fairbairn and MacNiven c.1910 to become an Edwardian shooting lodge.
Varbel II was a secondary base connected to HMS Varbel, a shore facility which had been commissioned at Port Bannatyne on the Isle of Bute in September 1942, which served as the shore base for the X-Craft, midget submarines of the 12th Flotilla.
A boat house and concrete slipway lie on the shore below the house. This may be a wartime artefact, as it appears to be much more substantial than a farmhouse or lodge would require for small boats. Such installed to assist with handling of boats and other craft at the time.
From reading various accounts written by those posted to Varbel II, it seems to have been a school of navigation, where the officers were trained in the skills needed to pilot a craft at sea.
A second pattern has also emerged from the accounts of WRENs posted to the facility, possibly arising from the secret nature of the X-Craft. Many of them appear to have subsequently been posted to Bletchley Park, which was the top secret code-breaking centre during World War II. They may have been posted there because they proved to be trustworthy, or possibly to ensure that once they left Varbell II, were kept inside an organisation where secrecy was enforced at the highest level.
External links
- Nearby Canmore or ScotlandsPlaces items
- Royal Navy at Rothesay Retrieved May 10, 2011.
- Isle of Bute during WW2.
- Dorset Submariners - X CRAFT IN WW2 by Gordon Newman Retrieved April 15, 2013.
Aerial views
- Old OS maps
- Nearby geocaches
- Bing Maps
- OS Get-a-map™
- Fly to in Google Earth
- SABRE - Maps (has many options) WiP - Needs lat/lon edit!
- Flash Earth
- EarthTools - disabled
- Coming
Map
⚠ (:gma-point lat=55.9976520 lon=-5.1152194 link='Ardtaraig' :)
⚠ (:gma-point lat=55.9947059 lon=-5.1154017 link='Boat house and concrete slipawy':)
⚠ (:gma-map zoom=16 view=hybrid:)
⚠ [[!World War II]]
⚠ [[!Building]]
⚠ [[!Training Area]]
⚠ (:WPCategoriesList:)
Comments
You may add a comment or offer further details which may be included in the page above.
Commenting has been disabled thanks to the attention of scum known as spam commenters
⚠ (:tracetrails:)