With something of an history and the rise of the Japanese Imperial Navy, 1867 - 1947 built along the lines of Britain's Royal Navy. The Japanese fleet scored remarkable victories over her enemies in the Sino - Japanese War of 1894 - 95 and the Russo - Japanese war of 1904 - 05. Followed by the complete destruction of her maritime fleet against the allies in the Second World War.
Her new fleet of warships is built under the rules of the Japanese Self - Defence Force which allows no operations of a offensive nature, by constitution and public opinion. Still her ships can make up a sizable force which would hold some force if ever called into action.
Perhaps somewhat surprisingly there are as many as seventeen attack and patrol submarines and more to be added, four large helicopter support ships, eight guided missile destroyers as many as eighteen other destroyers and twelve frigates, with perhaps another sixty - plus support ships. As well as these a number of new and modern fighting ships planned and in production.
Japan has recently stepped up production of Military Naval vessels to bolster her East Chinese Fleet, springing from one 5000 Ton Class Destroyers a year, to two 3000 ton Class ships per year. Aiming for an eventual compliment of eight of the new ships.
Recently, or more often than we are told, the UK had to "scramble" jet fighters to "see off" Russian long range military aircraft, from entering home airspace. We are told this is "aggression" and Russia is keen to "extend her influence!"
But in future, when such events occur again, why not invite them to land at a designated airbase and even offer them a free re-fuel? After all we're not at war, in fact we've probably got a lot in common and besides there are already quite a few Russian citizens living in the UK.
Princess Charlotte, the two yer old daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge has this week, attended her first day at the nearby Wilcock's Nursery School in London. The above photograph was taken by her mother on the steps of Kensington Palace before Charlotte, was taken to Wilcock's to begin her first day at the highly rated school.
HMS Ocean, Flagship, pride of the fleet, etc. Is very likely to be sold in a deal with Brazil, for an estimated £84million. Though it seems people in some quarters are unhappy with the decision to sell so soon (four years) after a major overhaul which cost an estimated £65million. The Royal Navy's current Flagship, will be decommissioned later this year and the money to be used to finance other defence projects.
The ship, one of three, built in 1995 as Helicopter Support Ships, though later adapted to carry the Harrier Jump Jet, took part in the Iraq War of 2003 and the Libyan campaign of 2013. It is argued the sale of the ship will greatly reduce the navy's capability of making any form of amphibious assault, should the need ever arise. At the same time all Britain's armed forces are suffering from an extreme case of under funding and the reduction of equipment and re-employment of manpower must be taken into consideration as part of the future military focus.
Also there is a certain need to take the age of the vessel into consideration and her admirable service record, also our good relations with Brazil as a future potential Allie. Also Britain will soon bolster her commitments with the arrival of the Queen Elizabeth Class Aircraft Carriers and the new planned frigates.
A few years ago, I was asked to help someone re-write their Curriculum Vitae, in which I noted he had happily described himself as being a member of a Gun Club, further down he said he was; "personally in touch with God" and finally, he hoped to one day; "to change the world for the better!"
This one was easy to change, though nothing could be done for his certain other personality disorders. And there were many others, whom just needed a few simple changes to their script, to help them in their intended career directions. The ones I found the most amusing or just downright disturbing, were and are the simple and extreme fabricators, who ended up believing their own tall tales. These are genuine personality disorders in overdrive; the man who had some past working in the Air Space Industry, job title, "pipe fitter" it later turned out he'd really been running an international airline! Also a certain woman whom is still working in fashion as a company director and has been doing such for the past thirty years, which covers the period when she was a secretary even before she was sleeping with her employer! Next a very interesting character who worked on a car production line, but had since progressed in another field and as the years went by, he reveled to me the obvious he had actually been ruining British Leyland? And finally, although others spring readily to mind, there is a classic case of the young woman, still a friend incidentally, whom had some experience as a legal secretary, and then through various job related practices, had become a Director and Lawyer.
My part in their rise to power, well I just filled in the forms, "I was only following orders!"
Tis the time of year, when I'm seeking gainful employment, so I applied for a job at my local M&S Their Manager told me there was nothing available, except they were looking for someone to be Santa, in their Grotto and as I was a little on the fat side and fat people are always jolly, she thought I would be ideal and perhaps I might like to apply for the job?
Feeling a little annoyed, I said; "look lady, I may well be fat but I certainly ain't jolly!"
She added; "I'll give you a hundred pounds a day, cash in hand and free use of our staff canteen!"
To which I could only reply; "Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas Everyone, Merry Christmas!"
Probably the first guided anti-ship missile deployed by the Nazi's in WW2 and commonly referred to as the Fritz X. Although the information relating to this weapon as always been available, it's only recently the true destructive power of this weapon is coming to light. With armour piercing capabilities, it was designed to be deployed by the Luftwaffe against larger and heavily armored targets such as main battle fleet ships.
Recognizing the difficulty of being able to hit a moving target with a conventional bomb without precision bombing, the Fritz X evolved from a fairly standard bomb, by the edition of stabilizing wings, a boxed tail and a flight control system. The weapon could only be launched from a height of about 13000 feet and had a range of about 3 miles. The first version of the weapon was controlled by a radio operator upon the launch craft usually a Dornier 217 aircraft and the operator had to maintain site of the weapon and the target, at all times.
On 9 September 1943 With the Italian Armistice six German aircraft armed with the Fritz X set out to intercept the Italian Fleet, bound for Tunisia. The Italian Battleship Roma and flagship of the fleet, received two direct hits from the missiles and promptly sank with the explosion of her magazine, killing 1393 men and Admiral Carlo Bergamini. Also her sister ship The Italia was badly damaged, but managed to reach port.
On September 11 1943 during the allied invasion of Salerno, the USS Savanna, also received a direct hit from a Fritz X killing 197 crew and putting the ship out of action for around eight months. Also The Royal Navy ship HMS Uganda was hit by a Fritz X but survived when the bomb passed through the ship's seven decks but exploded in the water beneath, killing sixteen crew. There were also two other US Naval ships hit at Salerno, but it's uncertain if they were struck by the Fritz X
Also at Salerno The British Battleship HMS Warspite was struck by two Fritz X The first penetrating six decks without major damage, the second missing but holing the ship below the waterline, total losses being nine crew killed and the ship being out of action for 9 months, but able to return to action in time for Operation Overlord. There were two other ships damaged at Salerno, by the Fritz X the Dutch sloop Flores and the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Loyal.
If anything the early missile suffered from the flaw of being a guided bomb, where the launch plane had to remain close to the target for the bombardier to guide the projectile to it's target. Often allowing escort aircraft to locate the launch plane and shoot it down before the missile had reached it's target. This was overcome with the installation of a powered guidance system, yet before the weapon could be used to any meaningful affect, the allies had gained air superiority and had also gone someway to breaking the codes of the guidance systems.
