The British-Iranian Confrontation of 2019: The Tanker War
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- Опубліковано 27 чер 2024
- In 2019, British and Iranian Naval forces became locked in a two-month long confrontation in the Persian Gulf. Tensions escalated after the Government of Gibraltar seized an Iranian-owned tanker called the MV Grace 1, which was accused of breaching international sanctions. In retaliation, the Iranians began mounting attempts to capture a British tanker in the Gulf, which forced Royal Navy warships to deploy onto the 'front-line' to protect British merchant vessels from the Iranian threat.
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- Reflection by Oliver Michael
The featured Radio Communication was released into the Public Domain by Dryad Global.
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Documentary Chapters
00:00 - Introduction & MV Grace 1 Incident
04:04 - Importance of the Gulf
06:23 - MV British Heritage Incident
07:57 - Royal Navy Reinforcements
09:16 - MV Stena Impero Incident
15:19 - Conclusion
There was once a time in history when the British would've dispatched 10 of the most advanced warships in the world to deal with this threat, crazy how we have fallen struggling to send even one frigate.
A very visual example of what successive governments have done to this country for the purpose of short term political gain or personal wealth for themselves or their cronies.
I wonder what have changed. Think about that for a moment. What have radically changed in Britain, and the west. There's your answer.
This is the result of long-term defence cuts and a cultural attitude shift (veering into the widespread ignorance and outright apathy from large swathes of the apparently bovine general public) The Royal Navy can barely operate the tragically low number of hulls (particularly MSCs, that is, Major Surface Combatants) it has and any suggestion of major expansion is tutted down by the usual armchair admirals and naysayers clinging to the ingrained notions and perception problems which decades upon decades of the shrinking Royal Navy has engendered. It's a sad state of affairs.
The overall GDP% share the _entire_ UK military gets is sitting at about 2.1% nominally, though in real-terms going into next year it's probably more like 2.2-2.3% with plans to be at 2.5% by 2025-2027 ish. In previous eras, the UK would casually be spending >10% GDP on the military. Moaning Michaels taking the mickey have been penny pinching for years. The out of touch politicians, generation to generation, think they are smart by scrimping and saving and making small cuts. Those small cuts add up. It is the kind of thing which I'm sure Admiral Cunningham of WWII fame, would have been horrified by.
“It takes three years to build a ship; it takes three centuries to build a tradition.” - Admiral Cunningham, regarding the costly British naval operations in the evacuation of Crete.
@@hayleyxyz 100%
@@Jinxtah123 Man it is almost like the UK is not that big of a country and doesn't have the resources their former imperial self had that they extracted from their colonies
The fall of the British armed forces is honestly tragic
*hilarious
We’re spending money in all the wrong places
It's the best thing that could have happened in the centuries it has been oppressing the world's nations. The same should happen with the US Navy.
@@captaincritter1898 wrong, sad for a nation with such a glorious military record
@@captaincritter1898🔔🔚
It is an absolute shame to see what has become of the United kingdom's armed forces.
Yet europeans love to bash US for how horrible the country is compared to them
Ye it is turning lgbt 😂
@@zeknight4352The whole world is 🙄
We'll defeat our enemies with the rainbow flag! I'm sure it won't be long until we get a tranny regiment..
@@A_10_PaAng_111 nah just the west cause they are believing there are a million genders and the earth is flat
I was serving on Montrose at the time and the whole of the ships company should be incredibly proud of what they achieved out there that month.
My son was with you, I know what you guys achieved, BZ
Now it’s a shame it’s a big floating scrap pile 😪
I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that the US Navy had some sort of presence in the area. Why wouldn’t the Royal Navy request Assistance from there BFF.? Anybody have any thoughts?
As a veteran I’m super happy I’ve found and subbed to this! Great channel mate.
Eye for an eye from what I can see from this video!
Watching the UK Government completely f*ck up spending in every department is truly depressing… the UK’s Military was once a mighty force. Now due to budget cuts we’ve taken a backseat and seem to just be happy to carry on like it. In our public sector it’s the same, add on the absolute chaos which is the Bank of England right now, cost of living, house prices, inflation etc. and you have the perfect recipe to ruin a nation.
