tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254362504495980377.post141132732306934182..comments2024-03-20T12:03:26.126+00:00Comments on Thin Pinstriped Line: Gunboat Opiates for the Masses?Sir Humphreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08704774192275240783noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254362504495980377.post-45263524248781411302013-08-13T18:14:43.008+01:002013-08-13T18:14:43.008+01:00If only our press were more grown up. Then it coul...If only our press were more grown up. Then it could have been reported as 'By uncanny co-incidence we happen to be sending a flotilla into the med on a long planned deployment which will naturally be stopping at our base in Gibraltar as British squadrons and individual ships have done for centries. This is of course totally unconnected with recent border issues. Here are a list of other deployments presently being undertaken by the Royal Navy across the globe.' I think that sends out the right kind of message to any potential reader foreign or domestic! Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254362504495980377.post-44403497138917216242013-08-12T22:45:57.994+01:002013-08-12T22:45:57.994+01:00I think the RN was right not to alter its plans an...I think the RN was right not to alter its plans and carry on as normal. The press will generate hype whatever happens. If the RN had decided to avoid Gibraltar (and indeed Spanish ports) then they would have portrayed this as a sop to the Spanish and a British climbdown.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254362504495980377.post-81837731794822301822013-08-12T15:23:16.840+01:002013-08-12T15:23:16.840+01:00Sellers the military signature in Gibraltar has be...Sellers the military signature in Gibraltar has been pretty consistent for the last 20+ years. <br /><br />This is a problem that needs to be solved by diplomatic means, moving any extra military presence there probably won't make the Spanish back off and would be merely stooping to their level. This is the kind of petty crap they pull every few years, normally when the countries economy is in the toilet and the government needs something else that the population can get angry about. Challengernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254362504495980377.post-2148009155802473782013-08-12T13:18:41.635+01:002013-08-12T13:18:41.635+01:00If you want war, why don't you start it?If you want war, why don't you start it?Jeneral28https://www.blogger.com/profile/16332640271661260029noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254362504495980377.post-53469897382105062182013-08-12T13:18:06.054+01:002013-08-12T13:18:06.054+01:00If you live in the 1800s, then that fear is justif...If you live in the 1800s, then that fear is justified.Jeneral28https://www.blogger.com/profile/16332640271661260029noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254362504495980377.post-69139529416910327822013-08-11T22:45:12.392+01:002013-08-11T22:45:12.392+01:00I don't care how long the Navy spent on planni...I don't care how long the Navy spent on planning an exercise in the Med, the visit to Gibraltar at this moment in time was deliberately doing a Palmerston by Cameron.<br />A really meaningful exercise in the Med would have entailed a non stop voyage at flank speed to the far end and parking up off Sidon. Gibraltar was a side show and I thought it made us (the UK) look slightly silly.<br />Any military show of force for whatever effect, must NOT be a sham. There must always be a bullet up the spout and a finger on the trigger, otherwise you're playing, 'wolf'.<br />Once again, I believe the Royal Navy was made to toe a Whitehall line and the result has been another loss of naval gravitas and a gift to the Telegraph et al.Derek McBridenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254362504495980377.post-18063978477998924272013-08-11T19:03:49.123+01:002013-08-11T19:03:49.123+01:00I suppose the military rationale is that it is rea...I suppose the military rationale is that it is reassuring to the British population in Gibraltar, and that they feel intimidated by a far larger neighbour using many forms of state aparatus to impose itself.<br /><br />To me, having 4 mcm based in the gulf is overkill. What can 4 ships do, that 3 or 2 couldnt achieve? Then those ships having a second capability to act as a patrol vessel be redirected to efforts perhaps off the horn of africa or to the waters off GIbraltar. <br /><br />I fear we have and are reducing our military signature so much in Gibraltar that any marginal increase in the region is immediately seen as an esculation.<br /><br />SellersSellershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11410704817302270875noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254362504495980377.post-88690589845399180472013-08-11T18:48:47.136+01:002013-08-11T18:48:47.136+01:00Hi there, actually I firmly believe in forward pre...Hi there, actually I firmly believe in forward presence, providing that it has a reason to be there. A lot of commentators on the net seem to support deployment without justifying the military rationale for it - what effect does it deliver, what military task does it support, what is the value of placing scarce assets there and not somewhere else? <br />By all means forward base, but have a reason to do so and not just because it looks impressive on a fantasy fleet ORBAT!Sir Humphreyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08704774192275240783noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254362504495980377.post-21606845207511447872013-08-11T17:41:35.287+01:002013-08-11T17:41:35.287+01:00You misinterpret Sir H.You misinterpret Sir H.Jeneral28https://www.blogger.com/profile/16332640271661260029noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254362504495980377.post-89917330053219569022013-08-10T19:09:02.980+01:002013-08-10T19:09:02.980+01:00Of course, what you say about this particular depl...Of course, what you say about this particular deployment has nothing to do with the sending of a message to the Spanish. However, it seems, from your analysis, that you don't believe in maritime forward presence? Maybe the British like sending gunboats to places because they know how well it acts as a deterrent (or as a tool of coercion)...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254362504495980377.post-23225236510927858762013-08-10T14:25:38.213+01:002013-08-10T14:25:38.213+01:00And even before the COUGAR announcement, RN ships ...And even before the COUGAR announcement, RN ships like the submarines stopped by Gibraltar. The COUGAR 13 task group has less of a punched compared to 1 T-Boat. Only now people seize upon the deployment to call in gunboat diplomacy.<br /><br />Sigh.Jeneral28https://www.blogger.com/profile/16332640271661260029noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254362504495980377.post-77254349577851549022013-08-09T12:36:12.567+01:002013-08-09T12:36:12.567+01:00Civis Romanus Sum!Civis Romanus Sum!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254362504495980377.post-45401552366835601032013-08-08T23:20:45.090+01:002013-08-08T23:20:45.090+01:00Indeed, when at RAF Lyneham, would would frequentl...Indeed, when at RAF Lyneham, would would frequently send out replacement parts/stores flights out to GIB, people forget how routine it is for the RN to visit what is one of their most strategic ports. <br /><br />Also although good coverage, to the gib people the RN hasn't really been seen in a good light recently (at least the gib squadron), plus the footage of RN small boats floating about as the GC go fasts run loops around them also wasn't quite a good image too... so its a real mixed bag really.<br /><br />It will be interesting to see if those GC and fishing boats put up a presence though when the group appears. Its also important to remember that despite the rhetoric from Madrid and others, the actual Spanish military (not paramilitary...) has not put up a presence at all in this spat. <br />mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6254362504495980377.post-54250096397797285612013-08-08T22:31:52.693+01:002013-08-08T22:31:52.693+01:00I share many of your views about gunboats...quite ...I share many of your views about gunboats...quite like to give the ancient banner thing a go though...<br /><br />Gloomy Northern Boyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12232768532707968591noreply@blogger.com