Toothless

[TG]

The navy appears to be forked.

we have heard about undermanned submarines but it also seem destroyers are putting to sea without their main armament. Reason? Skint.

Type 42s HMS Exeter and HMS Southampton have been working without their Sea Dart guided missile system since Christmas, it was revealed today.

To go with the cutbacks, at least half a dozen operating crew have been transferred to other ships.

The missiles, used to protect the destroyers and larger aircraft carriers against air attack, have been stored away even though HMS Exeter has sailed to the Mediterranean twice and joined a NATO-led operation in that time.

A Royal Navy spokesman said: "I can confirm that Sea Dart was deactivated in both ships last year, as part of a short-term financial planning decision to save money.

Smashing. 

A farce of epic proportions. Is some fanatic decides to do a 'USS cole' with an areoplane WTF are they supposed to do except blast away with machine guns like they were in WW2.

Why not save some real cash and give the matelots catapults to shoot with and some megaphones so they can tell airbourne terrorists to 'go away' in a really loud voice.

 

http://tinyurl.com/5kvwry

[Snoopy]

Always happens with a labour government ~ I've told enough people but will they listen?

When Harold Wilson was PM I found myself on guard duty at an RAF Base in Aden armed with a pick axe handle. The armourer said "No point in issuing you rifles lads, we've got no fvckin' ammo for them" Like good little airmen we pointed out to the Duty Officer that the Arabs did have rifles and ammuntion and hand grenades and all sorts of kit. "I know" he replied "If they attack tonight, see what you can grab" 

A week later ammo became available again. Back on guard duty I was given a WWII Lee Enfield 303 rifle and 3 (THREE!) rounds of ammunition, one in the rifle and one for each breast pocket. We had to show all three rounds were in place at each hourly inspection.

The following week we did a patrol. Each of the six of us was issued with 5 rounds. This I would remind those old enough to remember was when the Arabs were trying to get us out of Aden by fair means or foul. This was about a year or so before a certain Lt Col Colin Mitchell became famous for his exploits out there.

[Pastis]

Blimey! I used to shoot those. The .303 I mean, in competition    ... and probably not long after you'd come home from there Snoops. We had loads of ammo, boxes and boxes of 'em.
Prolly saving it all for eminently more important school shooting competitions 

[Grumpmeister]

Blimey! I used to shoot those. The .303 I mean, in competition    ... and probably not long after you'd come home from there Snoops. We had loads of ammo, boxes and boxes of 'em.
Prolly saving it all for eminently more important school shooting competitions 

Granted it was a few years afterwards but I used to love using the .303 and the Bren on range days when I was an army cadet. It felt like it was built for to last, unlike the cadet version of the SA80 or whatever they call the current Army rifle which felt like you'd just got the booby prize out of a jumbo kinder egg.

[Darwins Selection]

Blimey! I used to shoot those. The .303 I mean, in competition    ... and probably not long after you'd come home from there Snoops. We had loads of ammo, boxes and boxes of 'em.
Prolly saving it all for eminently more important school shooting competitions 

Granted it was a few years afterwards but I used to love using the .303 and the Bren on range days when I was an army cadet. It felt like it was built for to last, unlike the cadet version of the SA80 or whatever they call the current Army rifle which felt like you'd just got the booby prize out of a jumbo kinder egg.

When I was a lad in the OTC we used to take these to Bisley.




A great piece of between-the-wars engineering.

[Grumpmeister]

Couldnt you hit the target without the scope? 

[Darwins Selection]

Couldn't you hit the target without the scope? 

It was part of the kit and all there was on the No. 4 as I recall.

That was in the long-gone days when I could consistently do a 3 inch group at 600 yds. 

Holding a cup of tea without spilling it is hard work nowadays.

[Nick]

 

[Grumpmeister]

Couldn't you hit the target without the scope? 

It was part of the kit and all there was on the No. 4 as I recall.

That was in the long-gone days when I could consistently do a 3 inch group at 600 yds. 

Holding a cup of tea without spilling it is hard work nowadays.

That was something I could never understand back then. Give me the .303 and I had a 3.5inch grouping at if memory serves about 400 yards using iron sights. Hand me the ensign with a smaller round and less recall and my aim went rapidly downhill.

One thing I'll never forget is on the indoor range we had at the drill hall. Becase it was on the local TA compound we had access to a load of their kit for 'training' including one of the older 88 rocket launchers (this huge hefty steel rig) with a 22 converter round to use on the range. Imagine handing one of those to an average gangly 13 year old who can just about balance with the thing before you load the round in the back and slam it shut. Ended up with a load of holes in the ceiling and I'm pretty sure a couple of seagulls on the roof were casualties as well. 

[Darwins Selection]

Couldn't you hit the target without the scope? 

It was part of the kit and all there was on the No. 4 as I recall.

That was in the long-gone days when I could consistently do a 3 inch group at 600 yds. 

Holding a cup of tea without spilling it is hard work nowadays.

That was something I could never understand back then. Give me the .303 and I had a 3.5inch grouping at if memory serves about 400 yards using iron sights. Hand me the ensign with a smaller round and less recall and my aim went rapidly downhill.

One thing I'll never forget is on the indoor range we had at the drill hall. Becase it was on the local TA compound we had access to a load of their kit for 'training' including one of the older 88 rocket launchers (this huge hefty steel rig) with a 22 converter round to use on the range. Imagine handing one of those to an average gangly 13 year old who can just about balance with the thing before you load the round in the back and slam it shut. Ended up with a load of holes in the ceiling and I'm pretty sure a couple of seagulls on the roof were casualties as well. 

The armoury also had two of each of these, non-functional as even 1950's H&S had some limits I suppose.

[Grumpmeister]

We didnt have access to them but we did have a training Bren in our armoury. They were another favourite on range days, partly I admit, because of the spectacle of watching these kids who'd been told to expect recoil screaming terrified because it dragged them forward when they blazed off a full mag.