I'm reading some posts that suggest we might torpedo any Argentine ships that entered the territorial waters belonging to the Falklands and all I can say is.. 'Would we?'
Do we honestly believe that the commanding officer of one of Her Majesty's warships would fire upon a foreign flagged vessel without authorisation from on high?
I have NO idea what any ROE may or may not instruct but to fire a torpedo at an unarmed ship without any declaration of war is possibly a step too far. Would those rules be so black and white that the commanding officer has a clear duty to fire, or would they be wishy washy and leave the final act down to the discretion of that poor soul? Would the ship definitely be carrying an invading force or could it be a group of school children studying sea-life, fishing and the history of those islands??
Are we back to the 12 mile territorial waters? From experience it gets embarrassing when a ship refuses to stop or turn away from their port of destination and getting authorisation to act is not going to happen straight away and that 12 miles is going to be covered way before the decision goes all the way up the chain of command.
My thoughts are if you want to see how indecisive our politicians are then just put two types of toilet paper in their private ablutions.... 'Soft or smooth?'... 'Smooth or soft?'
By the time any decision is made that ship will have entered port, unloaded its cargo and no doubt returned from whence it came.
We are all good kids sat in front of our computers saying how we should do one thing or the other but I am not so convinced the World is so black and white.
Air cover
If we are being honest and I suggest we should not be, so being totally dishonest.... On a really bad day when aircraft are being serviced and those due to fly suddenly develop problems how many typhoons could we expect to put up to defend the islands? Aircraft breakdown, aircraft need servicing and perish the thought we also get bad weather.
I am in the corner that believes there will be no conflict this week, this month and maybe not for the next six months, but it is a fool that really believes there will be no conflict within our lifetime!!