I really hope we’re able to somehow get out of this mess, but if I’m being honest I don’t see it happening any time soon. Everyone in power is an absolute melon.
Its part of the fun. We elect ppl, the dont follow through on their promises, shit hits the fan, nothing happens, new leader. Rinse and repeat
It's honestly shameful what successive governments have done to this country. I partially blame the media for placating the public into voting in the same lot that would struggle to hold down a job outside of politics.
@ronanmcn4967 while that is true, the lot that we've got in the past ~5 years are significantly worse. Right now we have an NPC for PM, and every other week we seem to have an MP getting caught with his hand in the petty change tin.
It's crazy how Canada and Australia are both committing more in the next decade to growing their navies than the UK is.
🇬🇧 Look how fast those youngins grow
The geopolitics are not comparable
Where is the data for this? The Royal Navy is considerably larger and more powerful than the Australia and Canada's navies and has a growing budget. The Royal Navy has some amazing units coming to fruition in the next 5-10 years.
Not true. Agree that the UK needs to up its navy a fair amount but Canada and Australia are only replacing ships like for like over the next decade and dont have half the capability that the UK has with its carriers, nuke subs, logistical force etc.
Only including larger vessels (say over 1,000t+) the UK between 2010-2030 has gotten/will get 2x super carriers, 7x nuclear attack subs, 6x destroyers, 18x frigates, 5x large patrol ships, 4x naval tankers, 3x naval supply ships, and a few special purpose survey/surveillance/drone ships. Also longer term (2030-2040) first orders/plans for 4x SSBN, 6x amphibious landing dock ships and a future larger destroyer class.
Canada has not received a new frigate or destroyer for around 15 years and wont receive a new one until its up to 15x new frigates enter service after 2030, 0x carriers or amphibious assault ships and none planned, 4x old diesel subs that wont be replaced until after 2030 by a new either diesel or nuclear class depending on what its crappy government procurement allows (hopefully they will join AUKUS), building around half a dozen lightly armed arctic patrol ships, received 1x converted naval supply ship, and building 2x new naval supply ships.
Australia is a bit better with 9x new frigates ordered but not coming until after 2030, 3x new destroyers, 2x new small helicopter carriers, 2x new supply ships, and 6x diesel subs that are planned to be replaced by up to 12x nuclear attack subs but the first wont arrive until after 2030 and they wont have say at least half a dozen of them until the 2040s.
Neither off those navies have nuclear armed and or powered subs active, neither have aircraft carries neither have a significant logistical support and supply fleet there is pros and cons to every thing the UKs naval budget has went elsewhere
You're Back!
Honest question, am I missing something or didn't both countries break international law? The video mentions EU sanctions, not UN sanctions and the waters in the middle of the Gibraltar Strait are also international.
You missed a lot. Seems like no amount of explanation will help you understand. You lack the intelligence apparently.
Have you seen the gap into the Gibraltar strait? Did the ship pass that gap? Then it was in British waters. We've been doing this shit for centuries. Listen to every radio message in this video again, and tell me the British don't know protocol. We effing invented it.
@@stevenmacdonald9619 its probably just wording, but at 3:30 in the vid, he says that after the royal marine team took control of the vessel it was moved north into gibraltar's territorial waters. indicating, based off wording, that it wasn't before that.
@@kukajin9560I agree with you and I have the same question as OP. It seems both cases would violate international maritime law based on the descriptions throughout the video. Why would Iran be treated differently? Isn’t the UKs infraction justification for some kind of retaliation? What’s better than literally the exact same thing?
Except for its far eastern end, the Strait lies within the territorial waters of Spain and Morocco. The United Kingdom claims 3 nautical miles (5.6 km; 3.5 mi) around Gibraltar on the northern side of the Strait, putting part of it inside British territorial waters. As this is less than the 12 nautical miles (22 km; 14 mi) maximum, it means, according to the British claim, that part of the Strait lies in international waters. The ownership of Gibraltar and its territorial waters is disputed by Spain. Similarly, Morocco disputes Spanish sovereignty over Ceuta on the southern coast.[31] There are several islets, such as the disputed Isla Perejil, that are claimed by both Morocco and Spain.
Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, vessels passing through the strait do so under the regime of transit passage, rather than the more limited innocent passage allowed in most territorial waters. Therefore, a vessel or aircraft has the freedom of navigation or overflight for the purpose of crossing the strait of Gibraltar.
Transit passage is a concept of the law of the sea, which allows a vessel or aircraft the freedom of navigation or overflight solely for the purpose of continuous and expeditious transit of a strait between one part of the high seas or exclusive economic zone and another. The requirement of continuous and expeditious transit does not preclude passage through the strait for the purpose of entering, leaving or returning from a state bordering the strait, subject to the conditions of entry to that state. The transit passage may be exercised regardless of the nationality (flag) of the ship, its form of ownership, the merchant or government status of a ship or warship, the private or government status of an aircraft
This is simply great programming . . . thank you for the effort that goes into each instalment.
It's such a shame that the government, and governments from the last 30+ years on both sides have kept cutting our armed forces budget restricting us and leaving us a weak member of NATO. We absolutely need to increase funding and create new air, land and sea vehicles to protect ourselves and help our NATO families around the world.
We don’t even protect our borders from traffickers dumping the worlds rubbish onto our coastlines daily.
Most important is efficency and proper Administration...........Jobs
There was a forces news crew filming another one of those life on a navy ship type documentarys aboard Duncan
It’s easily found on UA-cam. Having already seen it. It gives a cool perspective of the situation from Duncan’s pov
Duncan didn't arrive till everything was over, Montrose did the leg work
@@connorbarker3917 absolutely fucking right they did!
Your contents have really developed over the last few years… one of my favourite channels. Love from Chertsey Surrey! 😎
I don't know how I managed to be in the gulf for both this and the soleimani assassination
How did that come to pass? If you don't mind sharing with a stranger.
Tell us!!!!
Spook
Glad you lived to tell the tale . . .
Great video, thanks for putting together the great visuals!
thx for the uploads
🦬🇨🇦🤟
they really did the iconic first mission from the OG Modern Warfare lol
I feel like blaming this on the british government solely is unfair. whilst i agree alot of blame rests on them, the disregard for protocol by the crew of the MV Stena imperio is why this happened to them (its likely it would have happened to a ship, but their disregard is why it was them)
Thanks
Love the content! Can you do one on 'Operation Barras' next, thanks.
24.000km detour..
meh......you get paid
The British tanker not notifying Montrose she was entering the straits was a big, big mistake.
This is peculiar from a retrospective. Been onboard for both incidents 😆
Great video!
Really hoping to see the navy increase in size soon, make it apparent that it intends to expand, let more people apply and make it apparent that they are recruiting so we can get more people for it as well, tho I’d say do that when those new ships get close to completion so when they’re ready for sea trials we have some people ready to go
The RN is due to increase in the 2030s. The AUKUS pact is planning to increase the size of the submarine fleet, and the escort fleet is going to be larger when the type 26s/31s/32s are made. Despite all the pessimism, the RN does have a lot to be optimistic about. Trouble is...we need these numbers yesterday. With all that is going on, Iran, Russia, and probably a Taiwan conflict within the next few years...2030s seems like a distant future.
@@jamesg9468 yeah, feel like 2015 crimea should’ve been a little bit of a wake up call
I never understood the Cameron budget cuts that gutted the armed forces, and especially the navy. I'm not being political or anything, that just stands out as particularly dumb. And the lack of foresight by the government of the day no to prioritise escort duties and realise Iran wasn't bluffing. I remember watching this unfold and thinking 'they can't be this dumb"...
@@catsnads01 Smart people don't go into politics!
@@amazer747 not anymore atleast.
we desperately need people like Bismarck in Skill.
Hence why we’re seeing the service getting an increase in capability through the new frigates with the addition of the type 31 and 32 designs I imagine that escort coverage could be increased hopefully
Damn politicians, to let the ROYAL NAVY atrophy is a crime.
The thing is that has been going on since 1945. Many generations of politicians in the UK are ultimately directly responsible.
Seems like the UK seized their tanker first. Fuck around find out.
Im violation of international law? International law goes both ways.
Good job!
Love to see us trying that now …
Brilliant
Lord Nelson watching this from heaven.....
