While on holiday we missed the news of a new Chinese nuclear submarine being spotted on Google Earth.

Not much is known about the new class of Ballistic Missile Submarine, which is called the Jin-class or Type 094, but the US government estimated last year that China might build 5 of them to act as a permanent sea-based deterrent.

While we’re on the subject of elusive submarines, this brown looking mini-submarine is in fact a real-life Yellow Submarine!

It was built by an enterprising chap from Brooklyn who intended to recover the treasures of the sunken Andrea Doria, which wrecked on its way to New York city in 1956. With investment from the locals he designed and built the mini-sub himself, painting it yellow because it was the cheapest paint to hand.

Unfortunately, during its launch in 1970, the submarine sank (unintentionally) and the locals weren’t prepared to continue to invest in the builder’s madcap idea. The sub was eventually scavenged itself, and its rotting shell remains abandoned in the small ship graveyard of Coney Island Creek.

The full history and pictures from the past and present of the submarine are available on Forgotten NY

Thanks: Thomas Paul

We hope you’ve all enjoyed Reader Takeover Week here at Google Sightseeing and Alex and I would like to thank all those who contributed, especially our published authors: Jerome, Keir Clarke, Eugene Villar, Zack & Rob. All five were excellent posts and we’re really grateful for your assistance. A round of applause for the takeover week authors!

We’re back from holiday now and have begun wading through hundreds of unread emails and RSS feeds. Your regular GGSS schedule will resume shortly…

Welcome to the final day of Google Sightseeing Reader Takeover Week. Every day this week, one of you has been chosen to have their very own sight posted here on GSS, while Alex and James take a well deserved holiday. Today’s final sight is from GSS addict Rob!

Nicknamed “Billionaires Row”, Kensington Palace Gardens, in West London, is home to a collection of the most expensive homes in the World.

For those of you who have just come off the hedge fund management circuit, prices start at around £50 million for the smaller house, although the asking price for 18-19 Kensington Mews was a rather modest £85 million.

Sadly though, the street plays host to embassies and ambassadors residences. However, the Sultan of Brunei, one of the richest men in the World, owns Number 20, with the Number 8 on top – “symbolizing the phrase Ba Shi Fa Cai” (”the number eight brings prosperity”).

The Sultan is in good company though, with the Worlds 5th Richest Man (and Britain’s richest), Steel Magnate, Lakshmi Mittal, living next door. He bought his house from F1 tycoon Bernie Ecclestone for £57 million – starting to see a trend here? The “Taj Mittal” is so called because the marble that is used in the house is the same stuff that made the Taj Mahal.

Britain’s 6th richest man, Leonard Blavatnik, also occupies, rather greedily, 15a AND b! Although he probably deserves it, since it is rather small, and only has a tennis court to show off. He picked his up for a snip at £40,000,000.

Find out more and get a full list of residents at Wikipedia.

Welcome to day four of Google Sightseeing Reader Takeover Week! Every day this week, one of you has been chosen to have their very own sight posted here on GSS, while Alex and James take a well deserved holiday. Today’s sight is from Zack!

Bomb Island, also named Lunch Island, is located in Lake Murray which is west of Columbia, South Carolina.

A 1.5-mile-long earthen dam, the largest in the world when it was built, created Lake Murray, named for William S. Murray, chief engineer for the project.

The Purple Martin roost on Bomb Island is the largest roost in North America with 700,000 to 800,000 birds present at the peak of pre-migration in late July. A most unusual event happens each year as thousands of Purple Martins return to this island to roost for the summer. The island has been declared a bird sanctuary and it is quite a sight to watch these birds return to Bomb Island each day around sunset. People around the lake construct Purple Martin houses, or clusters of gourds, to attract the nesting birds. Purple Martins are the largest North American member of the swallow family and, like other swallows; their diet consists of flying insects.

Pilots in World War 2 used Bomb Island and surrounding islands for bombing practice. Some of these bomber crews flew with General James H. Doolittle’s Raiders on April 18, 1942 when they bombed Tokyo.

Sixty–two years after plunging into Lake Murray, one of the last remaining Army Air Corps warplanes has been rescued from 150 feet beneath the lake’s surface. The final day of the airplane is well known. After flying out of the Columbia Army Air Base on April 4, 1943, the now–rare B–25C Bomber crashed and sank in the man–made lake during a skip–bombing training mission. The military crew escaped the aircraft, which had lost power, and brought it to rest upright, with damage to only the right engine. The crew survived and was rescued. The airplane will be at the Southern Museum of Flight in Birmingham, Alabama. There, the plane will be restored, conserved, and displayed in its public museum.

Welcome to day three of Google Sightseeing Reader Takeover Week! Every day this week, one of you has been chosen to have their very own sight posted here on GSS, while Alex and James take a well deserved holiday. Today’s sight is from Eugene Villar!

Ferdinand Magellan’s expedition is the world’s first successful circumnavigation around the world. Unfortunately, Magellan himself died during the journey and only one ship and 18 crew members returned to Spain from the original four ships and 270 people.

Magellan met his demise in the Philippine Islands, specifically on Mactan Island in Cebu province, where he engaged in local politics. He died during the Battle of Mactan on April 27, 1521 while fighting against the tribe of the local chieftain Lapu-Lapu on the shores of Mactan Island.

The Mactan Shrine is dedicated to both Magellan and Lapu-Lapu and marks the spot where the Battle of Mactan supposedly took place. At the center of a square plaza in the shrine is an obelisk built in memory of Magellan and to the north at the center of a circular plaza is a 20-foot tall bronze statue of Lapu-Lapu, now considered as the Philippines’ first national hero.

Every year on April 27, the Battle of Mactan is re-enacted during the Kadaugan sa Mactan festival along the marshes to the north of the shrine.

More info on the Wikipedia pages for Ferdinand Magell, Battle of Mactan, Lapu-Lapu and on Vista Pinas.