“Only when evasion by an individual is impossible and further fighting would lead only to death with no significant loss of the enemy should only consider surrender. With all reasonable means of resistance exhausted and with certain death the only alternative, capture does not imply dishonor.”
"No significant loss of the enemy"? You got to be joking. The HMS Cornwall, a high-tech, heavily armed frigate was on the scene. They had eight anti-ship missiles at the ready, and could have sunk each and every one of the Iranian boats.
Captain Loyd Bucher of the Peublo did the same thing in 1968 only with North Korean pirates. But he actually tried to flee, and didn't surrender until he was heavily fired upon and lost one sailor and others were wounded, including himself. And there was NO ONE around to come to his aid. The Brits had an armed helicopter flying overhead and a heavily armed frigate, the HMS Cornwall in the immediate area. They stood down when they had a real chance to fight and put the enemy down to the bottom of the sea.
Captain Loyd Bucher was humiliated and court martial was recommended, but charges were later dismissed because Bucher had suffered enormously during his capture. Bucher did a lot more to avert capture than these Brits did, and even so he was disgraced in the Navy for surrendering. After capture, his men endured an entire year of severe torture before they began to make phoney 'confessions', all the while doing things like naming "Maxwell Smart" as their 'accomplices', and flipping the bird en masse to the N. Korean photographer to show the world their courage and defiance against the NK's. Due to their bravery and non-compliance with their North Korean capturers some of Pueblo crew were awarded decorations for heroism. The Brits began to make their "confessions" immediately after capture. Something has broken down and I believe it is directly related to our wimpy cultures today, and lack of patriotism and courage.
You are defending an act of cowardice, or at the very least an act of shameful timidity in the face of an inferior enemy.
Support ship should have rescued their people.
Captain should have valued his people more than his career.
“Bucher did a lot more to avert capture than these Brits did”
It would have helped if he had ordered the crypto equipment thrown over the side....according to a recent Tv production the Russians setup the NKs to gain access to the coding equipment, so they could use the settings that Walker was selling to them....