Carrier Strike Group 21: The Republic Of Cyprus

 

 

Picture: Corporal Phil Dye,Royal Air Force,Crown Copyright

 

Her Majesty's Ship Queen Elizabeth arrived in the Republic of Cyprus during what it's President Nicos Anastasiades described as "The largest fire since 1974".

 

 

Picture: L. (Phot.) Luke,Crown Copyright

 

Despite the Royal Navy's long history of providing assistance to foreign countries in their hour of need,"First on the scene of disaster and promptly at work,defiant of danger",her helicopters do not appear to have helped to fight this fire.

 

 

Picture: Corporal Phil Dye,Royal Air Force,Crown Copyright

 

However,Royal Air Force helicopters did.

 

 

Picture: Unknown photographer,Crown Copyright

 

This was an excellent opportunity to generate goodwill missed for want of fire fighting equipment and training.

 

The Cost Of A Sikorsky Black Hawk

 

 

Picture: L. (Phot.) Rory Arnold,Crown Copyright

 

The advent of military forums exposed the extent to which myths become received wisdom within the British Armed Forces,one of these myths is that Sikorsky Black Hawk helicopters are a fraction of the cost of their British counterparts,herein we shall look at how much other countries pay for Black Hawks purchased via Foreign Military Sales,which is the route used by the United Kingdom to acquire helicopters from the United States of America.

  

 

  

Picture: Sergeant Daniel Schroeder,United States' Army,Department of Defense photograph

  

The sale to Lithuania of six Black Hawk helicopters and associated items for three hundred and eighty million United States' dollars was approved on the Sixth of July,Twenty Twenty.

  

 

Picture: Chief Mass Communication Specialist Michael B.W.Watkins,United States' Navy photograph

  

The sale to Croatia of two Black Hawk helicopters and associated items for one hundred and fifteen million United States' dollars was approved on the Thirtieth of October,Twenty Nineteen.

  

  

Picture: Sergeant Joseph Johnson,United States' Army photograph

  

The sale to the Czech Republic of twelve Black Hawk helicopters and associated items for eight hundred million United States' dollars was approved on the Third of May,Twenty Nineteen.

 

 

Picture: Petty Officer 2nd Class Jon Rasmussen,United States' Navy photograph

  

The sale to Latvia of four Black Hawk helicopters and associated items for two hundred million United States' dollars was approved on the Third of August,Twenty Eighteen.

  

  

Picture: Lance Corporal Justin M. Mason,United States' Marine Corps photograph

  

These four recent Foreign Military Sales approvals total one thousand four hundred and ninety-five million dollars for twenty-four helicopters and associated items,an average of just over sixty-two million dollars per aircraft,which at current exchange rates is over forty-five million pounds sterling per Black Hawk helicopter.

  

Carrier Strike Group 21: The Republic Of Korea

 

 

Picture: P.O. (Phot.) Jay Allen,Crown Copyright

 

As Her Majesty's Ship Queen Elizabeth approached the Republic of Korea she charmingly published a greeting in the local Hangul script.

 

 

Picture: Unknown photographer,unknown copyright

 

However,she did not display a sailor of local ethnic origin,as she did with Jagjeet Singh Grewal in India (it is not clear if he has received an apology for being racially exploited),after decades of budget cuts the Royal Navy may not have enough Koreans to issue every vessel with one.

 

 

Picture: Unknown photographer,unknown copyright

 

When she arrived in South Korea,her officers hypocritically failed to illuminate their vessel in rainbow colours or boycott bilateral exercises in protest at their host's policy of incarcerating homosexual sailors.

 

 

Picture: L. (Phot.) Unaisi Luke,Crown Copyright

 

Commodore Steve Moorhouse,the Commander of the United Kingdom's Carrier Strike Group,also failed to draw attention to the plight of homosexuals in the Republic of Korea's Navy by gluing himself to South Korean Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Boo Suk-Jong and Deputy Fleet Commander Rear Admiral Choi Sungmok (don’t ever be afraid to show off your true colours Steve).

 

 

Picture: Nick Pitsas,Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation photograph

 

It has not yet been confirmed if Her Majesty's Ship Queen Elizabeth shall in future blockade the Port of Newcastle,one of the world's largest coal exporting ports,as the flagship of an Extinction Rebellion direct action to save the planet from climate improvement.

 

 

Picture: Unknown photographer,unknown copyright

 

The United Kingdom is not the first country to allow it's navy to become politicised.

 

 

Picture: Unknown photographer,United States' Government photograph

 

Naval officers who engage in political activism (attempting to impose one's opinions on others,who are by implication considered inferior) make themselves,and their service,legitimate political targets and we know how that ends.

 

Don't Mess With Texas

 

 

Picture: Unknown photographer,United States' Navy photograph

 

A Tribute to Texas,the United States Ship Texas (BB-35),a New York class battleship,at sea in the Hawaii area,while preparing for combat in the Pacific,on the Sixth of January Nineteen Forty-five.