Photos From History Thread

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The Duty Armband

Between 1830-1968, all uniformed police officers of the lowest and second-lowest ranks Constable and Sergeant in British police forces were required to wear a duty armband. The practice was introduced because at the time officers were expected to wear their uniforms at all times. Wearing the armband indicated that they were indeed "on duty".

The armband was vertical blue and white, or black and white and later red and white, stripes worn over the left forearm of an officer's tunic. Sergeants also wore one on their right forearm as an extended part of their rank insignia.

Officers of the rank Inspector and above were not required to wear the duty armband.


1900
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1963
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Unknown Years

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Some Then & Now pictures I made of Bratislava, the city where I live. I thought I would do something interesting during my covid sanity strolls.

Then

This is the first and oldest photograph of Bratislava, taken in 1841.

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Now

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Then

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Now

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Then

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Now

The partial destruction of the Old Town after WW2 was disgusting. Such a rich legacy of buildings, lives and culture was totally obliterated.

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Then

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Now

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Then

No prizes for guessing which dictator is holding the binoculars.

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Now

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Brilliant thread. Time for my contribution to it.

The first picture shows the Japanese Battleship Mikasa (constructed by Vickers in England) after the major naval battle against the Russian 2nd Pacific Squadron at Tsushima Strait in late May, 1905. Mikasa was the flagship of the Japanese fleet and suffered quite a few hits, albeit most of them superficial, during the battle. The image in question resulted from a premature explosion of a 12 inch shell in her aft turret. Shortly after the war ended, Mikasa would sink in her anchorage due to a fire. She was refloated, and saw service as a coastal defense ship in WW1, and in more offensive roles off Vladivostok during the Entente's attempt to prevent the Soviet Revolution.
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Following the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922, Mikasa was to be scrapped. Fortunately, she was saved from this fate and instead made into a museum ship. She is now the only "modern" pre-dreadnaught battleship left above water. A beautiful ship that played a significant part in Japan's endeavors to become equal to the "Great Powers". As a side note, the Russian First Class Protected Cruiser Aurora, which also took part in the battle at Tsushima Strait, survives to this day as a museum ship in St. Petersburg. The picture is of Mikasa.
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Battleships are pretty damn cool, but could they possibly be made ever cooler? How about a battleship/carrier hybrid! Blasphemy you say? Well, the Japanese did it! Following the loss of four fleet carriers at Midway, Japan needed more carriers, and they needed them fast. To this end, it was decided to convert the heavily damaged cruiser Mogami, and the two Ise Class WW1 era battleships Ise and Hyuga into semi carriers. Neither would have decks long enough to allow for conventional take-offs and landings. Instead, planes were intended to take off via catapults and then land somewhere else. Each Battle-carrier would add an additional 22 dive bombers to any prospective engagement (Mogami would add 11).
Although a neat idea, the Ise Class Battle-carriers would see little service in their new roles. They did not participate in the disastrous battle of the Marianas in June, 1944 that resulted in the effective annihilation of what remained of the IJN's air arm. Instead, their sole large scale operation would be as part of the the diversionary force during the battle for Leyte Gulf in October. As their air unit had been dispatched to and defeated at Formosa, the two Battle-carriers would participate in this one operation without any aircraft embarked.
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Surviving the battle for Leyte Gulf, as well as their subsequent supply runs (transport ships were no longer capable of surviving trips to and from Japan), both Ise and Hyuga would meet their end in successive carrier based air raids on the IJN's main fleet anchorage at Hashirajima off Kure. A sad end for some very interesting ships.
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I have to correct my earlier post. The Ise and Hyuga did not in fact participate in the Marianas in June, 1944, and thus, they never really got a chance to operate in their new intended roles. Pardon the wrong information. As apology, I present to you all the carrier Kaga in all her pre-modernization glory!

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Kaga during 1930s (B1M and A1M aircraft).jpg


As dedicated carriers were a brand new concept in the 1920's, the Japanese, as well as other countries, experimented with different layouts and design philosophies. Kaga, and her somewhat similar sister, Akagi, would look quite different when war began in 1937. Originally laid down as a battleship (battlecruiser in the case of the Akagi), they were instead finished as carriers when the Washington Naval treaty of 1922 came into effect. They had three flight decks, with the two lower ones eventually proving too short as aircraft became heavier and thus required longer runways. Additionally, they featured quite a few 8 inch guns, most notably the two twin turrets situated on the middle deck, a clear indicator of the early days of carrier designs where doctrines for their use was not yet firmly established. Even after modernization in the latter half of 1930, they would retain the 8 inch guns mounted in casemates to the rear of the ship. These were, however, mounted very low and would have been of limited fighting value, assuming the carrier didn't burst into flames the minute an enemy Destroyer or bigger so much as looked in its direction.
 
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All boys school. I live about 800m where this school was located. Must be during WWII.

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Windmill from where I live. Has been moved to Bokrijk.

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I just looked up some old photos from the town I live in...

Chiang Mai, Thapae Rd. 1904
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Thapae Rd. Present-day.
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British Consulate, Chiang Mai. Built in 1884.
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British Consulate. Present day. Now a high-end restaurant & bar within a hotel that my wife manages.
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The Golden Spike (1869)
Location: Promontory Summit, Utah

The hammering of the ceremonial final railway spike that connected the first transcontinental railway in the United States. The Central Pacific railway starting in Sacramento, California met the Union Pacific railway starting in Omaha, Nebraska. The two lines met roughly in the middle in Utah.

With the Union Pacific Railway already connected to the preëxisting railway network in the eastern United States, there was now a continuous railway connection between east and west for the first time.

The actual golden railway spike used in the ceremony is now on display in Stanford University.


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Don't really know if this appropriate considering what happened to it's occupants... I'm not saying you can't post pictures of a 550 Spyder and a Carrera GT but posting pictures of the exact cars that people were killed in is a bit insensitive IMO.
 
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