The Holy Loch (Scottish Gaelic "An Loch Sianta/Seunta") is a sea loch in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. Open to the Firth of Clyde at its eastern end, the loch is approximately one mile wide and between two and three miles (5 km) long, varying with the tide. The town of Dunoon on the Cowal peninsula lies on the shores of the Clyde just to the south of the loch, and houses continue round the villages of Kirn, Hunter's Quay at the point with the landing slip for Western Ferries, Ardnadam and past Lazaretto Point, the village of Sanbank, with open countryside at the end of the loch, then on the northern shore Kilmun, and at Strone Point the village of Strone continues round to the western shore of the Clyde, almost joining Blairmore on Loch Long. The name Holy Loch is believed to date from the 6th century, when Saint Munn landed there after leaving Ireland.
All the villages used to have piers served by Clyde steamers, and now Western Ferries runs between Hunters Quay and McInroy's Point on the outskirts of Gourock, while the Caledonian MacBrayne service runs from Dunoon to Gourock pierhead. At the end of the loch a road runs past the Benmore Botanic Garden and Arboretum (also known as the Younger Botanic Gardens) to scenic Loch Eck and on towards Oban.
In 1958, the famous boat yard in Sandbank, Alexander Robertson and Sons Ltd (Yachtbuilders), built the America's Cup Challenger Sceptre, a 12metre, 17tonne yacht designed by David Boyd. She was unsuccessful in her attempt, as Sceptre was beaten by Columbia in September that same year, and America retained the trophy.
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During World War II the loch was used by the Royal Navy as a submarine base, served by the depot ship Forth. The loch was used extensively for trials and exercises by Royal Navy submarines during the Second World War, the submarines Vandal and Untamed were lost in the Clyde after being sunk by accidents during exercises. Untamed was later salvaged.
Near the Holy Loch an anti-submarine boom was constructed between Dunoon and the Cloch Point Lighthouse to defend waters from German U-boats.
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Between 1961 and 1992, Holy Loch was the site of the United States Navy's "FBM Refit Site One". It was the home base of Submarine Squadron 14, part of Submarine Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet. To make maximum usage of it Submarine-launched ballistic missile deterent force, American military had determined that it required an overseas base for refit and crew turnover. Negotiations with the British Government began as early as March 1959 when President Dwight D. Eisenhower mentioned the need to British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan at a meeting at Camp David.
Holy Loch was one of several locations on or near the Firth of Clyde considered for the refit site. Others were Faslane, the channel between Largs and Cumbrae, Rosneath Bay, and Rothesay Bay. Site selection criteria included the requirements for a sheltered anchorage, relative proximity to an international airport, and sufficient shore facilities to provide housing for military personnel and their families. Agreement for the use of Holy Loch was reached near the end of 1960 and the arrival of the first tender, USS Proteus (AS-19) scheduled for December of that year. Divisions within the British government and concerns about protests by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) caused her arrival to be rescheduled to Friday 3 March 1961.[1]
Between 1961 and 1982, the Naval Support Activity ashore was administered by US Naval Activities London. In 1982, Naval Support Activity, Forward Base, Holy Loch, Scotland became its own command. NAVSUPPACT ultimately managed 42 facilities and leased 342 housing units for Navy personnel and their dependents.
A person of note who served at the Holy Loch was Laurel Blair Salton Clark, known with affection to her shipmates as “Doc Salton”, who was assigned as the Radiation Health Officer and Undersea Medical Officer at SUBRON 14. “Doc” was one of the astronauts who perished in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster on 1 February 2003.[2]
Robertson's Yard
Alexander Robertson started repairing boats in a small workshop at Sandbank in 1876, and Alexander Robertson and Sons Ltd (Yachtbuilders) went on to become one of the foremost wooden boat builders on Scotland's River Clyde.
The 'golden years' of Robertson's yard were in the early 1900s when they started building classic 12 & 15 Metre racing yachts. Robertsons was well known for the quality of its workmanship and was chosen to build the first 15-Metre yacht designed by the legendary William Fife (Shimna, 1907).
More than 55 boats were built by Robertsons in preparation for the First World War and the yard remained busy even during the Great Depression in the 1930s, as many wealthy businessmen developed a real passion for yacht racing on the Clyde. During World War II the yard was devoted to Admiralty work, producing a wide range of large high speed Fairmile Marine Motor Boats (MTB's and MGB's).
After the war the yard built the successful one-class Loch Longs and two David Boyd designed 12-Metre challengers for the America's Cup: Sceptre (1958) and Sovereign (1964). Due to difficult business conditions the Robertson family sold the yard in 1965, and it was turned over to GRP production work (mainly Pipers and Etchells) until it closed in 1980.
During its 104 year history, Robertson's Yard built 500 boats, many of which are still sailing today. The yard ceased trading in the early 1980's and the site was levelled soon after. The site has since been consumed by residential building and the new Holy Loch Marina development.
References in popular culture
In the 1968 film Ice Station Zebra, reference is made to the Navy base.
The 1988 film Down Where The Buffalo Go was centred around the base and focussed on the life of a Navy Shore patrol officer . It was filmed around the base and in Greenock.
Holy Loch is mentioned in both the novel Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy and Larry Bond and the computer game from MicroProse based on the book.
It is also mentioned in the 1982 film Who Dares Wins.
It is also mentioned in The Apocalypse Troll by David Weber as the site that Captain Richard Aston USN sails to after rescuing Ludmilla Leonovna, Terran Marines. He also notes that the tender on duty is the McKee (AS-41), and that it now 'nurses' Los Angeles and Seawolf subs, not missile boats.(The McKee was decommissioned on October 1st, 1999)
External links
- Holy Loch Marina website
- Benmore Botanic Garden
- Holy Loch, Scotland Info
- USS Hunley (AS-31), Pictures while at the Holy Loch
References
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
