British Carrier Strike Group assembles

A glorious sight!

Moorehouse’s most significant soundbite: best defended UK airfield….moves 500 miles a day.
Always loved sullen weather conditons as they so suited our purposeful warship image.
Never got a handle on where the best place for the sub was.

..but doesn’t match my all time favourite of the three carriers in line astern in the Mediterranean taken either during Suez op or in the early 1960’s. Ark Royal, Victorius and Hermes

That’s a great picture. I assume they wouldn’t normally be so close together, though?

I fall into that demographic but I’ll continue to post inane nonsense thanks. It gives those who actually know what they are talking about something to roll their eyes at.

Seriously though, while I haven’t served many members of my family have, both parents in the RAF, two grandfathers in the RN during WW2, plus assorted uncles and cousins in the army. I also have friends currently serving. I may not have much to contribute but I still like keeping up to date with things and sticking my oar in now and again.

Geoff, no that’s unfair. It is good that people who have not served show an interest, in fact I believe it’s vitally important! The reason for this, is that the vast majority of the population has had no dealings with the military. It may have seen a parade or two during remembrance, watched a snippet on the news, but that’s probably it. However, it is the vast majority of the population who decide which party is elected into Government. It is focus groups that sway decisions and in a lot of respects dictate the Party’s manifesto. Therefore, for the military to be part of the Government’s focus, it needs people to show an interest and voice their opinions, otherwise it will be relegated and pushed to the side-lines, then probably used as a means of saving money for more PR friendly topics. Worse it will probably have some clueless muppet as the Defence Secretary, who has no idea and shows even less of an appetite to interact with the military.

Geoffrey-my military experience is limited but disagree with you entirely. The UKDJ is a broad church that accommodates serving and retired Military personnel,those involved in Military construction industries, Historians,enthusiastic buffs(of which the British produce the worlds best) Military journalists and others all of whom contribute to making this a great site.Some of the best Historical accounts have been written by Britons who have never served nor even visited the sites of their work. Isandlwana and Rorkes Drift come to mind. I was fortunate enough to visit Isandlwana twice in the company of the late David Rattray whose knowledge and work was renowned the world over including by regiments whose members were involved in those famous actions! Also have a friend who is a direct descendent of Captain Raw who died at Isandlwana

I understand where you are coming from and though people who have not served can’t exactly claim to be experts there is nothing wrong with them sharing their opinion. Especially when most of the gripes come down to lack of spending and I’m pretty much sure everyone who comments pays their tax apart from the odd Russian troll.

I have not served, and cannot due to ill health, and now being 47 and am 25 years into my teaching career!! However, I am so proud of all those who have volunteered to serve this country. My Grandad was a Royal Marine Commando and my Grandmother was a WRVS, during the Second World War. My most precious possession id a picture of my Grandad, in uniform, with his wartime medals mounted below, all in a frame. Priceless!!

This does not mean that I cannot contribute positively, as I regularly do, to the articles on this wonderful website and Save the Royal Navy.

I am proud to defend our armed forces. Those that choose to serve. I am happy to call out the idiocy of some of the decisions made within the MOD, particularly in terms of equipment acquisition.

A good example: The Snatch Landrover. Whoever made the decision that these vehicles were safe to be used in the insurgency situations in Afghanistan and Iraq was wilfully negligent. They new that it was no protection against IEDs, yet at the start of those conflicts they were used and sadly lives were lost before they were withdrawn. This was corrected and our soldiers were provided, urgently, with more suitable transport.

Also, the billions spent chasing an MRA, the Nimrod, and then it was cancelled. If we go back further, TSR-2. Chinooks who had no software. Attack Helicopter which were more expensive and less capable than the original.

Now, I am totally avoiding the political decision making which was a significant factor in all of these examples. But, I think we can all agree that all of these could have been improved with better acquisition decisions from the MOD.

The flip-flopping of the carrier programme (But I think we now have two fabulous magnificent ships). Do I have to mention ‘Crowsnest’?

I think we can all come up with better examples.

it does seem that recent decisions have been better. The Poseidon & Wedgetail (I hope they do NOT cut numbers), Apache upgrades. Oshkosh JLTV. Improved timescales in orders and decisions made.

I hope that this does not come across as too negative? I think our arm forces are the best in the world. The punch considerably above their weight. We needs to provide them with the tools they require to keep us secure and our trade flowing.

I hope that the forthcoming ‘Integrated Review’ do not cut too many corners. I actually think we need to spend more, but spend better.

Finally, a big thank you to all who serve and help people to serve. Back our armed forces, their families and support services.

Thank you

Stay safe

Bufton Tuftons ? If you meant Buffoon well count me in , now in the self flagellation part on classifying some incapable of adding to the discussion you do a disservice to those who might value the ” laymen s point of view” . Coming from Australia the reason why our Defence force has the budget it does is because our courageous civilians make it a point to include them selves in the decision making process with loud overt and most of the time misguided views . BUT they’re the one’s waving at you on ANZAC day lining the streets so they count more than some larda.. former NCO who wouldn’t know the difference between Bayesian Logic and Rule based deduction .

Good stuff, pump it straight into my veins. Been waiting 15 years for this picture

Great to see.

A very promising site for the future, some modern AShM’s onboard the UK escorts wouldn’t go amiss. Well hopefully not!

I can’t help but think all of this PR is the RN getting itself fully in the public eye just as Defence Cuts ( or Strategic Defence Review) are looming. As for defending the two carriers its laughable. They have no Airborne Early Warning (either land based or afloat) and I find it hard to believe that a determined opponent couldn’t cause sufficient damage to spike their threat especially given the range of the F35B without AAR. Yes the carriers move but given their size they will be easily detectable by satellite moving only about 20 miles in an hour.(=500 miles a day).But great pictures its a shame that the number of UK F35Bs embarked is only half that of the US marines on the same ship.

Notice Ivan, no tug boats.

Great pictures !!,

good luck, calm seas and following winds
to all sailors taking part.

Joe, CPO (RS), (ret.), German Navy

I have always admired the Royal Navy. Happy to see it in full glory.