Up the Russians!

[Churchill]

Gad, Sir.

Mr Palmerston would have sent a gunboat.

Manned with chaps not afraid to fire their guns at the fuzzywuzzies.

No wonder the country has gone to the dogs.

I blame Disraeli.

“The Schleswig-Holstein question is so complicated, only three men in Europe have ever understood it. One was Prince Albert, who is dead. The second was a German professor who became mad. I am the third and I have forgotten all about it.”

[Paddy]

Wrong vessel(and crew) for the job. The RFA are not Royal Navy personnel.

Hth.



There may have been a small complement of marines on-board for self defence of the vessel.

Just had a look up about this. How confusing, RN flag, armed and uniformed by RN, using RN ships but not RN...

[Churchill]

Just had a look up about this. How confusing, RN flag, armed and uniformed by RN, using RN ships but not RN...

What's confusing about it?

The RFA is a civilian-manned flotilla that is owned by the Ministry of Defence and answerable to Commander in Chief Fleet.

The clue is in the names "Royal Fleet Auxiliary" and not "Royal Navy".

[Moscow Mule]

The primary goal of any RFA ship is to protect the ship.

Lose a tender, and you ruin the operational capability of any number (well, up to 10 or so) of warships.

Chasing after pirates with RPGs in a fuel tanker is not a good idea.

[dang65]

You won't find the Royal (G)Navy doing this:

Watch it! My eldest son is in the Royal Navy... and we're fairly sure he's not gay.

[shaunbhoy]

Chasing after pirates with RPGs in a fuel tanker is not a good idea.

Quite so. What one has to remember is that the Navy of the 21st Century is a lot different to that of previous ages. By way of comparison, I googled a bit and found the following :-

After a spot check of the lockers of the crew of HMS Hood, carried out in February 1940, the following inventory of items that could reasonably be described as "contraband" was found :-

378 Tobacco Pipes
322 Tobacco Pouches (14 made of real skin!!)
299 Hip Flasks
281 Bottles of Rum
212 (non-issue) Knives
171 copies of Beardwaxers Monthly
143 Shaving Razors
126 Teddy Bears
98 Golliwogs
77 Telescopes
61 Piggy Banks
55 Tubs of Vaseline
40 Lucky Rabbits Feet
29 Clockwork Mermaids
24 pairs of silk stockings
17 gerbils
14 ferrets
9 parrots
7 wooden legs
6 chickens
4 party frocks
3 pearl-handled revolvers
2 stowaways
and a nubbin!!!

On a similar exercise, performed on HMS Kent in March 2010, we got an altogether different list :-

446 Nintendo DS
431 Sets of curling tongs
411 jars of hairgel
403 Pairs of high heeled shoes
389 Ipods
377 earrings
346 digital photoframes
322 baseball caps
309 "Village People" duvet sets
286 Yoyos
271 Hair extensions
254 Simon Cowell posters
230 Boxed sets of Strictly Come Dancing DVDs
211 boxes of fabric conditioner
202 jars of hair colouring dye (mostly honey blonde!)
183 bottles of WKD blue
152 assorted lovebeads
136 guitars
119 hamsters
108 syringes
101 tubes of flavoured KY Jelly
94 Ecstasy tablets
81 stuffed animals
73 copies of BullBuggerer Monthly
62 inflatable sheep
50 Man Bags
41 rampant rabbits
36 electric toothbrushes
28 false breasts (chicken fillets)
17 harmonicas
11 budgies
8 musical goblins
5 calling birds
3 tarantulas
2 sprigs of lucky heather
and a "Kiss-Me-Quick" hat from Skegness 1977

So it is easy to see just how the Navy has evolved. Of course, since they abolished the Royal Marine presence aboard ships and replaced them with plenty of homosexuals and Wrens, the whole experience of being at sea has changed and adapted. There is now much less of a war footing, and more of a touchy-feely, booze-cruisey, Love Boat kind of a feel to it.
So it is a bit harsh to point the finger at the lack of cutting edge when one considers this backdrop. So just lay off!!!

[Paddy]

BBC News - Russian forces storm tanker seized by Somali pirates

"Russian forces have freed the crew of a Russian oil tanker seized by Somali pirates off the coast of Yemen, in a dramatic rescue operation.

Forces on the Russian warship Marshal Shaposhnikov approached the tanker with 23 Russian crew on board by helicopter.

As they did so, the pirates opened fire, sparking a shoot-out.

The Russian forces then abseiled onto the Moscow University tanker, freeing the crew who had locked themselves in a safe room after disabling their ship"

[Troll]

BBC News - Russian forces storm tanker seized by Somali pirates

"Russian forces have freed the crew of a Russian oil tanker seized by Somali pirates off the coast of Yemen, in a dramatic rescue operation.

Forces on the Russian warship Marshal Shaposhnikov approached the tanker with 23 Russian crew on board by helicopter.

As they did so, the pirates opened fire, sparking a shoot-out.

The Russian forces then abseiled onto the Moscow University tanker, freeing the crew who had locked themselves in a safe room after disabling their ship"

Ten pirates have been arrested, says the BBC's Richard Galpin in Moscow. They are currently being held aboard the tanker, Russian defence ministry spokesman Col Alexei Kuznetsov said.

They will be transferred to Moscow to face charges, reports say.

They will be ejected from a helicopter at a great height mid-ocean would be better


Really suprised there were pirate survivors though - certain they would have adopted the Iranian Embassy Siege method of dealing with hostage taking

[Churchill]

They will be ejected from a helicopter at a great height mid-ocean would be better


Really suprised there were pirate survivors though - certain they would have adopted the Iranian Embassy Siege method of dealing with hostage taking

There was one survivor.

[AtW]

Really suprised there were pirate survivors though - certain they would have adopted the Iranian Embassy Siege method of dealing with hostage taking

Russian way of dealing with hostage taking situations is to indeed to kill attackers whilst disregarding safety of hostages.

Russian crew knew that so they locked themselves into a safe room.

More here: Beslan school hostage crisis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia