roger weale LSGC

On this day in 1982, South Georgia was recaptured by British Forces. Task Group Commander Capt. Brian Young sent back the following message to the UK: "Be pleased to inform Her Majesty that the White Ensign flies alongside the Union Jack in South Georgia". 🇫🇰🇬🇧 #Falklands44

Remembering today 23/4 Ben Casey 1st Casualty of Falklands War 1982, when Sea King ditched

@DrChrisParry It was said as a joke between Skippers. I was on her 82 John Coward told us that at reunions

@r_weale BRILLIANT sailing is correct. There was no suggestion that South Georgia was on the agenda at that stage though ... Also, BRILLIANT was never scheduled for South Georgia until SANTA FE emerged as a threat on 22 April.

Not quite true. ANTRIM and GLAMORGAN were in the Gibraltar exercise areas and he was told at 0400 on the morning of 2 April. He transferred to GLAMORGAN on 4 April.

@KemiBadenoch I believe Ghana was under Dutch & Portuguese rule until 1874 when Britain took over, post ban on slavery

Russia, China and Iran vote with others to demand trillions in reparations from UK taxpayers…and the Labour government abstain! Britain led the fight to end slavery. Why didn’t Starmer’s representative vote against this? Ignorance…or cowardice? We shouldn’t be paying for a crime we helped eradicate and still fight today.

@TheBritLad Looking well for a WW1 veteran

🚨THROWBACK: Senior Veteran in Waterloo, Portsmouth breaks his silence: “I’ve got news for you Starmer, I’m watching the veterans, I’ve seen all the private chats… WE NOT going to fight for STARMER, whilst our children at home are at risk” The British veterans have spoken.

@IBallantyn @lennylaw Was on HMS London when this happened rode the shock wave.

It is the maritime menace too often overlooked and under-estimated. Italian made bottom mines - rather powerful - seriously damaged the cruiser USS Princeton and helicopter carrier/MCM ship USS Tripoli (USNA pic of damage to latter here) on same day Feb 91. I believe @ShipWrektPod @TheAngry53586 have much of interest on Gulf War 91 at sea, inc infernal mines.

People assume mines are still big floaty things that ships bump into. Not any more they aren’t. They’re much smaller and normally sit on the bottom listening for a certain type of acoustic or magnetic signature before detonating. Being small, they can be laid by all sorts of ship

@DeborahMeaden In theRN I served in (up to 1996) 24 hours notice was the norm 4 hours for standby ships

Hear hear… thank you.

@LukePollard Hereditary peers are the safety valve on the Country, why would Labour want to rid itself of that I wonder

Yesterday Parliament passed the bill to get rid of hereditary peers from The House of Lords. I firmly believe you should not get a vote in Parliament because of the family you were born into. The Labour government is delivering our manifesto and changing Britain for the better.

@Brunte84 She also told Leach to send Ark Royal which had been scrapped, politicians have always not had a clue

Thatcher organised a fleet of 127 warships and cruise ships within 48hrs ready to sail to the Falkland Islands after Argentina invaded 🇬🇧 Starmer organised 1 ship to sail to Cyprus to protect the island but it won't be ready to sail until next week 🚣🏼‍♂️

@DrChrisParry HMS Brilliant sailed along with HMSM Spartan 28th March '82 way ahead

We were south of Morocco one day after the Args invaded.

@DrChrisParry Remember type 22's finished with main engines 4 or 24 hours notice was common, did a double engine change in Key West in 48 hours, FMG mobile no civilian company's involved, how times have changed

1 day's notice is very high readiness.

@bluenobby @RenownVet21 and that was on 28th March 82 before all the flag waving in Portsmouth

@RenownVet21 We were in Gib. Crew rounded up. Sailed that afternoon. Go as fast and as far South as you can until you run out of fuel and wait for the tanker to catch up. No fucking about.

Copied from a Falklands Vet So apparently, we can’t deploy one warship because it won’t be “ready until next week.” Next week. Let that sink in. Just for a bit of historical perspective… when Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands on 2 April 1982, Margaret Thatcher had the Royal Navy Task Force sailing the very next day, with the main fleet leaving Portsmouth on 5 April. Aircraft carriers, destroyers, frigates, submarines, troop ships, over 100 vessels mobilised and heading 8,000 miles south to defend British territory. No “give us a week.” No “waiting for readiness.” No “we’ll circle back once the paperwork’s done.” It was simply: You invaded British soil. The fleet sails. Fast-forward to today and we’re told we can’t even deploy one ship because it won’t be ready until next week. Meanwhile RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, a sovereign UK base, has thousands of British service personnel stationed there, operating from one of our most important strategic locations in the Middle East… and yet they appear to be getting very little visible backing from our spineless government when tensions rise. How exactly did we go from a country that could assemble and send a global naval task force in days… to one that apparently needs a diary slot and a committee meeting before we can move a single ship? For the veterans on here who served, or anyone who remembers what British military readiness used to look like, it’s hard not to shake your head. A nation that can’t respond quickly isn’t a deterrent. It’s an invitation. But don’t worry… apparently we’ll be ready next week. 🙄 For those of us that were serving at the time, we are embarrassed for the servicemen of today.......

@IBallantyn @ModernNavy @thetimes 1982 was at sea 4 days before Argentina invaded Falklands, 1990 was in Gulf before Kuwait. Now we might get a ship to protect Cyprus. So ashamed of my Country

@ModernNavy @thetimes Where to begin!? A story I have been telling since 1990, but it wasn't until 2010 and the Cameron-Osborne-Clegg cuts - even worse than the 2005/06 Labour cuts - that I feared the worse. And now, here we are!

How did Great Britain end up with the navy nobody wanted? “Nobody wrote down that you would have 6 Type 45s [destroyers] that never work, 2 aircraft carriers we can’t man because we don’t have enough people, and 7 frigates, many alongside" @thetimes removepaywall.com/search?url=htt…

Just hearing that my Skipper on HMS Brave has crossed the bar. RIP Vice Admiral Fabian Melbon Guernsey's former Lieutenant Governor, Sir Fabian Malbon,

@realDonaldTrump here's a picture of my ship HMS London along with British minesweepers in the Gulf 1991 around the time HMS Gloucester took out a Silkworm missile heading for US Wisconsin,

The number of NATO soldiers who died 'doing nothing' for America since 9/11: United Kingdom: 636 Canada: 160+ Italy: 86 Poland: 74 France: 90 (primarily Afghanistan) Spain: 46 Denmark: 50 Australia: 43 Germany: 62 Netherlands: 27 Estonia: 11 Norway: 10 Czech Republic: 15 #FuckTrump

457 British troops lost their lives in Afghanistan. Trump avoided military service 5 times. How dare he question their sacrifice. Farage and all the others still fawning over Trump should be ashamed.

Here are the SBS in Qala-i-jangi, just staying back a little, you know, back from the frontline.

#OnThisDay 1941 Battleship HMS BARHAM struck by 3 torpedoes from U-331 in the Mediterranean. She capsizes to port & sinks within 4 mins after a massive explosion. 862 men were killed from a ships company of over 1200. I cannot imagine the terror of those 4 minutes.