New home needed for Russian Cold War boat
Comments |
What do Berlin, Glasgow Cardiff and London all have in
common?
They have all been considered as new homes for The Black Widow,
a Russian submarine that has been moored on the River Medway for
almost a decade.
The boat moved to Medway in 2003 and is on the Strood side of
the Rochester Bridge.
Skelwith, the company that owns the vessel, is searching for a
new location.
John Sutton, 47, who manages the submarine, said the company
would like to open it as a tourist attraction, but has encountered
a number of problems which means the only people that use it now
are film crews.
"We've scoured up and down the River Medway, it's a shame to
have it sat on the river doing nothing," he said.
"There are no deep water moorings left on the Medway. We'd like
to show people around but there are health and safety issues.
"Once they're in the submarine they're safe, but it's just
transporting them across. We could start up a ferry service but I
don't think it would be viable."
The boat had been used as a tourist attraction while in London
and Folkestone.
The Black Widow was built in 1967 and remained in active service
until April, 1994. Libyan, Cuban and Indian submariners used it for
training.
It first opened as a tourist attraction at London's Thames
Barrier until 1998 before moving to Folkestone for five years.
Further up the river at The Historic Dockyard, Chatham, sits HMS
Ocelot, a boat that used to play a deadly game of cat and mouse
with the vessel in the Baltic at the height of tensions between
East and West.
Mr Sutton, from Sevenoaks, said it would be great to have two
historical contemporaries side by side. However, if a site cannot
be found, the submarine will have to be scrapped.
"To scrap something like that would be wrong. It's so
tantalisingly close to the shore," Mr Sutton said.
Thursday, December 15 2011
The KM Group does not moderate comments.
Please click here for our house rules.