Sod your singers and ball footers, this boat is an actual hero. In so far as some wood and stuff can be.
My office is on the ludicrously named Eel Pie Island in the Thames, next to a working shipyard.

And this here boat has been moored up for a day, and now brought up a slipway to have a propellor replaced. We all thought it was cool looking, but had no idea what it was. So we did some internet research.

Turns out that it's MTB-102. Yes, THE MTB-102! Say what?

Boat photo

It's a motor torpedo boat, powered by two V-12 Merlin engines, just like what the Spitfires had, and has an amazing history. It made eight crossings of the Channel during the Dunkirk evacuation and was one of the first boats back over during D-Day.

Here's what it looked like when it was out kicking Fritz's arse.

Old timey boat photo

It also carried Churchill and Eisenhower, and was in both the Queen's flotillas. It's the fastest Royal Navy vessel ever, apparently, and was in Steve McQueen's The Eagle Has Landed. It's the last surviving military vessel from Dunkirk.

All hail the megaboat!

Alt Q: Shut up and appreciate history!
(Miraclefish How appropriate, you fight like a cow, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 10:37, 52 replies, latest was 12 years ago)

MASSIVE PICTURES, THANKS!!!!!!!!
EDIT thanks
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 10:38, Reply)

I think the pictures should be bigger

( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 10:39, Reply)

BOAT LOL

( Light In Chains maker of the ikea sofa, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 10:39, Reply)

Link the pictures please.

(PsychoChomp, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 10:40, Reply)

This is the fucking Daddy!

(Set your faces to Stunned Bigly, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 10:41, Reply)

Just cos your mum worked the docks
doesn't mean your daddy came from this boat
( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 10:42, Reply)

That's where I get my powers from.
A Merlin engine!!!!!
(Set your faces to Stunned Bigly, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 10:43, Reply)

They're pretty magic

(Miraclefish How appropriate, you fight like a cow, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 11:06, Reply)

Whilst it is impressive, and it's good that things like this still exist, please either shrink the pictures, or link them
Many of us surf from work, and pictures on a screen show up far more obviously than text.

EDIT: Thank you!
( Agnostic Antichrist Baltimora, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 10:42, Reply)

Well get on with some fucking work then.

(Set your faces to Stunned Bigly, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 10:44, Reply)

He'll plaster up some prick toap later on without a hint of irony

( Light In Chains maker of the ikea sofa, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 10:45, Reply)

You first.

( Agnostic Antichrist Baltimora, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 10:46, Reply)

I am my boss and so do as I please.

(Set your faces to Stunned Bigly, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 10:47, Reply)

Eel Pie Island is fucking weird.

( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 10:42, Reply)

Didn't they used to do massive gigs there?

(PsychoChomp, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 10:43, Reply)

Yep.
Before it burned down and the hippes got chased away.

But the Mystery Jets still live here, as does the old bloke from Game of Thrones, Rufus Hound (that guy with the facial hair) and Trevor Bayliss.
(Miraclefish How appropriate, you fight like a cow, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 10:48, Reply)

Not heard of the Mystery Jets in years, fucking hell

( Agnostic Antichrist Baltimora, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 10:50, Reply)

Oh and a Chinese woman who walks a cat on a lead.
Strange place indeed. Also it floods when the river tide is high.
(Miraclefish How appropriate, you fight like a cow, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 10:50, Reply)

Are all those creepy plastic doll heads still there?

( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 10:52, Reply)

Yeah.
And a giant papier mache shark's head which is ominously left on a flatbed trolley.
(Miraclefish How appropriate, you fight like a cow, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 10:59, Reply)

Steve McQueen wasn't in the Eagle Has Landed

(Reverend Fister "a disciplined fuckwit", Wed 20 Jun 2012, 10:43, Reply)

Whoops
Someone has lied to me.

I blame the Dutch.
(Miraclefish How appropriate, you fight like a cow, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 10:46, Reply)

For sure.

(Reverend Fister "a disciplined fuckwit", Wed 20 Jun 2012, 10:56, Reply)

Indeed.
Jenny Agutter was though. Woof.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 10:49, Reply)

Ding dong.

( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 10:56, Reply)

Donald Sutherland's Oirish accent in that is fucking hilarious.

( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 10:50, Reply)

Only eclipsed by Michael "I'll not even fucking attempt a German accent" Caine

(Reverend Fister "a disciplined fuckwit", Wed 20 Jun 2012, 10:56, Reply)

That's the 'Connery technique' and I think it's fair enough.
Donald thought he'd try a bit of the old 'acting', much to the amusement of the entire world.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 10:57, Reply)

Ash long ash the collarsh and cuffsh matsch, Mish MoneyPenny...

(Reverend Fister "a disciplined fuckwit", Wed 20 Jun 2012, 11:02, Reply)

Oh well. I'll be back in the next thread when the pictures are gone.

( scarpe We Stole Bikes, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 10:46, Reply)

This is just begging for people to post massive pictures in every thread, isn't it?

( scarpe We Stole Bikes, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 10:46, Reply)

I was just looking for a personal launch.
I need one to commute from my secret Caribbean island lair. That looks nice and nippy, probably fairly tough, too. Is it armoured? It only needs to resist small arms fire.
( Kroney, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 10:46, Reply)

It's made of wood so I doubt it.

( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 10:48, Reply)

Bent
Back to the hunt, I guess.
( Kroney, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 10:54, Reply)

What you wnat is an aquariva

( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 10:55, Reply)

What you want is gassing.

( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 10:55, Reply)

Good to see you've cheered up

( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 10:58, Reply)

Nothing on earth will cheer me up today.

( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 11:04, Reply)

Naked Ape has decided to kill himself.

( tangledupinblue hairy badge with moving eyes, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 11:05, Reply)

:(

( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 11:09, Reply)

They're also kind of a bit made of wood
but they are fucking gorgeous. And terminally expensive. Half a million euro for a decent one.

Still, let's give Greece, Spain and Italy a couple of years and half a million euro will be worth about 47p
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 10:58, Reply)

You'd be too swarve to be shot though

( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 11:03, Reply)

Too what now?

( tangledupinblue hairy badge with moving eyes, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 11:04, Reply)

I think it's the word for being covered in Swarfega.

( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 11:07, Reply)

swarve like James bond
when he's hanging out the back of your mum drinking a martini and shooting at peasants
( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 11:08, Reply)

Suave.

( Kroney, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 11:10, Reply)

i couldn't get close enough to the real spelling to get the computer to check :(

( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 11:12, Reply)

If you have to rely on spell checker
you've already lost.
( Kroney, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 11:16, Reply)

Needs moar Morrisons/vodka lies.

( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 10:55, Reply)

I once drank a litre of Morrisons vodka.

(Set your faces to Stunned Bigly, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 10:59, Reply)

The night 'the OC' burnt my socks I'd drunk a litre of Smirnoff Blue by 5pm.
To this day long life orange juice gives me the heaves.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 11:00, Reply)

Morrinov

( tangledupinblue hairy badge with moving eyes, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 11:00, Reply)

Scottish Standard

( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 11:00, Reply)

I once drank a bottle of Safeway Vodka
That was a terrible idea
( Agnostic Antichrist Baltimora, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 11:09, Reply)

Any booze that lists ingredients is a bad idea
I believe supermarkets own vodkas list alcohol and water.
( Peej, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 11:10, Reply)

When I dump the empty in the bag
I make it look like I'm checking my number plate isn't falling off
( Reginald Donkeyfuck, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 11:14, Reply)

the great thing about this
is it gets funnier with every post
( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 11:15, Reply)