Credo
"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." -- John Paul Jones
"Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Caesar and Cleopatra"
"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friedrich Nietzsche
"A kind Providence has placed in our breasts a hatred of the unjust and cruel, in order that we may preserve ourselves from cruelty and injustice. They who bear cruelty, are accomplices in it. The pretended gentleness which excludes that charitable rancour, produces an indifference which is half an approbation. They never will love where they ought to love, who do not hate where they ought to hate."--Edmund Burke
"Μολὼν λαβέ" -- Leonidas
"Blogito Ergo Sum" -- Neptunus Lex
Lex,
Indeed, now would be a pretty good time for Argentina to reclaim the Falklands. There’d be not a darned thing the Brits could do about it, unless they wanted to nuke the place.
The recent capitulation of the Brit boarding party to the Iranians in Iraqi waters, would seem to indicate that indeed the hearts are the fundamental issue. Such behavior would have been incomprehensible to the British Navy in any other generation.
Maybe this is the inevitable result of decades of BBC brainwashing and self-flaggelation.
One of the real problems with the decline of the Royal Navy is that they have historically been a great innovator in the field of naval aviation.
As Lex might confirm, it was the Brits who came up with the canted deck and the frenzel lens landing system. While not everybody is a fan of the Harrier (Hey, did I tell you I can hover?) it is still a remarkable aircraft.
In fact, during WW II our Navy had given up on operating the F4U Corsair from carriers until the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm showed that that it was possible.
One can only wonder what Horatio Lord Nelson would say. It probably wouldn’t be saluatory.
The whole MOD is being cut to ribbons.
Some of those same conclusions could be applied to the US Navy-vis a vis the total force structure required to execute all of our commitments-in particular our continuing ignoring of ASW.
Indeed the overall lowering of the accepted level of experience of our total force with eventually result in a lesson learned in blood (as they all are). Someone will be fired, whomever the lucky ceasear of the day is and then the champion will appear on the scene to reverse our manning woes at the expense of some other program. I for one cant wait for the operational commander to tie a ship to the pier and use the manpower to augment his Squadron. That would take unheard of balls. And would be a career ender most likely.
Don’t forget the steam catapult.
What Skippy said!
I fear the RN has yet again served as our model with their latest “accomplishment”, at least for the Congresscritters who slight national defense while spending lavishly on fluffy social programs to get themselves reelected.
The “surrender at all costs” idiots like Reid and Pelosi will never allow us to recover, and if her Inevitableness seizes the office she covets (but is so woefully unprepared for) we are doomed.
Hearts of oak, indeed, but they don’t float without a boat.
Help our Brit friends:
http://www.savetheroyalnavy.org/
What scares me is that the U.S. Navy isn’t all that much better off. Goldwater-Nichols has got to go….it’s strangling us.
What a sad state of affairs. A mere one hundred years ago and the sea was theirs.
Good point Skippy and Mike.