❤ You're a legend, bro 🇬🇧🏴
Anyone got any numbers with regards to how many ships we’ve added or lost to the fleet since this incident
Off the top of my head, 3 frigates are scrap, Montrose, Westminster and Monmouth.
Its really sad that the Royal Navy, the Navy that once ruled the waves and therefore basically the world, that exported safety to allies and trading partners around the world, is now relegated to this, not even being able to protect her own shipping
A scary sight and also a wake up call. Ever we take a step back from trying to be a major player or the government equips the forces properly. We can win future conflicts off a legacy.
Note the UK British Army Chief just handed in his resignation , same reason , the total lack of a proper defence capability to include the general state of the British Army !
The way you say Grace One sounds like Grey swan.
Am I the only one that is against seizures of shipping? Whether it be Iranian or otherwise.
What the British did was wrong.
What the Iranians did was wrong.
Grease 1? Grace 1? Gray Swan?
man i wish to hear the logs of the 85 july encounters between he same chief of staffs.
i was in the RN In the 70s..no shortage back then
Moral of the story. Stop being the police of the world, stay at home. Let the merchant ships do their work. No ships, no economy, the world will grind to a hault. Keep politics away from merchant shipping.
Iran has a habit of attacking merchant vessels, hence the large naval presence in the region of a 33 country strong international coalition
@@AB-mw8oziran has a habit? really? Then why did the British do it first here?
@@MossadDid911 Iran have been threatening to close the Strait for over a decade mate
Someone else explained how this act was a violation of international law by Britian. No UN sancions against Syria were present, and the ship was captured in international waters. Not only that, but the water around Gibraltar are a disputed territory between Spain and Britian.
It was EU sanctions Britain was upholding. And the Iranians were violating international law by disrupting passage of a merchant vessel. The Law of Sea Convention declares the right of innocent passage for merchant and military vessels
Not only that but the Stena Impero was transiting Omani waters at the time it was hijacked. Meaning the Iranian Navy were operating in foreign waters. Which goes against the LOSC as attacking foreign ships would not fall under innocent passage
And territorial water disputes in the Strait are Spain getting upset at everyone else, and frequently sending patrol vessels in Moroccan and British waters just to piss people off
@@AB-mw8oz EU sanctions don’t apply to international waters. Both Syria and Iran aren’t even part of the EU
@@AB-mw8ozno UN sanctions on Syria. UK fucked around and found out
@@AB-mw8ozit was still only EU not UN
@@Sceptonic sanctions are still sanctions
I find it pretty alarming that Britain seized the Iranian tanker for 1 1/2 month - I mean how long can it take to inspect it?
Lets not forget the beginning of the video, the Iranian ship was also travelling on international waters before being directed into Gibraltar territorial waters. Same thing happened to the British ship so i think its even and squared. EU is not UN.
Yeah, usually the EU thinks they can dictate for the rest of the world. Disgusting hypocrites seize something which isn’t theirs and then cry over it when it happens to them
You may have forgotten that on March 23, 2007, 15 crew members of the British Royal Navy's HMS Cornwall frigate were captured by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
tell me about it
Seems like the UK seized their tanker first. Fuck around find out.
How the UK take L's while I at 17, stacked Taliban/Al Queada bodies that were made up of literal Iranian, Iraqi, Syrian, etc in 2002..?
And yes, there should’ve been much swifter action to get the necessary assets to the region…& unfortunately, that points very much at the shrinking navy. The Lessons from our past are evidently numerous in number, but so often, we are very slow to learn from them 😟
You are 100% correct.
Would it not have been possible to station a crew of men for the merchant vessels to defend them even a little better?
Was the Grace 1 in international waters when boarded?
Even with 1000 ships, how would you effectively prevent boarding via helicopter? Shooting at it could lead to retaliation, which creates another problem: what happens when they shoot back?
Furthermore, why didn't you include the communications of the Sepah Navy missile boat that challenged the British warship? The audio you provided only covered the speedboats and the initial contact. In the actual communication, the Sepah Navy missile boat warned the British frigate, saying, "British warship Foxtrot 236, this is Sepah Navy warship... your tanker British Heritage is under my control. You are ordered not to interfere in my operation."
The speedboats were not intended to deter the British warship; they are patrol boats, after all. It would have made more sense to challenge the single missile boat instead of deploying an entire armada. A frigate should be more than capable of confronting a missile boat.
