Spetsnaz
Rafting
Death Row
Manfred von Richthofen
Back to the Future: The Ride
ED-209
Eurocopter HH-65 Dolphin
Piasecki PA-97
Tooth Bleaching
Raise The Titanic!
Georgia Aquarium
Balls 8
Snow Blower
Spitting Cobra
Great White Shark
MV Mont
Dry Tortugas National Park
Gemini 9A
Starfish Prime
Sebaceous Cyst
Skunk
Wolf Spider
MRAP Armored Vehicle
Prepaid Mobile Phone
Rolling Thunder Inc.
Ecdysis
Inhalant Abuse
LASIK
Hydraulic Rescue Tools
Moray Eel
Star of India
Beretta CX4 Storm
Diver Propulsion Vehicle
Japanese Spider Crab
Blue Angels
Precrash System
Slipway
USS Intrepid CV-11
Nasal Irrigation
Petroleum Toxicity
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Ballistic Gelatin
Caminito del Rey
Bhopol Disaster
AK-47
Sardine Run
Tarantula Hawk
Cauliflower Ear
Schwerer Gustav
Crotalus Adamanteus (Eastern Diamondback)
Derweze
MS Oasis of the Seas
Space Exposure
Reflex Sight
Samuel L Jackson
Undercarriage
Knee Replacement
Ultralight Aviation
Vasily Zaytsev
ROKS Cheonan (PCC-772)
Tacome Narrows Bridge (1940)
Bullfrog
Red Flag (USAF)
Traffic Light
Coral snake
Lun-class Ekranoplan
MV Princess Ashika
Kimbo Slice
Reggie Watts
Resolute Desk
Parkour
Miracle On Ice
Blepharoplasty (Eyelid Surgery)
Miss Cleo
Opiliones (Daddy Long Legs)
Colt Anaconda
Hypermiling
Veterinary dentistry
Dental Braces
Hubble Ultra Deep Field
Tap, Rack, Bang
Rhinoplasty
SSC Aero
Sturgis Motorcycle Rally
Red Rock Crab
Sl-1
Surgical Suture
Abdominoplasty
Lethal Injection
Osprey
Assault Breacher Vehicle
Parasailing
Mount Vesuvius
Pit Bull
Desert Tortoise
Four-stroke Engine
RT-2UTTH Topol M
Mil Mi-26
Möbius Syndrome
Pykrete
Gimli Glider
Tonsillolith
Chewing Gum
Water Rocket
African Grey Parrot
Nunchaku
RAID
Rat
Fred Rogers
Guinness
Jameson Irish Whiskey
Sunday Times Golden Globe Race
Casu Marzu
LED-backlit LCD television
Suppressor
Bear Grylls
Big Bertha (Howitzer)
Crawler-Transporter
Principality of Sealand
Car Battery
White Blood Cell
Digital Photography
Flying First Class
Freestyle Skiing
Goblin Shark
The Three Stooges
Benelli M4 Super 90
Tanker 910
Breast Reduction
Hiller X-18
Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Down Syndrome
Spider Monkey
Union Pacific Big Boy
Warrenpoint Ambush
Apollo 11
Les Stroud
Richard Pryor
Concussion
North American X-15
Blue Ringed Octopus
Rhytidectomy (Facelift)
Saint Valentine's Day Massacre
Big Mac Index
Annelid
Tiger Shark
Niagara Falls
Heckler & Koch MP5
Hyena
2008 Toronto Propane Explosion
Lamborghini Countach
Breast Implant
Delorean DMC-12
Tonopah Test Range Airport
Buran Program
Poison Dart Frog
Samuel Adams Beer
Outlaws Motorcycle Club
P-51 Mustang
Fluorescence
Simo Hayha
Hot Dog
Airwolf
Golden Eagle
Halabja Poison Gas Attack
HMS Ardent
Taurus Judge
Antipredator Adaption
Tom Savini
Black Ice
Hyacinth Macaw
AH-1 Super Cobra
Honey Badger
Traumatic Brain Injury
Emma Maersk
Magma
Patterdale Terrier
Evergreen Supertanker
Andre The Giant
Minigun
Irukandji Jellyfish
.357 SIG
The Greatest American Hero
USS Thresher (SSN-593)
Richard Simmons
Ingrown Toenail
Spud Gun
Trebuchet
Go-Go Dancing
Suicide By Cop
Floater
Rubber Band Gun
KITT
Green Anaconda
Richard Kuklinski
Rip Current
Buzkashi
1993 Storm Of The Century
Kidney Transplant
Florida Stone Crab
Polar Bear Plunge
Times Square Ball
The Year Without A Santa Claus
Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
K2
Blue Footed Booby
Massive Ordinance Penetrator
Neuschwanstein Castle
SR-71 Blackbird
Glow Stick
Venus Fly Trap
Mitch Hedberg
German Battleship Tirpitz
Chironex Fleckeri
Boss Hoss Motorcycles
USS Nautilus
Project Excelsior
John F. Kennedy Eternal Flame
LZ 129 Hindenburg
Mount Everest
Emphysema
C-130 Hercules
