Careful Thought

Battle of the Nile - 1798
Location: Aboukhir Bay, Egypt

On this date in 1798, a British fleet of 14 ships of the line and one sloop under Rear-Admiral Horatio Nelson engaged a French fleet of 14 ships of the line, 4 frigates, and some smaller vessels under Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys D’Aigalliers anchored in defensive positions in Aboukhir Bay.

Despite the French preparations, the British fleet was able to cut the French line at one end, and thus engage from both sides. The result was a stunning victory for the British, destroying 3 French ships of the line and 2 frigates, and capturing 9 ships of the line. This defeat was a blow from which Napoleon’s navy would never truly recover.

The Battle of the Nile, August 1st, 1798 by Luny Thomas

Technorati Tags: Battle of the Nile, history

Tags: Battle of the Nile, history

The webcams at the Panama Canal occasionally catch some interesting critters, and with the addition of a hi-res cam at the Miraflores lock you can get an even better view of things.  This morning there’s a submarine transiting the canal.  Any idea whose?

If you can’t get a picture, click the Get Java link at the bottom of the webcam page, install it and then reload the page.

Technorati Tags: military, panama canal, submarines, webcam

Tags: military, panama canal, submarines, webcam

Besides St Valentine’s Day, today is the 211th anniversary of the Battle of Cape St. Vincent, in which the British navy under Admiral Sir John Jervis (later Earl St. Vincent) thrashed the pesky Spaniards.  From a page created by St Vincent College, Gosport, UK:

At the battle [Jervis] led a squadron of 15 sail against a numerically far superior Spanish fleet. He fell on them off the southern coast of Portugal as they were running for Cadiz and divided their line into two parts. From his flagship, HMS Victory he ordered his ships to tack in succession and prevent the gap from being closed. Nelson, last but two in the line, saw that this manouevre would not be completed in time and made a quick decision to turn his ship, HMS Captain into the gap. He took on seven Spanish ships, including the Santissima Trinidad, the largest ship in the world and two other ships, the San Nicolas and San Josef. Through a hail of pistol and musket fire he led boarding parties onto both and captured both.

By nightfall four ships had been taken and ten others crippled. Admiral Jervis was generous in his praise of Nelson who was knighted (KB). Commodore Nelson was to fly his flag as Rear Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson - the promotion had been approved before the battle but Nelson did not hear of it until after St. Vincent.

The painting is Thomas Luny’s Engagement Between Sir George Rodney and the Spanish Squadron.  (Actually, the full title is Engagement Between Sir George Brydges Rodney and the Spanish Squadron, Commanded by Don Juan de Langara, Near Cape St. Vincent, January 16, 1780), painted in 1782.

HMS Bienfaisant [pictured left foreground], captained by J. MacBride, having got up with the Spanish ship San Domingo, engaged her with such vigor that she blew up and every man perished.

Technorati Tags: Admiral Sir John Jervis, Battle of St Vincent, Nelson, San Nicolas, Thomas Luny

Tags: Admiral Sir John Jervis, Battle of St Vincent, Nelson, San Nicolas, Thomas Luny

(HT: Tim and Dillon Aero)

Technorati Tags: Dillon Aero, highlight reel, miniguns

Tags: Dillon Aero, highlight reel, miniguns

Today marks the 39th anniversary of the Battle of Khe Sanh.  Khe Sanh was Marine base in northern South Vietnam, near the demilitarized zone with North Vietnam.  Throughout the latter part of 1967, the North Vietnamese PAVN army built up forces near the camp.  Once the battle commenced, the base was under nearly constant enemy artillery attack for 77 days.  The US Air Force responded with a massive aerial bombardment of the area (Operation Niagara).   In March 1968, a relief force (Operation Pegasus) was launched by combined Marine/Army/South Vietnamese troops that eventually succeeded in reaching the base.

Find a Vietnam veteran today and thank him for his service.

