[Skybird]

There are strong hints that it was pressure, at leats determined requests from Washington that made the Britishmoving against that Iranian tanker at Gibraltar. One can safely assume that they already regret that they did. The action by the Iranians in the strait of Hormuz shows that having one or two isolated warships in that region, means nothing for protection of merchant and tanker traffic. The British fleet is just a shadow of its former self, the budget for defence as much under pressure as everywhere in the West except maybe the United States (who also were not present to help out the Brits over their tanker getting hijacked in obvious retribution). One can also doubt that London is eager to get drawn into another US-triggered war after the debacle of 2003.

The British position in all this is extremely weak and helpless. Modern technology on Britains few ships obviously is not as decisive as is assumed - if the fleet consists of indeed just so few vessels.

I imagine the new carrier would be ready already and equipped and be on station. How to protect that with such a small, if not even saying: minimalistic fleet...??? And Britain even builds TWO carriers again. I also imagine what the running costs for those carriers will do to the rest of the navy.

I also do not understand why Britain was so unprepoared and did not prohibit British ships to travel thorugh the strait, since retaliation by Itran was to be expected. That onely destroyer they sent, that lonely frigate that was there, both of them are hopelessly overchallenged. I read in a Swiss newspaper that a former British chief of staff said practically the same: and also said that the Royal Navy is unable to protect shipping lanes any longer, for the Hormuz strait alone the task would need a minimum of 6 frigate-class units on station (which means additonal units are needed to rotate units in and out). Instead : two lonely ships trying to stem the tide. What is London thinking?

British traders should have avoided the region at all cost since two weeks, since Gibraltar. What was so difficult in forseeing the events...???Why did London not gave order for that?

Some years ago Britain got its bum spanked by the Iranians when those Marines were captured on high sea. And now its the same. The radio protocol that Neal linked to, is an embarassment for Britain: honestly said, it made me laughing.


Only the US still has the ressources to maintain meaningful military presence around the globe. European nations should give up the idea of wanting to play in that league. These times are over, once and forever. Europe cannot even defend just itself in its own borders.