It started with a ship - The Bulgarian Navy

As I mentioned in my previous post it started with a ship. Friday 28th April 2017. Suffering from cabin fever I decided that, despite the weather, I needed some fresh air. As the No. 82 bus arrived first I decided to have brunch at the cafe next to the railway station. I thought that I would have a walk along the coastal path past the port. To my surprise where the yacht had been moored a large naval vessel now dwarfed the Port Varna Terminal building. The yacht was the "Lady K" and the ship turned out to be the destroyer HMS Daring. What has this got to do with the Bulgarian Navy read on...

Sunday (9th April). The motor yacht Lady K. Constructed in Australia of a planing composite hull and composite superstructure, with teak decks. Powered by 2 MTU (16V396 TE94) 2,950hp diesel engines, 1 Textron Lycoming (TF40) 4,600hp gas turbine engines and propelled by her triple waterjets Motor yacht Lady K is capable of a top speed of 30 knots, and comfortably cruises at 19 knots. With her 70,500 litres fuel tanks she has a maximum range of 1,000 nautical miles at 18 knots. Her water tanks store around 5,000 litres of fresh water. Designed to comfortably accommodate up to 10 guests overnight in 5 cabins, comprising a master suite, 1 VIP stateroom, and 3 twin cabins. She is also capable of carrying up to 7 crew on board to ensure a relaxed luxury yacht experience - litres of "bubbly" to match no doubt.

Friday (28th April). The fog swirled around the port as I looked down from the road. This was definitely worth investigating. Even from a distance this ship was huge. As I approached I realised that the Union Jack was flying from the prow. Not having Jane's Fighting Ships to hand it was fortunate that HMS Daring was emblazoned on the gang plank.  Considering that the Port Varna Terminal Building is a good three stories high it was still dwarfed by this grey mass partly obscured by the swirling fog.

I made up my mind to continue on to the Morki Rei where I am sure that my American friend would enlighten me. As I walked back I noticed the bright orange port tender was going astern, whilst out in the canal a grain transporter was being turned by three tugs. The tender then went ahead to manoeuvre past them. An impressive hive of activity. When I arrived, rather chilled at the restaurant Wiley was deep in conversation with Gareth, another of my acquaintances. Between them it was identified as a destroyer, one of the Royal Navy's latest acquisitions. Various other facts and figures were expounded, none of which I can remember.

Although the fog lurked it was not as bad as the following day. Suddenly three helicopters flew closely over our heads. We were then treated to a display of tactics and manoeuvres which we speculated on. Was this a NATO exercise? Were these drills taking advantage of the presence of the destroyer? I didn't have my camera! We were informed that the display would be repeated the following day at 10:00 hours. We made a date with Joy, the proprietor, to be there for breakfast. Alas the rehersal took place in slightly better conditions so we were able to see more manoeuvres and the HALO parachute drop intended for the show. Come the day, I was able to take photos of the event which I described in my previous post but the fog was atrocious as can be seen by this photo of HMS Daring slipping out of port at 10:41 hours on the 29th April long after the display should have started.

Today (1st May). Gareth and I had arranged to meet up at the "Happy" Bar & Grill as the world celebrated May Day for various reasons. Whilst walking through the port I had the idea of photographing the Bulgarian Navy berthed there as a complement to the post about Fleet Air Arm and the aforementioned HMS Daring. We were on the second floor of the Port Varna building but unable to sit out on the balcony. We were shown to a table which happened to be in line with the fleet across the water. I chatted with Gareth over a very satisfying meal and a decent bottle of wine, discussing my idea and he ventures some more facts and figures about the Bulgarian Navy.

As we looked across he identified three frigates and expounded on a proposal for the Bulgarians to build their own cruiser here in Varna. After all, much as Great Britain, this was once a great ship building port. Other parts of the fleet are based elsewhere. I am not a navy man therefore I cannot identify each class of ship in turn, perhaps my brother will enlighten me when he sees them? I hope that hope that they give homage to a poor but proud, post Communist nation doing its bit for NATO in the east. After all their headquarters is based here as I have mentioned before.

We see the "Dimitar Dobrev" and the "Balchik" and I noticed that there is also a submarine berthed there. Gareth also pointed out that the white vessel with a funnel is used for the second stage of training after passing the initial course under sail. One of my previous posts (The Bulgarian Navy - Friend or Foe? dated 09 September 2015) related to the Naval Museum here which details some of the history of the Navy and its achievements.

View the full "Port Varna and the Navy" photo album here.

My next post will come from Balchik, a beautiful town up the coast from Varna with historical interests