Post by Administrator on Mar 12, 2021 17:35:25 GMT
VIA: Western Approaches HQ - The Battle of the Atlantic Experience
We are busy planning for our long-awaited re-opening which will be May 17th at 10am (open everyday). Tickets can now be bought from our website. LINK
In preparation, we thought we would share some lesser known facts and discoveries about our secret bunker.
1- The iconic map wall (24 x 44 feet) was painted by local commercial artist and signwriter, John Wilson
2 - The complex of over 100 rooms included accommodation for 1,000 officers and other ranks, both male and female, including messes, emergency sleeping dormitories, offices, radio rooms and even a sun ray room to counter the effects of the cave-man-like existence they would be living.
3 - This complex extended under Derby House and most of Exchange Flags Square.
4 - It opened on 17th February 1941 and closed as an operational HQ on 15 August 1945. Finally decommissioned as a navy facility sometime in the 1960’s.
5 - The GPO provided the complicated communication systems.
6 - Telephone and teleprinter links were set up, allowing direct communication with the Admiralty and War Office in London, the western ports of Glasgow, Cardiff and Bristol and the Royal Naval bases at Greenock, Londonderry, Plymouth and Chatham. A direct link to Washington D.C. were later added once the USA entered the war in January 1942.
7 - Back up electrical power was provided by a generator that was the engine from a First World War German U-boat which had been dismantled in Birkenhead following the Armistice.
8 - Notable visitors included: King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, Winston Churchill, Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt (US First Lady), Noel Coward, Lord Louis Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh (as a young naval Lieutenant)
9 - Commander-in-Chief’s daily routine – Worked through to lunch then at 2pm would go every day to play golf. Return at 6pm, dinner, game of bridge and then work until 1am
10- Over 30,000,000 messages forms were handled during the four years.
We are busy planning for our long-awaited re-opening which will be May 17th at 10am (open everyday). Tickets can now be bought from our website. LINK
In preparation, we thought we would share some lesser known facts and discoveries about our secret bunker.
1- The iconic map wall (24 x 44 feet) was painted by local commercial artist and signwriter, John Wilson
2 - The complex of over 100 rooms included accommodation for 1,000 officers and other ranks, both male and female, including messes, emergency sleeping dormitories, offices, radio rooms and even a sun ray room to counter the effects of the cave-man-like existence they would be living.
3 - This complex extended under Derby House and most of Exchange Flags Square.
4 - It opened on 17th February 1941 and closed as an operational HQ on 15 August 1945. Finally decommissioned as a navy facility sometime in the 1960’s.
5 - The GPO provided the complicated communication systems.
6 - Telephone and teleprinter links were set up, allowing direct communication with the Admiralty and War Office in London, the western ports of Glasgow, Cardiff and Bristol and the Royal Naval bases at Greenock, Londonderry, Plymouth and Chatham. A direct link to Washington D.C. were later added once the USA entered the war in January 1942.
7 - Back up electrical power was provided by a generator that was the engine from a First World War German U-boat which had been dismantled in Birkenhead following the Armistice.
8 - Notable visitors included: King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, Winston Churchill, Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt (US First Lady), Noel Coward, Lord Louis Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh (as a young naval Lieutenant)
9 - Commander-in-Chief’s daily routine – Worked through to lunch then at 2pm would go every day to play golf. Return at 6pm, dinner, game of bridge and then work until 1am
10- Over 30,000,000 messages forms were handled during the four years.