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
“You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.”--General Sir Charles Napier
"Μολὼν λαβέ" -- Leonidas
"Blogito Ergo Sum" -- Neptunus Lex
The warning shots hit 50 meters from the boats? Maybe better luck next time. I wouldn’t consider it a serious warning unless at least two crew members were floating in the water after…
“All warning shots hit the water…” Is it too much to hope that somebody among ‘em got at least thwacked upside the head with a ricochet? Ya know what they tell us about shooting over water…
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Talk about nucking futs, these futs are it. Think they mighta been Norweigian terrorists, hell bent on taking back the territories lost a millenium ago?
Suggestion: mebbe some SECDETs need to be placed on merchantmen and the odd forty-foot sloop, just to keep these ballsy jamokes in check. Funny how lead can have healthful benefits when properly injected.
USNS John Lenthal…a fine ship and crew.
Watched my first USO show on her flight deck as we prepared to come alongside her for a night UNREP in the Red Sea after GW One. Those gals dancing and singing looked about an inch high with the distance, but after five months underway, it was a damn fine sight. Somehow the boxes seemed lighter on the working party that night.
Stay vigilant, Shipmates.
Just thinking out loud, given these types of fights it might be time to reconsider the pocket battleship. Heavy firepower, fairly light armor, able to go in and use conventional weapons to convince a region it might do well to stand down, while not projecting power too far.
Jobs like this shouldn’t be left to oilers. Or near hospital ships. Something damage control against small boat attacks requires only a coat of paint would seem ideal.
– Max