"They're just a couple of unremarkable wooden huts in the middle of a field in the Scarborough countryside. But what went on behind their doors helped turn the tide of World War II. Croft Spa was home to 20 radio operators working for Britain's spy agency GCHQ and is one of a number of previously secret locations used by the agency in the fight against the Nazis, revealed today on its 100th anniversary. Unbeknown to the public, Croft Spa was a direction finding station and those working inside were able to locate the German battleship Bismarck in the Atlantic – a discovery that culminated in the sinking of the pride of the Nazi navy – on May 27, 1941. GCHQ historian Tony Comer, said: 'That was a fantastic achievement because here you have one of the principle vessels of the German navy that was destroyed and it could not be replaced during the war. 'By sinking the Bismarck, you've taken out a significant proportion of Germany's possibility of being able to influence the war at sea. 'It enabled the Royal Navy to get closer to being able to dominate the seaways, to allow convoys to sail the oceans safely.' www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7637481/The-huts-sank-Bismarck.html
Gordon, you dig up, well you and the daily mail, constantly, bits of news that keeps expanding our knowledge base The direction-finding base, Croft Spa was news to me.
It's amazing what's still out there, Gaines. Back at Easter, I was over in Anstruther in Fife, and discovered that what is now a storeroom on the golf course was originally a gun position. There's a wartime Naval DF station near Crail where the Nissens still survive as barns. All right up my street.