The issue at hand is not a lack of ships, but rather the fact that you were not challenged by a defenseless country as you might be accustomed to. Additionally, in the case of the British, for every ship you take, they retaliate by seizing two of yours. It seems you forgot to mention the second ship, Mesdar, which was also involved in the incident.
Wow, whole new story!
I would say this incident was quite the black eye for the royal navy. They were there to help, and the impero depended on the royal navy to come to the aid and help them. Only for a spineless commander to not do so. The royal navy failed the crew, and the Montrose failed at their duty that day
Why didn't the Spanish do the intercept/boarding of the Grace 1, Spain is a member of the EU. Why was it up to the British?
I think the answer is "Gibraltar".....
Stealing another countries ship / cargo and expecting them not to respond pretty dumb.
Somehow international laws applied to the British ship but not the Iranian ship? Ok buddy
The Royal Navy is smaller in size because it decided to focus on two aircraft carriers. To put into perspective, a carrier costs about £3.7 billion, a frigate costs around £250 million. If the 2 carriers weren't made, they could have made 30 or so frigates instead (not that it would make any sense). I'm just highlighting that they decided to go for power over quantity.
This is a step in the right direction, as no navy in 2023 can call itself a serious navy without carrier strike groups. But the cut to the escort fleet has definitely been felt. It is due to increase in number in the 2030s (8x t26, 5x t31 and 5x t32 frigates being made), but we need those YESTERDAY...2030s is too far away.
I also believe we should at least be doubling the number of OPVs. The UK has overseas territories in the Caribbean, Mediterranean, South Atlantic and Indian Ocean...there should be a permanent OPV presence at each of these territories.
And why would the people in the Caribbean want that. The British empire is over
@@alexplummer6397 because they get rather unfortunate things like tropical cyclones, drug smugglers etc and it might be nice for them to have some help.
Oh and Britain has security commitments to several islands in the Caribbean who fall under our overseas territories or as members of the commonwealth.
@@Kav. are you aware of the British resentment in the Caribbean? Be honest these islands were all slaves islands ruled by Britain and other colonial powers. Help is very suspicious considering we can’t drill and refine our own resources without giving BP a huge cut. We only like cricket because we can take swings at them lol
Good effort to try justify it but sadly we know the truth.outside of SF the military is showboat to the libral way of things
@@alexplummer6397 very true but it's also because of the UK that they are freed from slavery sadly that's been lost from the school books
The problem for the English people is they think they are on the same league as the big boys (China, US, Russia or even the next big countries such as Germany, Japan, etc)
Its funny seeing them get pissed off that another country is willing to stick it up to them after violating international law. Britain isnt the top dog anymore, it cant bully other nations as easily
big boys....Russia lmfao.
Germany doesnt have a military anymore and Japan cant deploy globally
If you alter your course 360 doesnt that mean you are still going in a straight line
No, 360 is north
@@panik735 Thanks for that. Bearing 360.👍
I was not going to alter my course
Who is this dude speaking tho 😂new microphone or different host ?
Your not funny grandad.
Never understood why Montrose didnt shoot down the helicopter?
I cannot begin to imagine how fkn angry I'd be to be a merchant seaman at my post in the bowls of some behemoth; to be confronted by a fully armed Commando boarding party
I see. I hope the United Kingdom of Great Britain does not forget that it has friends and allies very close by. Norway is your biggest fanboy, Sweden feels generally friendly towards you and also wants to honor Norways intentions and wishes. I also know we have Denmark supporting us in this matter. (våga inte säga emot mig i det här, danskjävlar
Leaving the EU was never due to anti European sentiment.
I hope perhaps that we can all work economically, politically, and militarilaliy towards common goals as EQUALS.
🇬🇧🇸🇯🇸🇪🇩🇰🇫🇮
Agree no way was it to do with any type of European resentment, it was about controlling, and taking back our own borders and living to our own rules and not being dictated to, absolutely nothing to to with our european cousins especially our nordic brethrens who we shall always be fond of and share a common ancient bond with?, thank you for your kind words my Norwegian brother, its rare these days for any nation to be saying anything nice about brits anymore..wassail and untill we meet in the mead hall of valhalla!! and to those that dont like us, "BAG AN NOZ", 👍
👍
Think that rope gets closer and closer to the deck with each dispatch there? That first bloke had a pretty ‘warm’ descent at that height! Bet his forearms were almost as hot as his gloves at the bottom of the rope 😂
The cost of harassing iranian trade to syria is too high.