Technorati Tags: Khe Sanh, vietnam

Tags: Khe Sanh, vietnam

How many times in recent history has the armed military of a foreign nation crossed our borders without invitation?  According to this report, there have been at least 29 incursions by the Mexican military during the fiscal year between October 2005 to October 2006.

From FoxNews:

Border Patrol Confirms 29 Incursions by Mexican Officials Into U.S.
MEXICO CITY —  The U.S. Border Patrol confirmed 29 recorded incursions into the U.S. by Mexican military or other government agents in the last 12 months, according to a report made public Wednesday by a watchdog group.

Judicial Watch, a conservative, U.S.-based public interest group, said in a news release that Mexican officials were armed in 17 of the 29 incursions during the fiscal year between October 2005 to October 2006.

The group obtained the information through a request under the Freedom of Information Act. The report includes a description of a January 2006 confrontation between Texas officials and several armed men in military uniforms who were seen in a military Humvee near Fort Hancock, Texas. No shots were fired and the suspects fled back into Mexico.

Mexican authorities denied that any Mexican soldiers were involved but the confrontation heightened already tense relations between the U.S. and Mexico over border enforcement.

There were 18 confirmed incursions in fiscal year 2005 and 23 in fiscal year 2004, according to the U.S. Border Patrol reports, which are posted on Judicial Watch’s Web site. The most confirmed incursions were 2001, with 43.

Continue reading “More Reasons to Build the Border Fence”

Technorati Tags: border security, Mexico

Tags: border security, Mexico

The EU’s European Court of Justice has officially emasculated the the Nordic Battle Group.  The heraldic emblem of the mechanized infantry group (made up of soldiery from the vassal states of Sweden, Finland, Norway, Estonia and Ireland) showed a rampant lion, which was, erm, obviously male. 

From the Swedish ‘The Local‘:

The armed forces agreed to emasculate the lion after a group of women from the rapid reaction force lodged a complaint to the European Court of Justice, Göteborgs-Posten reports.

But although the army was eventually happy to make the changes in the interests of gender equality, the artist who designed the insignia was less than pleased.

“A heraldic lion is a powerful and stately figure with its genitalia intact and I cannot approve an edited image,” Vladimir A Sagerlund from the National Archives told Göteborgs-Posten.

Sagerlund blasted the army for making changes to the coat of arms without his permission.  “The army lacks knowledge about heraldry. Once upon a time coats of arms containing lions without genitalia were given to those who betrayed the Crown,” said Sagerlund.

But the castrated lion has already won the day and is now worn on the arms of all soldiers in the battle group’s Swedish battalions.

Sometimes the words speak for themselves.

(HT: Dustbury)

Technorati Tags: heraldry, Nordic Battle Group

Tags: heraldry, Nordic Battle Group

Here is a recently declassified Navy photo taken in July 1942 aboard the USS Long Island.  Apparently they didn’t know how to handle the whole time-space temporal anomaly transwarp shift event at the time.

(HT: Dark Roasted Blend)

Technorati Tags: USS Long Island, x-wing

Tags: USS Long Island, x-wing

This is a bit dated, but back at Thanksgiving, the Chinese refused the USS Kitty Hawk Carrier Task Force (CTF) access to Hong Kong, in violation of hundreds of years of naval tradition.  Later they relented and allowed the CTF into port.

Here’s what Adm. Keating, Commander, U.S. Pacific Command, had to say:

“This is, kind of, an unwritten law amongst seamen, that if someone is in need, regardless of genus, phylum or species, you let them come in; you give them safe harbor,” Keating said. “Jimmy Buffett has songs about it, for crying out loud.”

Technorati Tags: ADM Keating, Chinese, Hong Kong, Jimmy Buffett, USS Kitty Hawk

Tags: ADM Keating, Chinese, Hong Kong, Jimmy Buffett, USS Kitty Hawk

Technorati Tags: C-17, runway maintenance

Tags: C-17, runway maintenance