Tuesday - May 10, 2011

And Then There Were None

I missed this last week.

(May 5 2011) Claude Choules, the only remaining male veteran of World War I and one of the last people to have served in both world wars, died May 5 at a nursing home near Perth in western Australia. He was 110, and no cause of death was reported.

The former seaman, who was underage when he signed up for duty, witnessed the surrender of the German Imperial Navy in 1918. He also watched as German sailors scuttled their own fleet at Scapa Flow, near Scotland, to avoid having the ships fall into British hands after the war.

Mr. Choules and another Briton, Florence Green, became the war’s last known surviving service members after the death of American Frank Buckles in February, according to the Order of the First World War, a U.S.-based group that tracks veterans.

Mr. Choules was the last known surviving combatant of the war. Green, who turned 110 in February, served as a waitress in the Women’s Royal Air Force.
...
He lied about his age so he could join the British Royal Navy in 1916, two years after the Great War began. Enlistees were supposed to be at least 18 years old.

He was the last known male survivor of more than 70 million military personnel who served during WWI. And it looks like Mrs. Green is the last living person who was even remotely connected to that conflict. She joined the WRAF shortly before the war ended in 1918 and served on an air base in Marham in Norfolk. Choules turned 110 on March 3.

RAF Marham was opened in 1916 and is still in use today, being the home base of the Tornadoes doing air strikes against Libya.

Posted by Drew458     on 05/10/2011 at 07:19 AM   
Filed Under: • Military •  
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   Monday - May 09, 2011

very pricey EYE CANDY

There’s a top ten listing of models based on money earned. This lady is 22 and is in the que at number 10 with 2 million dollars. I do not have all ten here.

CANDICE SWANEPOEL

NATALIA VODIANOVA is number 9 with $4,000,000

CAROL MURPHY is number 8 with $4.3 million dollars

6 & 7 were missing from the list. I guess they wanted to keep it private. ?

ALESSANDRA ANBROSIO is number 5 with $5,000,000

ANDRIANA LIMA #4 with $8,000,000

KATE MOSS is #3, with $13,000,000

HEIDI KLUM is #2, with $20,000,000

And number one in earnings is a lady I never heard of which means nothing since I don’t know any of them anyway. Klum yes cos of previous publicity.
Same for Kate Moss due to her old boyfriend and coke partner and her nick name which is Cocaine Kate. I understand she’s clean now. Hope so for her sake.
Anyway ... I can believe number one. The best photo I found is the one below.

GISELE BUNDCHEN who is number one with, 45 MILLION DOLLARS

Hardly looks like the same model but it is.

And that’s all folks.

Posted by peiper     on 05/09/2011 at 09:43 AM   
Filed Under: • Eye-Candy •  
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lets hear it for zeta and snowdonia and the marx bros.

Aside from the fact that it’s nice to have someone who remembers their roots (if they know) and care enough to do something about things, there is no reason at all why anyone else reading this would be interested.  Anyway, the story is Welsh and the lady is Catherine Zeta Jones, who is married to Michael Douglas, who has recently had a very close call with the grim reaper. 

The reason I’m interested is really none of the above.

I have just discovered that there really is such a place as ....

Snowdonia !

Sounds like the Marx Bros. Freedonia, from their movie “Duck Soup.” Why aren’t movies (except for the Inspector General w/ Danny Kaye) as funny anymore?
Oh well, that’s way off topic.

Hoo-ray for pretty Zeta ...

Catherine Zeta Jones steps in to save Snowdonia hill farm

Hollywood star Catherine Zeta Jones has backed a £1 million bid to save a ‘’special’’ hill farm and lake in Snowdonia, the National Trust revealed today.

The Welsh actress’s support came as the trust said it was already half way to raising the money needed to buy Llyndy Isaf, a 614-acre farm in the Nant Gwynant valley which includes the Llyn Dinas lake.

The campaign, which has received more than £500,000 in donations in a month, is the trust’s biggest countryside appeal since its drive to save Snowdon more than a decade ago.

The organisation fears that if it does not buy Llyndy Isaf the estate could fall into commercial hands, threatening its future.
According to the trust, the farm has been untouched by intensive farming for decades and is home to a wealth of wildlife including choughs, pied flycatchers, willow warblers and peregrine falcons.

