The Word, Absurd

No!  Not The Word "Absurd"
Words.  You know, what you're reading now.  As you should surely know, your humble scribe has a weakness for word puzzles, cryptic crosswords, the works of Thomas Pynchon et al.
     So!  Let us gaze upon the stark face of death* Codewords.  Art?

     I post this here because last Saturday I wrote down the letters for Puzzle 2 in Puzzle 3, and then wondered why it was an especially difficult quiz, because it was.  Absurdly difficult, in fact.
     O well.
     Human frailty and all that.
     (I still got them all right.  No pictures, so you'll just have to take it on trust.  But don't worry, I have an honest face).
     Okay, after this unusually short Intro - hey, who needs an editor! - let us strap the motley to the roof of a car and send it into the carwash!

"Replenishment At Sea"
We have had a nautical theme of late, and this is no exception, because today we discuss how naval vessels at sea acquire a fresh supply of beans, boots and bullets.  Or torpedoes if you like, they're nautical and naval, aren't they?
     The up-to-date term is "underway replenishment", which we are going to ignore, as it smacks of South Canadianism.  Right, let us prod Art with a bamboo skewer and -

Three at sea

     That vessel in the middle is a Royal Fleet Auxiliary, and as you can see it is busy transferring fuel and other kit to the Through-Deck Cruiser to it's port and other essentials to the other ship on the starboard.  This is the end step of the process, because it begins with a line being fired from one ship to another.  Art?

You'll have someone's eye out with that!

     And then the heavier kit is winched across, including the fuel lines.  The idea of RAS is that your naval vessels can remain at sea a whole lot longer, rather than having to return to port to get resupplied, and maintaining your speed and course means no delays in going off to hunt pirates, or krakens, or whatever navies do.**Art?

I wouldn't Google for this, it will probably bring up a whole load of NSFW images and websites

     FYI, the Royal Navy, Perfidious Albion's most treacherous and reprehensible arm of service, are the dog's danglies at RAS.  Just in case you pirates and/or krakens were thinking of trying anything on.
     The Bends
No!  Not the album by Radiohead, even if I have been listening to it, and dark and sinister it is, too, although "Fake Plastic Trees" is - Ooops.  Gone off track again.  Sorry!
     Okay, what I mean is formally known as "Decompression Sickness", which is informally known as "the bends".  This occurs when gases, normally dissolved in the blood, come out of solution as a result of not pausing in ascending from depth.  The major joints are principally affected, very painfully, too.  It was first experienced during the mid-nineteenth century in caissons, hence the original name "Caisson disease".  Art?

A caisson

     15 workers died during the construction of the Eads Bridge, as an example, because nobody knew what the heck was causing them to shuffle off the mortal coil.  A canny native of Perfidious Albion realised it was a case of decompression and installed an airlock on the Brooklyn Bridge, which stopped people ceasing to live.
     Nowadays divers carry computers that work out what level they need to stop at on their ascent from depth, how many times and how long they have to wait.  If all else goes wrong they get shoved in a decompression chamber, to once again prevent them from ceasing to live.  Art?


No!  What - oh never mind.

TANKS!
From naval warfare to land warfare, and specifically the Second Unpleasantness, and even more specifically the Western Desert -
     I dug up some information for Dawn The Delightful, as she was looking for information about her grandfather, and then wondered about how many different types of tank the armoured formations of the Western Desert Force/Army of the Nile/Eighth Army used from the outbreak of war to the end of December 1942.  The answer is - lots.
    
     The A9 -

     The A10 -

      The A13 -

     The Vickers Mk. 6 -

     The Matilda -    

     The Crusader -

     The Valentine -

     The Stuart -

     The Grant -

     The Sherman

     The Churchill -

     The Vickers Medium -



     That's 12 different models, without going into the various different sub-types and variants therein, because that would probably double the number.  Why is this important?  Because of the different engines, fuel requirements, guns, ammunition, running gear, tracks and spare parts that are required to keep these brazen chariots functioning, that's why.  The different guns alone would include the 2 pounder, the 6 pounder, the 37 mm, the 75 mm and the 3 inch howitzer.  Logistical nightmare ahoy!



*  Sorry.  Too much Public Service Broadcasting.
**  I'm sure they hunt killer eels at some point.