[MOC] The Principality of Sealand

[greg3]

Last weekend marked the 50th anniversary of the founding of "The Principality of Sealand" and its claim to be the world's smallest nation. 

So I thought, what better way to celebrate the birth of a micro-nation than with a microscale model....

Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr

A bit of background info into what I think is one of the most coolest and craziest bits of recent history (why this hasn't been made into a movie I don't know!!)

Sealand began life as HM Fort Rough, a Maunsell Naval Sea Fort during WW2. These forts were platforms off the British coast and equipped with anti aircraft guns in order to protect vital shipping lanes from German mine laying aircraft. They remained in service until the late 50's when they were abandoned. During the 1960s they became much sought after locations for pirate radio station operators who realised that, as the forts were outside what was then UK territorial waters (up to 3 miles from shore), they could get around the strict broadcasting laws of the time. One of these pirate radio station owners was Paddy Roy Bates, a former army major, who decided to set up on Fort Rough. On 2nd September 1967, after evicting a rival station from the fort, he decided to scrap his ideas for a radio station and instead declared the fort an independent nation, "The Principality of Sealand" with himself and his wife as the rulers!! 

The following year, Bates and his son were taken to court by the UK government after warning shots were fired from the tower at a British vessel that strayed too close. The case collapsed when the judge confirmed that the tower was outside British waters and therefore not under British law. With this de facto recognition of independence, Bate's began producing Sealand coins, passports, stamps and even a flag!!

In 1978, a German businessman, Alexander Achenbach, and a group of armed men seized control of Sealand. They took Michael Bates (Roy's son) hostage, later "exiling" him to Europe. Michael managed to get back to the UK and with his father and a group of friends, staged a "counter-coup" landing by helicopter and retaking the platform. The coup plotters were held for a short time as "prisoners of war" but most were quickly released. However, one of them, a german lawyer Gernot Putz, was an old associate of the Bates family and actually held a Sealand passport so was put on "trial" for treason against Sealand. Found guilty he was to be held prisoner until he could pay a substantial fine. The German government got involved in trying to secure his release (after the British refused to help) and sent diplomats to Sealand to negotiate, more evidence for Bates that Sealand was viewed as a country. Eventually Putz was released and the incident brought Sealand some much needed publicity.

In 2006 plans to turn Sealand into an offshore data centre almost ended in disaster when generators fitted to power the IT equipment caught fire. With the fire spreading, the handful of people on board were evacuated and a firefighting tug brought in to help. The fire was soon extinguished but this marked the first time since its founding that Sealand was unmanned. It didn’t last long though and soon the damage was repaired and Sealand continues to be permanently occupied. In recent years it has hosted a Red Bull skateboarding event, and now has it’s own football team made up of “honorary Sealand citizens”. 

Roy Bates died in 2012 but his son Michael continues to rule Sealand. 

Now back to my version..

Here you can see the helipad

Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr

The main way on, however, is by a large yellow crane that can lift individual people, cargo or even an entire RIB up to the platform.

Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr

The main building contains the "royal quarters" as well as offices. Most of the living space is actually in the support columns each of which has 7 floors (the original fort would have been manned by around 200 sailors). The mast array is for radar, communications and weather recording equipment.

Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr

The brown grill pieces show where the generator building that was destroyed by fire was. It now seems to be a fenced off storage area. And of course I've included the Sealand flag!!

Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr

Reference pic

Sealandafterfire2 by g.nat, on Flickr

There's a lot more info online about the real life Sealand - it really is a fascinating story (I'd love to visit one day!!) but thanks for looking and comments are always welcome...

 

 

 

Edited September 10, 2017 by greg3

[carebear]

Very Original,

- Great build and likeness

and i realy like how you told the history about this

Thanks for sharing

Greetings

[BrickJagger]

I've heard of Sealand before, it really is quite an interesting place. You've represented it well.