Were the British legally allowed to seize the tanker? Wouldn't it have been better to track it until its intentions were known near Syria?
are they being sued?
Yes, because it actually ended up going to Syria anyway. Iran lied and turned off transmitters. It was tracked by satellite at Syria. So yes, it was good legal.
Oh how the mighty have fallen. The royal navy is but a shell of its former self
Kharg Island huh? 🤨🤔
'Hostage Diplomacy'
how about saudi fotces to help in inter bational waters of aden
Yet another balls up because of budget cuts:)
Not like I was expecting this to not be a biased video against Iran, but hey what can I say, right?🤣.
I'm just glad that Iran was able to do the tit for the tat that the UK did.
"International laws for thee but not for mee!, when I want anything done I can just modify the so called 'international laws' to make sure I can get it"
Ah the Grey Swan :)
Didn’t know what hit them when they meat with the SAS well done
How come they didnt ask any other allied nations for help ? Gotta be a ton of friendly warships in that region
Why should other nations fight Britain's war?
Seems like the UK seized their tanker first. Fuck around find out.
@@agoodman1776cos Britain was fighting theirs. The UK enforced EU, not British, sanctions
Brits are cowards needing the USA help all the time lolololololol
Given how they act and the threats they make in the Persian Gulf I'm very surprised that Iran hasn't subjected to Operation Praying Mantis 2. It seems they forgot the lesson of the first one and need a refresher course.
Lmao you try that shit let's see how that goes this time.
@@BossaliniFiveO It'll go about like how it went the last time. With most of the Iranian Navy as fish habitats by the end of the first day.
@@demonplague87 Last time Iran didn't have the anti missile batteries it has now. Royal Navy would be made into some good coral reefs down there.
@@thetaggman5311except it won't. The Iranians know it, which is why they always push as far as they can, but never too far
Love how the brits make threats everywhere knowing full well that nobody takes them seriously. Its just that the UK will cry to the USA for help yet again. The brits are like that chihuahua dog that constantly barks at everyone passing by while having that german shepard (USA) standing behind him !!! lolololololol
So they want the tanker to do a circle? Lol
Its terrible that we are wasting so much money in the UK dealing with what ever washes up on our shores, rather than spending on defense to make sure Pariah sates are kept in check
Another reason why we need to expand the Royal Navy. We have too few MSCs (Major Surface Combatants) These situations would be completely avoidable if we had a significantly greater number of hulls and active MSCs. It's not good enough to be putting solitary ships like HMS _Montrose_ (which by the way, has recently been withdrawn from service, after a long service history) in such risk.
These Iranian opportunists were acting like they'd 'defeated' the Royal Navy. If it came down to an actual fight we know the Royal Navy would win. It's just typical brinkmanship and aggro from the Iranians. They burn a British flag from time to time and puff up their chest in the Persian Gulf. Didn't they also build a fake carrier which sank? The British government are a disgrace.
@@TheBritishEmpire920 The entire _Duke_-class is nearing it's end of service. HMS _Montrose_ was recently decommissioned herself. Those Type 23 or _Duke_-class still operating, won't be forever. The Type 26 _City_-class and Type 31 _Inspiration_-class are replacing them, but they aren't being built fast enough.
@@TheBritishEmpire920 i) Thank you for your service (I know that's kind of an American thing to say, but wow, what can I say, thank you for serving our country) I'm not American, I'm British and English, but I'm saying it's more like something the Americans say, but in this case, fearing sounding patronising, I wanted to just say thank you anyway. Honestly, well done and what a great thing you're doing for the UK.
