British Navy Accused Of Failures And Complacency
Royal Navy intelligence gathering has been criticised as being "poor" for allowing 15 personnel to fall into the hands of the Iranians, serving officers told The Daily Telegraph yesterday.
The training of boarding parties has also been labelled "inadequate", with insufficient funding or time for proper instruction. Others accused the Cornwall's crew of "complacency" for not picking up the Iranian fast boats on radar and not heightening its "threat posture" after the detention of five Iranians by US forces in January.
One officer, recently returned from the Gulf, said: "The Government has to realise if they want to carry out gunboat diplomacy then they really need to start spending money on warships that they are willing to use."
The current boarding party course offered by the Navy covered only basic elements that were described by one officer as "elementary and slightly laughable".
The two-day training package was not long enough because the Navy was operating under strict budgets, he added.
We certainly do not want any of our allies to be kidnapped by a terrorist state, but there's only so much the United States can do. Britain is in the middle of a war and they're cutting funding for the military.
This is kind of like a premonition for the United States. This is what can happen when you are not properly funding a WAR. Everyone seems to forget that. This is not a card game, or playing tag out in the yard. Real people live and die depending on the quality and quantity of their equipment and ammunition. The Democrats need to remember that. Of course, we can't question their patriotism.