The hills around the farm are also steeped in mythology, with legend telling of the battle between a white dragon and a red dragon which took place at the hill of Dinas Emrys that overlooks the Llyn Dinas lake.

The red dragon won, becoming the national emblem of Wales, while the white dragon is said to have fallen into the lake.

Zeta Jones said: ‘’The National Trust plays a key role in protecting and managing the Welsh countryside, the beauty and landscape of Snowdonia is truly unique and we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to protect Llyndy Isaf in this stunning part of Wales for future generations.

Richard Neale, the National Trust’s general manager in Snowdonia, said the organisation was ‘’absolutely delighted’’ with the public’s response to the bid to save the estate for the nation.

‘’I know we’re half way there but we can’t rest, we still need another £500,000 to enable us to buy the farm and undertake immediate and essential environmental improvements,’’ he said.

If the National Trust is successful with its appeal, walkers and campers will continue to have access to the farm and land around the lake, the basic campsite and bunk barns will be open to everyone and there are plans to start improving the network of footpaths.

SNOWDONIA

Posted by peiper     on 05/09/2011 at 05:56 AM   
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the problem with heroes is …..

In the end, they manage to hurt. They either die which is painful beyond description, or else you find them wanting which leave you lost.

All I can say here is I’ve never been so disappointed in someone I took for a conservative hero, as I am by what Mr. Heffer believes.
Of all the editors and writers I’ve been following over the years, he comes closest to someone I tended to agree with most all of the time.  Littlejohn being the other.
But Simon Heffer stood apart from everyone else. I used to wish he were American born so he could run for president.

It’s bad enough he believes our people were “vulgar” and “mindless.” And that we need to “grow up.”
What bothers me most of all is the final realization that this otherwise friend of America ….. does not really know or even worse … does not understand us.
And if Simon Heffer isn’t able, then nobody else is either. Heffer is an extraordinarily brilliant man. Please don’t let his critique dissuade you otherwise.
He can certainly be brilliant and mistaken at the same time.  He can be brilliant, and mistaken with all the genuine good will in the world.  But the bottom line is …
He genuinely and honestly does not know or understand us as well as he thinks he does. And if he doesn’t, nobody else does either.

Let me be extra clear on the subject of friends and understanding.
The ONLY real friends America has in the political arena are …

AMERICANS. (and even then there’s some doubt)

Shock, horror: man dies in war

by Simon Heffer, Telegraph

I fail to see what the fuss is about concerning the death of Osama bin Laden. He ordered an act of war to be perpetrated on the United States and it retaliated by killing him. That is what happens in wars. I don’t want to sound unduly playground about it, but he started it. Two aspects of this do, however, alarm me. It was, I thought, exceptionally ill-advised of President Obama to conduct the news management of the whole episode as though he were starring in some tacky Hollywood mini-series. Those who believe this killing has won him next year’s election may yet have cause to revise that view.

Worse still were the vulgar scenes of mindless Americans rejoicing in the street when the news broke. It wasn’t the end of Superbowl, but it looked like it. I disliked it not because it might offend Islamic extremists – no further excuse to offend them is necessary – but because it made the world’s superpower look infantile. America should grow up.

Posted by peiper     on 05/09/2011 at 05:14 AM   
Filed Under: • Editorials • Personal •  
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   Sunday - May 08, 2011

Yes, I’m almost done with Star Trek

Now I’m watching Star Trek Generations. The first thing that surprised me was how old the movie is. 1994. I’m getting old.

Anyway, I loved this exchange between Picard and Riker on an 18th-century (holodeck) version of Enterprise:

PICARD: Imagine what it was like, Will. No engines… no computers… just the wind, the sea and the stars to guide you.

RIKER: Bad food, brutal discipline… (beat) No women.

Yep! Trust Riker to target the main weakness of 18th-century navies! No women!

‘Course, I served in the 20th-century US Navy. No women on warships then.

Why did I get out? They wanted women on warships. I wasn’t going to hang around for the sexual harassment charges. If women want to be ‘equal’, then the laws need concerning sexual harassment need to be repealed. As a married civilian, I’ve been ‘sexually harassed’ many times. Just ask my wife. (why is it that a man is more attractive after he’s married? Maybe some BMEWSette can tell me?)