ii) I totally agree about that, not just because it is sensible and safer for there to be more British ships out there (and let's face it, like Britain or not, a lot of other countries would have to admit it would make their own shipping safer, and make their own contractors and civilian crews feel better, no matter what they'll actually admit to us out loud - they'd be like 'thankfully the British are out here' deep down, even if they wouldn't say it; and don't get me wrong, a lot would as well inversely)
It's also practical due to less sea stresses on the hulls. One hull being worked that hard is going to be strained more than it should be, and this ages the ship faster. Sort of like fighter jets in Taiwan being deliberately trolled by China by having them sortie to intercept their illegal airspace incursions on a literally daily basis. It ages their airframes faster. That is the point, besides aggravating the West and Taiwan, and testing reaction times (though in the long-run, all that will do is ensure many Chinese pilots will be lost in that exchange, due to how well-versed the Taiwanese had become at doing that; so the trade off is surely, mostly meant to just be a geopolitical flex and a shortening of the service spans of the actual aircraft themselves, on a mechanical and engineering level)
The more British ships that can share the burden in one operational area, the lighter the strain on each hull while doing twice, thrice or four times as much. It's typical of the British government to ignore such realities. It's why we should have a third carrier, but are struggling to man two without denuding the rest of the fleet. The bottom line, is that the entire RN needs a) a lot more money b) a lot more personnel without that rate of money increases slowing (so, even more money on top as it expands; that's just how it is) When they are building £18.8 Billion train lines which just go through London (London Crossrail) and when they are spending ~£108 Billion on HS2 railways and terminals, in an even bigger railway project, then I'm not really going to cry about billions more being spent on the RN when it should be!
iii) Sadly the British government is still the biggest and most persistent foe of RN warships. They deign to be saving the taxpayer money while robbing everyone blind anyway, and lining their own pockets for silly things. I'd much rather have the RN expanded properly _without_ losing quality, no matter the price. The sad thing is, the attitude of the general public is basically dogpoo at this point due to being messed around so long by the government and HMRC.
@@TheBritishEmpire920 P. S. - by which I mean, the lack of public awareness about the naval requirements of the UK, is partly due to the apathy and ignorance which comes through a lifetime of the government and lying politicians, further jading the general public. There'd be more patriots if there was less political corruption; hence more money and general knowledge in the public, about the needs of the RN. I'm convinced that, no matter how corrupt, stupid or indolent the government itself is, there is also a level of it coming from the oblivious general public whom are largely too browbeaten by the greedy taxman and the lying politician, about the true nature of Britain's geopolitical reality.
Most people, for instance, will be blissfully unaware that for the past 65-70 years, there have been Russian nuclear weapons pointed in our direction, allocated to different cities. Ours (and more so America's) will of course be pointed right back at theirs. Even if someone is sensible enough to acknowledge that is true, some will of course, for pragmatic and sanity based reasons, prefer not to think about it. But it's true regardless of that.
Every single major city in the world probably has someone's nuclear stockpile arsenal pointed at it in some way, shape or form. And of course, that is just how these things are. But it's rarely acknowledged (for obvious reasons, because it's f'ing grim af) so most people won't even realise. Yet I remind myself from time to time, that will be the case. Perhaps that is macabre but it is food for thought. It's also an unavoidable reality of living in the post-Atomic Age world.
@@TheBritishEmpire920 Although I hasten to add, a big part of why the average Joe Bloggs general public member doesn't care about our geopolitical standing or the strategic realities of our predicament, is that they will be fully-consumed by materialism and day to day life. Most people are either too busy, too selfish or too vain to care. And that is how it is sadly in 2023.
@@TheBritishEmpire920 I think they called - was it 2021 - the 'Year of the Royal Navy'. Lots of additional funding. Even so, I think you'll agree it's still just not enough. The extra 5 Billion PM Sunak declared for Defence in the newer budget, is still just going on AUKUS anyway. I mean sure that's great for the submarine service but that is still just initial investment. There'll be £3 Billion on R+D and £2 Billion on buying long lead components or something like that. So that increase got swallowed up by that and overall increases per year, planned to carry on until at least 2027 I think, to take spending to 2.5% GDP, is still heavily cancelled out by inflation rates rising. So in real terms, the actual increase last year for example, wasn't 5 billion, but 1 billion.
Does Gibraltar owns the strate?
If EU wanna sanction some state, it is free to do so but it shouldn't impose it on other states' relationships with the sanctioned state.
Does Iran own the Strait of Hormuz?
