Gone Travelling...

Humphrey is currently travelling on business, and is unable to do any blogging updates. The next article will probably be posted around 28-30 March, jetlag permitting!

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"Hands to Action Stations" Royal Navy 1983 Covert Submarine Operations Off Argentina...

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  It was 0830 local time on Friday 11 March 1983. Off the coast of Argentina, south of the Valdes peninsula the Argentine A69 patrol frigate GUERRICO was proceeding south at 17kts on a covert patrol, all her radars powered down, and operating under ‘EMCON silent’ procedure. Unknown to her ships company though, the GUERRICO was being stalked by the Royal Navy submarine HMS OSIRIS, closed up at action stations and tracking the warships every move as she conducted secret intelligence gathering patrols off the Argentine coast… In the aftermath of the Falklands War in 1982 the Royal Navy established an ongoing commitment to deploy submarines to the region to monitor Argentinean military activity, gather intelligence and provide a credible military deterrent to any renewed aggression. The war itself had proven the value of submarine operations, with both nuclear and conventional submarines deployed in roles ranging from special forces support, covert reconnaissance and intelligence gat...
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Is It Time To Close BRNC Dartmouth?

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The Royal Navy is on the verge of closing the prestigious naval training college at Dartmouth and merging training with ratings at HMS Raleigh. This would surely mean the end of the RN as we know it and is clearly an outrage. That basically sums up a recent tabloid story , which seemed surprisingly well informed, that suggested that the RN is considering merging training as part of the ongoing Defence Review. Once you get past the initial blood pressure raising ‘OUTRAGE’ that some clearly wanted to feel, its worth looking further at the idea and perhaps asking the question “surely this makes complete sense”? The MOD is one of the largest landowners in the UK, owning huge swathes of land from remote moorland training estate where live firing can be practised, to the Cape Wrath naval gunnery range off Northern Scotland – where only last week F35 aircraft from HMS PRINCE OF WALES dropped live bombs on Garvie island. It has enormous barrack sites, housing thousands of soldiers and dozens...
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Rank Hypocrisy - The Military & 'Equivalent Rank'

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  There are a few easy ways to cause an outburst of “OUTRAGE” from service personnel and veterans on social media. Any announcement celebrating the appointment of someone who isn’t a white male into a senior role can upset people worried about ‘standards’. Suggest that the Army should have beards is another (apparently its about ‘standards’ and the risk of imminent NBC attack for a good gas mask seal – thank god all our troops carry their gas masks on them at all times to avoid this risk). The last one is to suggest that perhaps Civil Servants in different grades are the equivalent level of a member of the armed forces in their own rank structure. At this point its usually full-on pitchfork wielding mobs out in force to hunt down the heretics who’d suggest such a thing. UK MOD © Crown copyright 2023 The most recent people to benefit from the power of the mob was British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS), who committed the serious ‘crime’ of producing a chart that showed not only...
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