Posted on 03/28/2007 6:11:27 AM PDT by presidio9
IT'S been a tough month for the British Navy. On March 7, it learned that Tony Blair's Labor government was going ahead with drastic cuts in its budget and number of ships. By this time next year, the once-vaunted Royal Navy will be about the size of the Belgian Navy, while its officers face a five-year moratorium on all promotions.
If that wasn't demoralizing enough, last Friday the Iranian Navy seized a patrol boat containing 15 British sailors and Marines, claiming they'd crossed into Iranian waters. They're now hostages and may well go on trial as spies.
The latest report is that the Britons were ready to fight off their abductors. Certainly their escorting ship, HMS Cornwall, could have blown the Iranian naval vessel out of the water. However, at the last minute the British Ministry of Defense ordered the Cornwall not to fire, and her captain and crew were forced to watch their shipmates led away into captivity.
There was a question whether the Blair government would end up leaving Britain with a navy too small to protect its shores. Now it seems to want a navy that can't even protect its own sailors.
For some time, Tony Blair has been trying to show that for all his support of President Bush, he is no warmonger. He has been a consistent "softliner" on Iran's nuclear program, supporting the Europeans' search for a diplomatic solution and repeatedly insisting that any military options be taken off the table.
Since January, the Blair government has broadcast its intentions of gutting the Royal Navy's surface fleet. At the same time, it also announced its plans for withdrawing 2,500 British troops from Iraq. The result? First, the Royal Navy is finished as a credible military force. Second,
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
I wonder where the Ministry of Defense could buy "idiocy offsets"?
Bad news for the RN but potentially good news for the Aussie Navy. Any RN personnel that want to join the RAN are more than welcome.
I hope they aren't asking for America's help because our our congress says we are the worst friends to have, we will use you then lose you.
Good on ya.
Lord Nelson weeps.
The Brits HAD a chance to defend themselves, but refused to do so. That makes this THEIR fight, not ours.
In our Navy (especially the submarine arm) you hear a lot of British, American, New Zealand, and Canadian accents. The Anglosphere is reality under the Australian White Ensign.
reference mark
If you have not yet read "To Rule The Waves," I highly recommend it.
Even more telling is, if they had fired on the Iranians and the Irainians returned fire, we would have come in full force to defend the British ship.
Thanks for posting this excellent article.
The United States' Congress Position: America, no better enemy, no worse friend.
You can't just wound the Iranian snake...you have to kill it because a wounded Iran could cause military and economic turmoil that would shake the world and shake it good.
With that in mind there's not much the Brits could have done to prevent the capture of their sailors and there's not much they can do now to see to their release.
American accents? Really? A US citizen who serves in a foreign military (even a friendly one) can lose his/her US citizenship.I wonder if they're dual citizens who wouldn't care if they lost their US citizenship...or who don't know that that could happen.
We have both serving USN personnel who are posted to billets and ex USN personnel who have joined the RAN and became Australian citizens.
Sometimes they work together. When my son was in the Navy, they did joint training (and joint drinking) with the Aussies.
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