Zone Of Alienation
Target Girl
Jimmy Hoffa
Code Talker
SS Andrea Doria
Ramstein Airshow Disaster
Caddyshack
MacGyver
Flamethrower
United States Bullion Depository
Hells Angels
Yellow Jacket
Cluster Bomb
Body Suspension
Piper Alpha
Molotov Cocktail
Gumpert Apollo
Russian Knights
John Gotti
Ashley Force
Ilyushin Il-62
Audi R10 TDI
Kim Peek
Pancreatic Cancer
Cordyceps
Ebola
BGM-109 Tomahawk
Sid Haig
Burj Dubai
Bagger 288
Goliath Birdeater
Robert Lasardo
Antonov An 225
HU-16 Albatross
Galileo Spacecraft
Crack Cocaine
Lyle Alzado
Caterpillar 797
Muay Thai
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filed under | history
In 1943, during World War II, HM Fort Roughs was constructed by the United Kingdom as one of the Maunsell Forts, primarily for defence against German mine-laying aircraft that might be targeting the estuaries that were part of vital shipping lanes. It comprised a floating pontoon base with a superstructure of two hollow towers joined by a deck upon which other structures could be added. The fort was towed to a position above the Rough Sands sandbar, where its base was intentionally flooded to allow it to sink to its final resting place on the sandbar. The location chosen was in international waters, approximately six miles from the coast of Suffolk, outside the then three-mile territorial water claim of the United Kingdom. The facility (called Roughs Tower or HM Fort Roughs) was occupied by 150–300 Royal Navy personnel throughout World War II; not until well after the war, in 1956, were the last full-time personnel taken off HM Fort Roughs. On 2 September 1967, the fort was occupied by Major Paddy Roy Bates, a British subject and pirate radio broadcaster, who ejected a competing group of pirate broadcasters. Bates intended to broadcast his pirate radio station Radio Essex from the platform. In 1978, while Bates was away, Alexander Achenbach, who describes himself as the Prime Minister of Sealand, and several German and Dutch citizens staged a forcible takeover of Roughs Tower, holding Bates' son Michael captive, before releasing him several days later in the Netherlands. Bates thereupon enlisted armed assistance and, in a helicopter assault, retook the fort. He then held the invaders captive, claiming them as prisoners of war. Most participants in the invasion were repatriated at the cessation of the conflict, but Achenbach, a German lawyer who held a Sealand passport, was charged with treason against Sealand and was held unless he paid DM 75,000 (more than US$ 35,000). The governments of the Netherlands and Germany petitioned the British government for his release, but the United Kingdom disavowed his imprisonment, citing the 1968 court decision. The Principality of Sealand is a micronation located on HM Fort Roughs, a former World War II Maunsell Sea Fort in the North Sea 10 km (six miles) off the coast of Suffolk, England. Since 1967, the facility has been occupied by former Major HRH Prince Roy of Sealand; his associates and family claim that it is an independent sovereign state. External commentators generally classify Sealand as a micronation. While it has been described as the world's smallest nation, Sealand is not currently officially recognised as a sovereign state by any sovereign state, although Roy Bates claims it is de facto recognised by Germany as they have sent a diplomat to the nation, and by the United Kingdom after an English court ruled it did not have jurisdiction over Sealand, although neither action constitutes de jure recognition as far as the respective countries are concerned. [READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE]