But the term used in civilian life is ‘flirting’. Flirting can be fun, and, like manners, is part of the social ‘grease’ that keeps things civil between the sexes. Flirting relieves the tension. Kinda like a fencing match: Attack: Retreat: Thrust: Parry: Coupe: Disengage: Stop-thrust: And if nobody scored, then you salute and leave the field to the next couple.

Posted by Christopher     on 05/08/2011 at 06:45 PM   
Filed Under: • MOVIES •  
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Bombers over Arizona landscape

H/T Vilmar, who got it from Theo who it seems, we all seem to grab stuff from.

I love these planes. Way more then most modern jets. Words just fail. Take a look.

Posted by peiper     on 05/08/2011 at 12:45 PM   
Filed Under: • planes, trains, tanks, ships, machines, automobiles •  
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what hitler couldn’t do, the eu will try …. without a shot being fired.

Is there anything I should be adding to this? Yeah there is but, I can’t think of anything. I can’t find the words.

Lyndon ... HELP!

‘The EU are trying to wipe us off the map’: Brussels merges England and France in new Arc Manche region… with its own FLAG
By GLEN OWEN

Eric Pickles last night accused the European Union of trying to ‘wipe England off the map’ by developing a new cross-Channel region, complete with its own ‘flag’.

The Cabinet Minister condemned the EU for ploughing millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money into the ‘Arc Manche’, the name given by Brussels to an ambitious attempt to merge Northern France and Southern England.

Mr Pickles, the Local Government Secretary, says he is incensed to have discovered that Eurocrats are planning to roll out a new Arc Manche ‘transnational emblem’ across England.

The logo is described by its designers as a ‘series of concentric circles symbolising the flow of projects . . . and bridges between territories’.

It includes the word Interreg, a contraction of inter-regional – the name of a £1billion-a-year EU initiative to reduce the influence of national borders and increase cooperation between countries. The design will be emblazoned on EU ‘vanity projects’ in the cross-Channel area, including:

* A £7.6million network of ‘cross-Channel’ cycle lanes.
* A £5.5million scheme to pay for circus clowns to perform throughout the Arc Manche region.
* A £2million programme of cross-Channel ‘contemporary art’ tours.

Mr Pickles said he had inherited the plans from the Labour Government.
Labour has been conspiring with European bureaucrats to wipe England off the map,’ Mr Pickles said.

Outraged: Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles claims the system - set up under the last Labour administration - is an attempt to chip away at the UK’s national identity
‘Massive amounts of taxpayers’ money is being wasted on vanity projects. I intend to fight these plans, stop this waste and protect England’s national and local identities from EU empire-building.’
His outburst comes just days after the EU demanded an extra £682million a year from British taxpayers,

Downing Street called the request ‘ludicrous’ and accused EU officials of having lost touch with reality.
Under the cycle lanes project, which will be completed in 2013, a series of paths will run to Channel ports on the French side and then start again on the UK side.

It is described in project documents as an ‘ambitious and large-scale trans-Channel programme’ which will necessitate ‘harmonising road markings and signage’.
The circus clowns scheme, which starts this year and runs until 2012, is called the European Zone Of Artistic Projects, and involves hiring circus companies to perform in ‘artistic exchanges . . . on each side of the Channel’.

A BIT MORE HERE

Posted by peiper     on 05/08/2011 at 11:47 AM   
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flying the flag of the eu …….. or maybe not

H/T Robert Forsyth, Daily Mail

A SIGN OF FLAGGING SUPPORT FOR THE EU ?

How absurd can the EU bureaucracy be? They have decided to hold Europe Week starting tomorrow. Monday.

The powers that be in Brussels want all British govt. departments to fly the EU flag on Europe Day tomorrow.

However, conservative ministers who can’t do much about the powers of the EU because of the coalition, are revelling in a small act of rebellion by refusing to do so.

There will be no blue flag fluttering over Downing Street, the Home Office and a slew of other govt. departments. Not even the Foreign Office, a dept. that usually won’t say boo to Brussels.

There is one dept. that will be hoisting the flag and that is the Department for Communities and Local Govt.  They administer an EU program so they must fly the EU flag or risk a fine. And here’s where things really get Stuck on Stupid.

