You and whose Navy?

Up, and as the National Archives are closed on Monday, to the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth, south of the river.

There is something blatantly anachronistic about the resolute fashion in which the IWM has retained its name and identity; the War Office was amalgamated with the Admiralty and the Air Ministry in the '60s, becoming the Ministry of Defence - a subtle change of language that owes as much to shifting perceptions of roles as to political correctness. And as Great Britain had recognised the inevitable after WW2 and had given up most of its trappings of Empire, the adjective 'Imperial' is now very dated; more likely to be associated with the pre-Christian glories of Rome than having any relevance to the inhabitants of its former upstart colony of Britannia.

I make no apologies for reprising what must be the iconic image of the IWM building. Visiting the well-equipped research room by appointment to view the private papers of Admiral Wake-Walker, it seems appropriate to picture the two huge 15-inch naval guns that dominate the neo-classical façade of the Museum. The gun on the right was mounted in HMS RAMILLIES in 1916; the gun on the left saw service in HMS RESOLUTION between 1915 and 1938 and the monitor HMS ROBERTS, bombarding the coast of Normandy during Operation Overlord in 1944.