@@AB-mw8oztit for that
@@evilleader1991 not really. Iran sailed into Omani waters to hijack a commercial ship. Violating several rules of international law
@@AB-mw8oz Seems to me that the British started the incident.
Sooo the Syrians got to refine that oil in the end did they? despite the EU sanctions?
Remember when merchant ships were armed?
Were there no US ships in the area to help?
The U.S has this canny little thing, where it only protects any British interest, if it also serves the U.S. It's like best friends, where only one chooses what happens every day.
@@stevenmacdonald9619 I mean it isn't our business to protect other nations interests.
@@stevenmacdonald9619Or maybe the US is busy protecting US ships transiting the Persian Gulf?
@@kutter_ttl6786 The world's largest navy?
@@agoodman1776 I don´t know the diplomatic background to this incident, but I´m pretty sure you fellas were friendly with neither Syria nor Iran at the time
RIP MONTROSE 🙏
So instead of transfering oil that take 1-2 week accros the land. They will take the sea route that takes month all around the world?
And nobody think that is shady asf?
I'm English and proud to be,but hell our government had no right to do this,I cant blame the others to start to kick off,our empire idling gone
Much respect for seeing it both ways
Don't like the fact we can just take over a foreign ship. Not a fan of that
Might not need that many ships if "international law" was not what you deemed on a day to day basis. Quit stealing others ships, then others may not steal yours in return. Pretty simple.
What do you expect with the tory penny plnchers in charge
Tragic to see what the country and it’s Navy have been reduced to now day’s. Royal Navy doesn’t even protect our borders from small boats so what hopes it got against Iran.
we did rule the sea once.
I must be the only Brit who doesn't consider this an embarrassing incident. The Iranians backed down when HMS Montrose was present, and only acted when no vessels were in the area. You can't really prevent that without overehelming force. In future the UK can just deploy more Type 31/32s or the River Class patrol vessels. No need to overreact
The Royal Navy used to have a good name. Are they trying to tarnish their reputation, or is it already too late?
How far the British military has fallen.
God save the KING!! 🍵
Yes God save the rightful King William V
@@stephenchappell7512 🤔
@@stephenwalsh1332triumph
Prince Charles is an illegitimate King
due to his involvement with the WEF
We did an amazing job we were always going to be too late for the stena impero we were caught between 2 tankers. But there were no British personnel on the stena so although we were threaders on board initially at least there were no British on board. Not really sure the author knows what he is talking about thoughh I never saw him on Montrose
Why would you see the author on the Montrose? Shouldn't matter what thr nationality of the crew is either, it was a British owned ship and what we are meant to protect
Completely agree but the emotions that the crew went through during this period are not captured here and the first merchant we were in time for, but we were always going to be too late for the second one. But the whole incident was in response to Grace 1. Because there were no British onboard the crew were always in no danger
I want to know where the rest of the EU was with their battleships? (Nowhere to be seen as per usual)
The EU is somewhere between a Ponzi scheme and a really bad joke.
And why exactly would they be responsible for bailing Britain out of the consequences for their meddling? The handling of the MV Grace 1 wasn't exactly elegant or lawful. And besides. There probably just weren't any other European warships in the vicinity. Because they would have likely rendered at least some kind of assistance. But I'm not fussed. You can float off into the Atlantic if you want to blame every issue in the world on the other Europeans. :)
@@PrivateMemoThe Lisbon Treaty promised collective security. That's why the EU should have helped.
@@timothydexter4027 The Lisbon Treaty doesn't promise collective security for what is arguably piracy.
@@PrivateMemo You can ferry as much oil as you like to Syria then
And what did HMS Montrose get for her efforts, an early retirement! The Royal Navy has retired 2 type 23 frigates to save money so now the RN has 11 frigates and 6 destroyers, I was told that you need 3 warships to have 1 at sea, 1 at sea, 1 in refit and 1 preparing to go to sea to replace the 1 already at sea. We spend more money on defence than Japan yet take a minute to look at what Japan has in it’s armed forces! Something is seriously wrong with the MoD’s use of resources! They wasted 3.4 billion pounds on nimrod and then broke them up and spent another 3.4 billion pounds on P8’s just think what they could have brought with 3.4 billion pounds? MoD not fit for purpose!