They MUST take a photo of the flag flying outside their building then send it to the Brussels bureaucrat who monitors compliance with the event.

I couldn’t dream this up.

Posted by peiper     on 05/08/2011 at 11:16 AM   
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an $800,000 car as an engagement gift. tuff to be poor.

This is not the first time I have posted something about the Ecclestones. Mostly the Ecclestone girls. But wow ... take a look at the cost. That’s the focus here.
And it isn’t even for the wedding. This is an engagement gift. From daddy to daughter. Which is only right since he’s denied her so much in the past. lol.
I didn’t mean that in a snarky way at all.  Hey, it’s his to spend on wedding presents or internet bingo or whatever else he wants. And far as I can gather, his girls haven’t given him and ex any grief. That is, the drug scene etc.

So anyway .... this daughter ....  is now engaged.

We know that cos she’s had an engagement party.  Take a look at this.

How will you celebrate her wedding, Bernie? He jets in Rihanna to sing, wheels in an £800,000 supercar… and this was just Petra Ecclestone’s engagement party
By CHARLOTTE GRIFFITHS

The venue was one of London’s most famous landmarks and entertainment came from chart-topping singer Rihanna, flown in by helicopter from Paris to sing a medley of her No 1 hits.

Vintage Cristal champagne flowed freely and ‘decorations’ included a display of
supercars, among them classic Aston Martins, ultra-fast Ferraris and, as a surprise treat, an £800,000 Bugatti Veyron – dubbed ‘the best car ever made’.

And this was only the engagement party.

So that leaves one daughter left.
TAMARA

More to read and more pix here

What will he do for their weddings?  What will he do?

Posted by peiper     on 05/08/2011 at 10:07 AM   
Filed Under: • Economics •  
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Oops, I missed one

Reader P sent in a Paypal donation last month and I missed it. Sorry!

Paypal bombards me with emails, as do quite a number of phony Paypal sneaks who are out to rip off my password. So I probably missed the “you’ve got cash!” email.

Every dollar we get here helps run the blog, and if there is ever a year when we more than meet operating expenses, that money goes in a piggy bank to offset next year’s costs. I don’t pocket any cash from this thing at all.

For the first time in forever we’ve got an advertiser, and that really really helped. I email back and forth with other “potential” advertisers all the time, but it turns out that most of those are phishers trying to get my PayPal account password. And the ones who do seem to be real usually offer micro-peanuts for what they want. Such as “we’ll pay you $20 to put 12 links at the top of your blog and run them forever.” Yeah right. This blog churns 3.5 million hits a year; surely ad space is worth a little more than that, right?

So thanks again P, and try not to be too mad that I didn’t get back to you until today, when you sent me that (deservedly) cranky email. Your donation is not unappreciated. No donation is too small to be overlooked.

Update: I just got home from doing the Mother’s Day thing. We had a great day, and a great meal. I so miss having a charcoal grill here, even if it’s just to grill up some chicken. Traffic wasn’t too bad for the 160 mile round trip, and for once I got to drive home from mom’s when it wasn’t raining or snowing. Sweet. Anyway, I realized after I put this one up this morning that I should have added the word “deservedly”, and now I have. Didn’t want anyone to think I was being smarmy or anything.

And in my inbox I find an email saying another reader has sent in another donation. You guys rock!! Thank you, thank you, thank you ... and thank you ... and thank you ... and you too!
PS - the donator sent me an email. I have not yet been notified by Paypal. Let’s see how long it takes them, if they tell me at all.

Now to read the daily comments, check my BMEWS email, try and help Peiper with some strange thing the new Firefox release is doing, and then to bed.

Posted by Drew458     on 05/08/2011 at 09:21 AM   
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eye candy

I happen to see a couple of photos in a Sunday magazine of Reese Witherspoon.

Glossy magazine photos always look better then real life and since eye candy is all about looks ....

And that somehow led me to ......

PIPPA MIDDLETON (sister to the future Queen)

That’s Pippa doing the dive, watched by sister Kate.

I am reminded of the theme from Black Adder .... Perhaps you know the line I refer to.

