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Fulton Mackay and Michael Crawford - what a great combination!

No doubt you're right PN - still think it's a farce.

Ah the chinagraph, the symbol of authority!

I remember my 1st shift as a shiny new Corporal and wielding the chinagraph for the 1st time.
Allocating bodies to do which pre-flight.

Owing to our deployment and maritime roles, we mainly switched to permanent marker pens. There then wasn't a problem with boards/kneepads getting rained on, they were clearer on viewfoils, and could also be used on paper, such as complans. This then necessitated everyone carrying a alcohol-soaked cloth around with them, so there was a faint hint of distillery about the squadron. Owing to the lack of availability of the correct fluid in many locations, it became essential for gin to be carried on all deployments. And whilst most of it did of course end up in a glass with tonic, I have cleaned my kneepads with gin many a time.

FD2, I suspect that things have pushed a bit further down the corridors of power with SecDef and CDS, the manure may have been moved up and down and violets planted in the right places.

Hitler's reaction to the sacking.

Fox, pens and paper were the domain of the scribblys. Nowt to do with us proper stackers. My philosophy was "If you want it and provided it's legit, you can have it".

Saw the repercussions of people "doing favours" at Odiham. A lot of jail time and other career-ending stuff was handed out.

"Alright, how long do you want me to take his FMT600 off him?"
"Sir..the thing is.."
"........................we've already binned him as skipper..."
".......................................................................New bloke starts tomorrow"


Absolutely. F#cking. Brilliant!

Yes - excellent! It is amazing how quickly this gets put together.

5 second rule = lots of practice!

Fox3WheresMyBanana wrote: ↑

Wed May 22, 2019 1:46 pm

"Alright, how long do you want me to take his FMT600 off him?"
"Sir..the thing is.."
"........................we've already binned him as skipper..."
".......................................................................New bloke starts tomorrow"


Absolutely. F#cking. Brilliant!

Talk about co-incidence...now being reported on the BBC and other places that he was flown off the ship yesterday instead of taking her to Portsmouth and then leaving.

The captain has left the ship.

It really is a Navy Lark sort of shambles.

Yesterday they hooked up the tugs ready for her to sail on the 11:30 Low water, but she just sat there at anchor. I presumed there was a tech hitch, which is not uncommon after a dockyard job. Then I expected she would go on the 23:45 tide, but no.

Now I see the reason why she's still riding the pick.

The quality of decision making at the Admiralty is clearly crap. The skipper's judgement is obviously about as good as the Prime Minister's, but the three way squabbles amongst the Sub Lieutenant and the Pongo who is currently CDS and the First Sea Lord show that there is an endemic problem of judgement from top to bottom in the upper echelon of the MoD.

These clowns couldn't run a jolly boat, far less an aircraft carrier that's got no aeroplanes.

The next LW which could allow them to squeeze under the Forth Bridge isn't until 17:00 next Tuesday. That'll be 1.96m above Chart Datum which is a tight squeeze.

Thanks for the on-scene detail!
'Replacement Captain crashes pride of navy under Forth Bridge' would really put the cherry on top of this rolling goat f#ck, wouldn't it?

there is an endemic problem of judgement from top to bottom in the upper echelon of the MoD

I’m afraid to confess that we taught this generation of crap when they went through officer training. Mind you, they appeared OK and fit for purpose when they left us.

There will always be a few who slip through the net. The question really is how they ended up at the top.
Of course, all those who decided to leave when the descent to PC hell started were not promotion material anyway. Ministers were told so.
Nothing to do with the people leaving's bosses being forbidden from giving them a promotion rating above average, so Ministers could be told so.
My boss got in a lot of trouble for giving me a Highly Recommended whilst I was on my PVR, he told me. "F#ck 'em. I'm going Spec Aircrew anyway and they are desperate for them." was his attitude, and he was right. Indeed, I was asked to go back as Spec Aircrew 3 years after leaving. They were keen to get me back; after all, I'd been given a Highly Recommended
Simon Bryant, whom I knew at Leeming, got the boot from CinCAir for merely pointing out the bleedin' obvious. Others have got the message that this is not a good strategy.
The problem is the politicians. There are an entire generation of politicians the world over who are not only incapable of accepting advice, but who punish those who say anything other than that they wish to hear. They think PR is more important than action. The end result is the farce currently conducted in Parliament daily, and therefore at the senior levels below Ministers also.

It certainly appeared, after the “Options for Change” debacle that the good people were leaving in droves, either forced out or taking their option, and the scum was able to float to the surface unhindered.

I have no idea which particular admiral's team is conducting this investigation, or perhaps it's the MOD police, but whoever it is has made a monumental f*ck up of it. They have made the Royal Navy into a laughing stock, humiliated C-P and no doubt morale in the ship is pretty low as a result. Now would be a good time for Mordaunt to act and sack the people responsible for making such a mess of this matter, or maybe the Chief of the Naval Staff could take the initiative and do it.

If it was a lot more than just a bit of weekend use - the BBC is suggesting thousands of miles - then C-P really does need a smack. If not then the BBC needs a smack for printing it.

The RN has taken a long time to get over the humiliation of the Iran prisoners business and now they are back in it again. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Iran ... _personnel

It should be the Navy Police. Their rules are pretty rigid now, especially with their procedures having been made to match the civvies, PACE etc. This is the problem with it having got this far, as it now can't be hushed up, especially if he has admitted it. Even worse is that anyone outside the Service knows the details, as it appears the BBC does. There's probably very little SecDef can do, and there's nothing that can be done about the idiot who went formal on the case, as the whole thing is generated by ass-covering anyway.

There will be a whitewash "detailed transparent inquiry", which will find everyone above the rank of Midshipman entirely blameless.

The whole thing will be blamed on the ship's cat or a Chinese laundryman or the Russians or Brexit.

Remember that in the Iran trespass fiasco the only person to receive any opprobrium was the 20 year old boy who burst into tears when his iPod was confiscated.

She sailed under the bridge at 11:30 this morning with the tide at 1.24m.

OIC unknown, presumably the other guy as the Galaxy driver was yesterday sent aboard a stone frigate.

One presumes the Jimmy the One is perfectly capable of taking her out of her home port.

Yes - the ship's executive officer, of commander's rank in a big ship and known as 'the Commander', should be qualified in every way to take over command and take the ship down to Portsmouth.

Smaller ships, commanded by a commander or lieutenant commander have a first lieutenant, usually one rank lower than the captain - the 'Jimmy' or 'Jimmy the One'. I expect the commander would have liked to get a little longer preparing himself for this, but 'opportunity knocks'. He might just be a little tense squeezing the ship into the harbour though...good spectator sport!