#lanchester

The Receptionist

A tough old lady with a long history working for both Redmond and Blutarch Mann. There are those who believe a good portion of the Gravel Wars was fought over her. She has been at work there on and off since her early twenties, giving her a stone cold approach to violence of any form. She is not averse to it, having recieved military training and keeping a trusty SMG under her desk in case of any would-be assassins. That being said, she is as professional as they come. A china set of delicious tea and coffee is at the ready at any time, and only the best bossa nova music playing in the waiting room. Waiting to get shouted at by your boss has never felt so good!

Some of you may know what's been going on, but yeah... I suffered a m*scarriage and needed s*rgery and everything last month. It's been hard going, but I've been trying to keep my mind on other things.

Here's one of them. From yesterday.

Getting ready for Race The Waves!

We are also trying our best to get this done, as one of the crew has stage 4 c*ncer and this is a sort of final hurrah/great memory for them.

In Action: Lanchester in Borneo

The above photographs were taken during the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Barrosa’s 1965-66 deployment to the Far East station. Barrosa was part of a task force supporting British operations in Borneo during the Indonesia–Malaysia Confrontation.

The sailors were tasked with carrying out stop and search patrols of local vessels suspected of smuggling weapons and equipment to communist insurgents. Off the coast of North Borneo and western Malaysia the Barrosa stopped vessels out at sea while parties of sailors used small local vessels, like peraus, to patrol the coastal waters.

A boarding party from HMS Barrosa prepare to search a native Kumpit, a possible carrier of smuggled arms. Note the sailor covering the crew with his Lanchester (source)

The primary weapon issued was the Lanchester, a World War Two-vintage submachine gun. The Lanchester, produced by Sterling, was a copy of the Bergmann MP 28/II, it was originally built for use by the RAF and Royal Navy before the Navy were given the entire production run of nearly 80,000 guns. 

The Lanchester, named after George Lanchester - the engineer who oversaw its production, was a large well built but bulky weapon. Expensive to produce, costing £14 per gun, it was soon surpassed by the cheaper Sten. Despite this, the Lanchester outlasted the Sten in British service, and the Royal Navy did not declare them obsolete until 1978.

Sources:

Images: 1 2 3