Posted by peiper     on 05/08/2011 at 09:21 AM   
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   Saturday - May 07, 2011

too right

If there’s one thing I’ve learned under the Obama regime, if there’s smoke, look for the fire somewhere else. It’s been OBL 24-7 for most of a week now, so the real question is: What other shenanigans are the Dems up to right now that isn’t getting any media attention at all? Even Holder’s gun running to the Mexican cartels is getting some play, but there’s always something those rats are trying to sneak by when we aren’t looking.

And the price of crude is down something like 10% in the past week and a bit, although I haven’t seen that reflected yet at the pumps. Soon I hope.

Posted by Drew458     on 05/07/2011 at 12:26 PM   
Filed Under: • Obama, The One • Oil, Alternative Energy, and Gas Prices •  
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Secret No Longer

Osama Raid Stealth Chopper Secret Tech Lost To China?

LOS ANGELES (KABC)—The last act of the Navy SEAL team before they left the Osama bin Laden compound was to blow up their damaged helicopter that had to be left behind.

Aviation analysts say the remnants of the aircraft reveal they were part of one of the U.S. military’s most closely-guarded secret: A stealth Black Hawk helicopter whose existence was only rumored. It had never been seen in public before.

“This is the first time we’ve seen an operation stealth helicopter,” said Bill Sweetman, editor in chief of Defense Technology International magazine.

Analysts say photos that emerged on the Internet reveal it was no ordinary helicopter.

“One of the things that really stands out is they have a little disk over the motors, which is meant to baffle the sound and deny radar signature,” said Daniel Goure of the think tank Lexington Institute.

Neighbors in the Abbottabad neighborhood where bin Laden’s compound was located told ABC News they did not hear the helicopters Sunday night until they were directly overhead.

“It would be a vague sound,” Goure said. “It might be the sound of a helicopter that was going in the opposite direction. This was designed so the time between hearing the helicopter and the SEALs dropping in on the compound was very short.”

Residents near the bin Laden compound told ABC News that just before the stealth helicopters arrived, all electricity and cellphone service was knocked out and then came back on right after the choppers left.

One key to the chopper’s stealth nature is a secret, heavily-coated, fabric-like material, which children in the neighborhood were seen collecting.

The Chinese military is known to have close relationships with the Pakistani military.

“There are probably people in the Pentagon tonight who are very concerned that pieces of the helicopter may be, even now, on their way to China, because we know that China is trying to make stealth aircraft,” said ABC News consultant Richard Clarke.

The remaining large pieces of the secret U.S. helicopter were trucked away by Pakistani officials Wednesday to an unknown destination.

One of the helicopters was blown apart during the assault, but photographs of the tail section that remained in Pakistan show modifications to quiet noise and reduce chances of radar detection.

The New York Times reports that people in the helicopter industry said the rear section looked nothing like the tail of a regular Black Hawk helicopter. They said it looked like the Black Hawk had added some of the features of the proposed stealth helicopter Comanche, which was canceled by the Pentagon in 2004.

Another reported that the downed helicopter had five or six blades in its tail rotor, as opposed to the usual four in a Black Hawk. That may have permitted operators to slow the rotor speed and reduce the familiar chop-chop sound made by most helicopters.

Daniel Goure, a defense specialist at the Lexington Institute think tank, said the helicopter crash may have been caused by the unusual aerodynamics which came from the aircraft’s modifications.

“It could be much more difficult to fly at slow speed and landing than you would expect from a typical Black Hawk,” Goure said

What is as intriguing as the stealth adaptations is how well they apparently worked. “The attack on bin Laden did not occur in some remote area outside Pakistani control, but in a compound in a city of some 100,000 and less than 100 mi. from a major Pakistani population center like Islamabad, and one occupied by a brigade from the Pakistani army’s second division and the location of the Army’s military academy,” notes analyst Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic & International Studies.

The public photos show that the destroyed Black Hawk’s tail features stealth-configured shapes on the boom and the tail-rotor hub fairings, swept stabilizers and a “dishpan” cover over a five- or six-blade tail rotor. It has a silver-loaded infrared (IR) suppression finish similar to that seen on the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey.

Stealth enhancements for rotorcraft are not new and were applied extensively to the Boeing/Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche, canceled in 2004. Compared with fixed-wing stealth, more emphasis is usually placed on noise and IR signatures.

