American Warship threatens to open fire on unarmed civilian ship....in SCOTLAND!

MountainPro

Incredible but true...this is a small 70 year old civilian passenger ferry during a river crossing that it makes every half an hour for years.

with Americas track record on opening fire on unarmed clearly civilian vehicles, the captain was quite alarmed.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/t...-name_page.html

__________________
HARD
.

Eldrack

Probably just a very lame practical joke..............

slovakguy

...i wouldn't be so quick to dismiss this as a practical joke. scotland has always been something of a breeding ground for troublemakers. remember william wallace, mary, queen of scots, presbyterians, & sean connery? i'll be rummy and dicky have some "slamdunk" intelligence that the ferry contained some suspicious characters, eh, bluetrain.

__________________
"To Hell with poverty, we'll get drunk on cheap wine."
--Gang of Four, To Hell With Poverty

MountainPro

it was real alright. There is a large military excersice going on outside my office window right now...figher jets, warships, subs, helicopters....

so they are gathered here in the Loch...

the commander is just a stupid oaf is a more plausible explanation. cant identify civilain shipping flags from 1000 feet away.

obviously shows you that size isnt everything.

__________________
HARD
.

Scotty_Dog

It all seems practical procedure. If any unidentified ship gets too close, warn the ship to identify itself. Simple really. See, sometimes bad shit happens when small ships get too close: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Cole_bombing, so it's better to be safe than sorry.

I disagree, it seems as if the little ferry wisely followed the directions of the large warship.

__________________
"There is alot of blather here that does not float the hooey barge." boudreaux 11/22/2005

Wurm

Yeah, that's it...maybe the poor passenger ferry that crosses every half hour for years was going to ram these big tough warships, and blow them up a la the Cole. Seems to me that the ferry was there first, no?

Maybe too the fucking idyuts running the warships are ready to shoot at anything that moves. Can't have all of those weapons for long and not use 'em. Kinda doesn't help your testosterone level to use restraint and good judgment.

__________________
"Bush is the first President to admit to an impeachable offense."

- John Dean, former Counsel to the President (Nixon)

The aim of big corporations is to separate fools from their money all of the time and ordinary folks from their money most of the time. The rest of us must fend for ourselves.

Scotty_Dog

The warship did use restraint and good judgement by requesting the ferry to identify itself, so what exactly is the problem?

__________________
"There is alot of blather here that does not float the hooey barge." boudreaux 11/22/2005

MountainPro

no restrain was used...threats were used instead.

Why did the ferry need to identify itself? Its been doing that every day for the past....wait for it...90 years!

Its the warship who is in foreign waters, not the ferry. Can you imagine a British warship anchored in New York harbour issuing the same threat of using live ammunition to the ferry that takes tourists to Liberty Island?

The British ferry in question is a famous one.

__________________
HARD
.

BottleCage

Actually it said they were doing a training exercise. And the article said
"The first phase involved ships and submarines fighting off simulated terrorist attacks by small boats and jetskis manned by Royal Marines."

So they were expecting to have small "enemy" boats in the area. Since these wargames are suppose to be as real as possible the commaders have to react like they were in a real situation. Also since I am sure the commader did not know the exact detail of when and where he had to assume that the boat was part of the wargame and sent a warning message first.

What I find strange is that the local captains were not informed to stay away from the area.

Using a public channel is a bit weird but I do not think the "Enemy" in real situations would have access to the private, encrypted military channels.

Wurm

Why'd you delete the original, "Hey fucktard" part before the rest of your asinine statement?

Here's a thought: you got big balls and wanna fight? Go to Iraq. Don't forget to bring a few right-wingers with ya.

Attached Thumbnails

     

__________________
"Bush is the first President to admit to an impeachable offense."

- John Dean, former Counsel to the President (Nixon)

The aim of big corporations is to separate fools from their money all of the time and ordinary folks from their money most of the time. The rest of us must fend for ourselves.

MountainPro

Hi bottle cage...yes, i can see why you came to that conclusion but these ships are gathered on the River Clyde which flows from the city of Glasgow into the Altantic ocean. My office overlooks it and it is a busy commercial/industrial shipping lane.

The actual exercise will take place 300 miles away in a restricted designated military training ground off the Scottish Hebrides. The ships were gathered in the Clyde becuase there is a naval base there.

Having the exercie in the Clyde is analagous to training army troops in a busy down-town shopping mall using the general public and live ammo.

__________________
HARD
.

Scotty_Dog

I deleted it because I decided to use some restraint, much like the warship.

And now here's a thought for you: if you're so morally high and mighty, why not pay for the stolen bike fork?

__________________
"There is alot of blather here that does not float the hooey barge." boudreaux 11/22/2005

Scotty_Dog

So any real blame should be directed at the RN/Faslane and Commander Don Chalmers, not the US warship.

__________________
"There is alot of blather here that does not float the hooey barge." boudreaux 11/22/2005

stevebaby

Unless the harbour has restricted space and the ferry has strayed into that space,then the warship is under an obligation to avoid a collision if its master believes one to be imminent.The obligation rests on the warship to change course.If the warship fails to change course,then the ferry master was correct to change his course.
If the warship's commander was not informed of the presence of a civilian ferry making regular scheduled crossings then something has gone wrong.
Given the relative speed capabilities of the two vessels it would appear that the ferry was unlikely to be in an overtaking situation.If the warship was overtaking the ferry then it is obliged to give way to it.
Transmitting on VHF16 is clearly not intended for a naval vessel."Enemy" vessels would definitely not be using VHF16,which would be available to be overheard by every civilian vessel within range.They would be using restricted naval channels available to the "friendlies".
If there was no risk of collision and the ferry was not in restricted waters then the warship has no right to tell the ferry to do anything and in British waters,no right to threaten to fire live ammunition at it.
Actually,on the face of it the warship commander may be technically liable for criminal charges.

__________________
I'm Rooting for Chiara!
Drink!Feck!Arrse!Girls!
bastard