Seafarers killed in rocket attack on merchant ship

[j.sabourn]

#8 would think Egypt would be loath to protest too much Stan in case any ire was turned on them by shutting the canal permanently , which would be not too hard to do. Whatever they do or think may be two different things. JS

[j.sabourn]

On my early days at sea I was told by the Old Salts, true or otherwise that the size of the Royal Navy depended on the number of British Merchant Vessels on a scale of about 3 : 1 I.e. one warship to 3 merchant vessels ? That today with the British Merchant Navy being almost neglible would leave the R.N . Barely correct , as they are as scarce as hens teeth i believe. The only thing in the RN that has magnified is the number of Admirals without ships
JS

[Geoff Smith]

It's all part and parcel of the malignant cancer that is mutilating the western societies. This cancer can only be removed by cutting it out and discarding it. In UK it's affecting our educational system, law enforcement system, judicial system and now our law making parliamentary system. ***** as I see it is not a religion but an indoctrinating cult/political system bent on taking over the world. The pundits on tele go on about the "moderate" ******s. I've yet to see one of these "moderate" ******s stick their head above the parapet and denounce the call to kill all Jews and remove Israel from the map. Perhaps they are the same "moderates" that voted Gallaway in in Rochdale because they agree with his views, or the "moderate" ******s that fill the mosques every Friday listening to the hate filled bile the imams spout.
As for those poor seafarers that were killed, Sunak and Biden have got their blood on their hands. The houtties said they were going to carry on and they did with this result. Instead of the politicians ordering "strategic" strikes, they should have gone in and taken out evrything they could. Noe I'm no militsry genius, but to me, if a bloke is firing at you with 6 guns, you don't take out 3 and then tell him not to use the other 3 "or there'll be trouble" you take out the whole bloody lot so that he CAN"T retaliate!!!!!!!!!

[Mo Docherty]

if it had been r n never hear end of it fellas

[Bernard J Butler]

Re Harmattan incident
I was on BI ship MV Chakla in Karachi while the India-Pakistan war was brewing. It was an uncomfortable time because all of Chakla's crew were Indian. Here is my recollection of the incident:
As we moved into December towards Christmas, an event made me realise how fortunate I'd been while on Chakla. We had visited several war zones or simmering flash points like Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Yemen, Jordan and Mozambique. The last one was Karachi in late September 1971, when tensions were high between India and Pakistan over Bangladesh's secession from Pakistan. The incident of the Sikh on a windsurfer in Karachi was funny only because it turned out well. However, on 3 December, India and Pakistan were in an all-out war.
On 7 December, when I was safely home on leave in the UK, the Indian Navy launched Operation Python against Karachi. During that operation, a Russian-made SS-N-2B Styx surface-to-surface missile from the Indian missile boat INS Vinash, Commanded by Lieutenant Commander Vijai Jerath, hit the British Blue Star Line merchant ship Harmattan while she was anchored in the outer harbour. Seven of Harmattan's British crew, including five engineers, were killed, and six more injured. Questions were asked in Parliament, but few people know about that incident. That is why an encounter on an isolated hillside on a Mediterranean island 25 years later was so unexpected. But that's another story.

The last two sentences refer to an unlikely meeting under the most unexpected circumstances with Roy Gross, a steward on Harmattan at the time. Roy and I became good friends, but he has gone off the radar. I have had no response to any of my letters over the last few years, so I can only assume that he has passed.

[j.sabourn]

#10 Des looking at the records correct or not ? In WW 2. Germany commissioned some 1250 U-Boats. But believe less than 600 were available at any one time for attacks on shipping, some were minelayers also and unsuitable for such. I read somewhere the Germans were never able to get above 100 uboats at one time at sea during the North Atlantic war on shipping.
In comparison during the Cold War 1950 -2003 the USSR had the largest nuclear powered submarine fleet apart from China who had 78 nucleur powered. Russia 70 nucleur powered,
USA 68 nuclear powered, N.Korea 35 Nucleur powered . Plus of course all the other diesel driven boats.
If Hitler had built U-boats instead of pocket battleships he would have had more serviceable at anyone time, and the war might have been much shorter than it was and with a different result. Thank God he was a depraved lunatic. Cheers JS

[Des Taff Jenkins]

You are right there john, if Hitler hadn't been such an idiot he would have as Canaris insisted built more U-Boats, then we would have been in deep do do.These huge ships are a big target and if the ignorant Houtis can do it anyone can.
Des

Bernard.
If you trawl back through the posts you will find a first hand account of the Harmattan attack by Red Led Ted, now passed, who was there at the time,

[Mo Docherty]

if the ignorant Houtis can do it anyone can.you meant israelis right

[vic mcclymont]

#13.
In London yesterday there was the usual protest march supporting Hamas and the Houtis.
An Iranian was on the pavement waving a placard calling for Iran, to cease support for the terrorists, he was arrested.
Makes you wonder
Vic

[j.sabourn]

#1 Unless the rocketry has changed from the attacks on shipping years ago in the Gulf it will be heat targeted . Usually the funnel produced the most heat and that’s what the rocket made for. All merchant seamen had in the forlorn hope of deterence was playing the salt water hoses of a high sea water temperature on the funnel . This may physiologically have given help to some , but to me seemed to say “ here I am baby come and get me “. JS