Link to a drawing that shows the rotor better

We’ll never know what other modifications the main body of that helo had, because it got burned up. And while making a quieter helo is great, and cutting down it’s radar cross section is superb, the part I really like is that with the flip of a switch our guys can shut down their electric power and their phone system remotely. I’m pretty sure that isn’t exactly new; I think the IDF has been doing that for awhile now too, but it sure is neat.

a bit more info at Freep

Posted by Drew458     on 05/07/2011 at 09:07 AM   
Filed Under: • planes, trains, tanks, ships, machines, automobiles • War On Terror •  
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An Unexpected Outcome: Call It A Draw

Hijacked ship with 24 Chinese sailors in Arabian Sea rescued

[translated page] The 24 Chinese sailors on board a Panama-flagged bulk cargo ship, hijacked by pirates yesterday at the Arabian Sea, have been rescued, as Turkey and U.S. navy ships in the nearby rushed to them and chased away the pirates, Xinhua News Agency reported.

About seven suspected Somali pirates have left the ship, “Full City”, and the 24 Chinese workers are found safe, locking themselves in the safety vessel of the ship, the report said. Guarded by U.S. Navy ships, a group of Turkey Navy commandos boarded the pirated ship.

The pirates attacked “Full City” at midday on Thursday local time, and seized it about 450 nautical miles off the coast of Mumbai in India.

The China Sea Rescue Center earlier reported two Chinese navy ships patrolling in the Gulf of Aden were alerted of the hijacking and rushed to its rescue yesterday. The center also sent liaisons to nearby patrolling ships for help.

The Panama flagged and Chinese owned merchant ship M/V Full City was attacked by Somali pirates yesterday (05.05.2011) morning. She was 400 nautical miles off the coast of India.

The Turkish frigate F-491 TCG Giresun, the nearest coalition warship was ordered to proceed and help the attacked merchant ship. During the deployment TCG Giresun contacted the Chinese naval units in the region and received the information that the crew of M/V Full City was able to hide themselves inside a citadel before being captured by the pirates.

Upon arriving to M/V Full City, that was damaged by the rocket-propelled grenade and small arms fire of the pirates, communication with the crew of the ship was established.  Later the naval special forces teams of board of the Turkish frigate, fast-roped to the ship and secured her.  When the search revealed that there were no pirates on board, and all the crew was safe and sound M/V Full City continues her journey.

Looks like the Indian Navy scared the pirates off first with a patrol plane:

An Indian Navy TU-142 maritime reconnaissance aircraft made several low sorties over the MV Full City, 450 nautical miles (850 km) off Karwar in Karnataka, warning the pirates to immediately leave the vessel or face the wrath of Indian Navy and Coast Guard ships that were fast closing in.

The warnings worked and the pirates scampered into the skiff from which they had boarded the vessel and sailed toward a nearby mothership, which immediately set off toward Somalia at full speed, the official said, requesting anonymity due to service rules.

Oooh, a post-game update: looks like it wasn’t a complete draw after all!

[USS] Bunker Hill and aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) were the closest naval vessels to the Full City and set course to intercept. The Turkish ship Giresun, part of NATO’s counter piracy operation Ocean Shield, also responded.

While Giresun boarded Full City, Bunker Hill approached a dhow in the area believed to be the ‘mothership’ for the pirate attack. An SH 60 Sea Hawk helicopter from Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Light 49, deployed with Bunker Hill, fired warning shots to stop the dhow and instructed the suspected pirates to move to the bow of the vessel. In the early evening, a visit board, search and seizure team from Bunker Hill boarded the suspected pirate dhow.

The team found and destroyed paraphernalia on the dhow, including weapons, excessive fuel and other equipment commonly used in the commission of acts of piracy. They also sank a small skiff towed by the dhow; these skiffs are often used for actual attacks and boardings by pirates.

An aircraft carrier and a guided missile cruiser, a patrol plane and at least one helicopter, a frigate, a rubber speedboat or two full of spec ops guys, excellent communication and coordination between at least 4 navies of countries who don’t always get along so well ... and they let the pirates go. I guess the Vinson had used up it’s ration of muslim burial shrouds earlier in the week.

Posted by Drew458     on 05/07/2011 at 08:36 AM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous •  
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

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