What boats would you suggest be used instead? Military RHIB’s are designed for this kind of thing, and they are the only realistic craft with the required speed, personnel carrying capacity and sea keeping ability.

Anything that would give more protection such as a Landing Craft (the only viable option) would probably be to big to fit the davits of an FFG, does not have the sea keeping of a RHIB (they are supposed to look after life rafts in the case of the ship sinking) and with a max speed of ~10 knots rather then the 40 or so of a RHIB are much to slow. I’d rather be in a 40 knot RHIB if i was facing an enemy who possibly had RPG’s then being in a 10 knot LCU.

That was precisely my point, but I thank you for repeating it.

Let’s not talk politics, there is not, probably never has been and never will be a decent politician. Their dishonesty is Biblical.

What does USA think of it’s allies?
A country that is rich (In oil or real money), is willing to be used as an A/c carrier and votes the right way (Do as your told for a fee…bent politics again!) in the UN can be an ally. Local problems like the disgusting regime of Saudi Arabia for example are mere circumstance.

Which isn’t a bad thing, as my enemies are USA enemies, so I know who’s side I’m on.

And the UK’s relationship with Saudi Arabia is oh so critical ‘your a very naughty boy and here is some Typhoon’s to tell you how naughty you are.’:rolleyes:

This very thread shows it alright, but the point was that the headlines are 10% as alarmist as they are when a Russian sub is involved.
On the other hand, when a Chinese sub sinks, nobody really seems to bother 🙁

That is because no one has died, be in no doubt that if a British sub sank itself and then the Royal Navy simply did nothing whilst the crew slowly died then the headlines would be savage.

True, but can the Czech radar station actually provide the required advance warning? Suffice to say that the capability to intercept a missile headed for Europe is severely limited (if it can, at all) and certainly NOT the “general idea” which the system was primarily designed for.

You are wrong, GBI is perfectly capable of intercepting a missile headed for Europe.

Again with the name calling Sealordlawrence. Pretty sad. As I stated previously I respect your opinions and your rights to have them, but I respectfully disagree with them. Bluster is usually the fallback position of someone who cannot back up their points with facts.

And as far as credibility goes take a look at the following document:

http://www.globalsecurity.org/space/library/report/gao/d08608t.pdf

Excerpt from the GAO Report on the capability of the GBI technology

…We could not assess attainment of another MDA goal: the overall performance of fielded assets as an integrated BMDS. This is because there have not been enough flight tests to validate the models and simulations that are used to predict system-level performance, the reliability of some interceptors could be affected by problematic parts that have not been replaced yet, and tests done to date do not provide enough information for DOD’s operational test and evaluation Director to fully determine if the BMDS is suitable and effective for battle….

It has not been proven to work to date by any measure. And your name calling won’t prove that it does. Again I ask you sir, prove me wrong and I will gladly change my opinion.

You are proven wrong by multiple successful interceptions.

Not name calling at all, simply pointin out that you have already shown that you are ignorant of the facts. Not to mention your decision to post a two and a half year old report as ‘proof’.

My point would maybe be, that u would think they would have learnt there lesson and prepared ahead with this kind of use in mind?

Yes, when the Royal Navy was preparing dedicated ASW frigates to fight the battle of armegeddon against the Soviet Union this was exactly what they had in mind.

Yeah, you’re right.
The problem is that the last time some shipyard worker at Sevmash ignited a cleaning cloth, all Western newspapers (and Russian news as well, to be fair) titled “Fire aboard a Russian nuclear sub”. Whereas when HMS Tiresome suffers real powerplant failure in the middle of the Med, or when USS Blind Rouge hits the bottom and maims a few crew members, no one is crying havoc.

You obviously do not follow the news closely enough. British submarine accidents are well reported as shown by this very thread.:rolleyes:

I can imagine the incredibly high noise in the Western media if this incident would have happened to a Russian submarine. 😮

Ther would be little if any reaction, this accident did not kill or injure anyone and caused no serious damage. Frankly it is almost a non-incident, unlike when a Russian submarine sinks itself or gases its crew.:mad: