Somali Pirates Seize Thai Vessel, 27 Crewmen

[Bagwan]

Just one thing . Churchill was directly responsible for saving England and most of the world from the Nazi war machine. Like he knew about the raid on Coventry , Coventry was raised to the ground , he knew because England had cracked the enigma code,If he had acted on the Air raid Germany would have known That England had cracked the code , Churchill saved thousands of lives because of his actions , What i am tying to say is You do not know the bigger picture about being solely responsible about Churchill's actions.

Please do learn to read and understand. What I stated is a matter of record.

Churchill had a reputation for meddling in Service decisions and affairs starting with the disastrous Dardanelles campaign in 1915. He was First Lord of the Admiralty at the time. As part of meeting the threat from Japan in 1941 it was planned to augment Naval Forces which included HMS Prince of Wales, the old battlecruiser HMS Repulse and the brand new carrier HMS Indefatigable. However the carrier ran aground in Jamaica during her working up to full efficiency period and was sent to the US for repair. This was probably a blessing since the aircraft that she carried were no match for the Japanese Zero's. The deployment of the ships was a decision made by Winston Churchill. He was intensely warned against it by the First Sea Lord, Sir Dudley Pound, and later by his friend, Field Marshal Jan Smuts, PM of South Africa, who prophesied the fate of the capital ships, when he addressed the crew of HMS Repulse just before she left Durban for Singapore.

Churchill was also part responsible for the debacle that was Crete. Churchill ordered supplies and reinforcements desperately needed elsewhere be dispatched to Greece to help in the defence against the invading Italians. His view was that it was a matter of honour to fulfill our obligations made under a support Treaty. When the Germans came to the Italians aid it was on his orders that Crete must be held at all costs although how this was to be done since the nearest air cover was based in Egypt is difficult to see. The RN lost many valuable ships in covering the Army's withdrawal from Crete.

There has been some criticism of the non-intervention of Churchill when Air Ministry politics driven by Sholto Douglas and the self seeking Trafford Leigh-Mallory ensured the removal of Dowding, Keith Park, Quintin Brand and Richard Saul the overall commander and 3 of the four group commanders of RAF Fighter Command. Some say that it was petty mindedness on Winston's part since Dowding and Park had refused to allocate more fighters to fight against the invading Germans as he had promised the French so that England and London in particular could be defended against the attacks that would surely come. The King had suggested that Dowding be promoted to Marshal of the Royal Air Force but Churchill demurred.

It is too fanciful by far to suggest that almost single handedly Churchill won the war. That is insulting to the memory of the thousands of British and Empire soldiers, sailors and airmen who lost their lives. Rememberance Day is not about glorifying Churchill but for the living to remember the dead and maimed and pay our respects to those who made such sacrifices so that we may be free. Do you suggest that the Russians who suffered far more greatly than others had little to do with the victory? America made a large contribution too once they realised that dealing with a Europe controlled by the Nazis would be no picnic. Even some of the French helped out as did all the occupied countries.

That said, there is no doubt that he was an inspirational and forceful leader. He embodied the pugnaciousness of the British Bulldog so that in our minds the prospect of us losing was never part of our senses. I will never forget the snarl in his voice when he described Hitler as 'a guttersnipe'. His use of the full range of English language and its vocabulary was unsurpassed and those Churchillian tones particularly heart warming. I support the view that he was the "Englishman of the Century" but let us not forget that he was imperfect, just as we all are.

You are impertinent in the extreme regarding my knowledge regarding WW2. I was there growing up surrounded by mayhem and I will never forget school lessons in an air raid shelter. I am a survivor of the London Blitz and remember the terror of my mother as we endured the bombs, the V1's and the horrific V2's, and her despair of her being unable to cater to her families needs because of food and other shortages. As a very young lad I joined the Royal Navy and served with many who had tales to tell. One was a survivor from the sinking of HMS Prince of Wales and had spent the rest of the war as a prisoner of the Japanese. He was in a sorry physical shape and still suffered from nightmares, unable to talk about his experiences. One of my C.O.'s had, as a young Commander, been one of Admiral Cunningham's famous band of destroyer captains engaged on Malta convoys and raids against North African ports. He sported a DSO, DSC and bar, and had been awarded medals for heroic service by the Polish and Greek Governments. Another C.O. who I was closely associated with as his coxswain was one of only two of the gallant band of aviators, who in their 'Stringbags' inflicted such a heavy defeat on the Italians at Taranto, who survived the war.

Since it is a subject of interest to me my bookcase holds many books on the subject of WW2 and I have spent long hours in the War Museum in Lambeth, and scanning the Navy List editions from 1934 onwards and issues of the London Gazette in Birmingham's excellent public library. I am a member of some computer forums about Naval ships of all nations and naval actions from Jutland onwards. The U Boat forum has a great deal of information and is of special interest.

What you are trying to say is way, way off beam and I resent any implication that I am spouting of things that I know nothing of.

[mkawish]

Bagwan

You most definitely earn my highest esteem and adulation.

Wishing you and yours a very happy new year.

I surely do not know and can not categorically tell just how many of the TV members are

long term residents (Farang) in Thailand.

As far as I know, there are also a large percentage of Thaivisa members posting from all over the globe.

Just one thing . Churchill was directly responsible for saving England and most of the world from the Nazi war machine. Like he knew about the raid on Coventry , Coventry was raised to the ground , he knew because England had cracked the enigma code,If he had acted on the Air raid Germany would have known That England had cracked the code , Churchill saved thousands of lives because of his actions , What i am tying to say is You do not know the bigger picture about being solely responsible about Churchill's actions.

Please do learn to read and understand. What I stated is a matter of record.

Churchill had a reputation for meddling in Service decisions and affairs starting with the disastrous Dardanelles campaign in 1915. He was First Lord of the Admiralty at the time. As part of meeting the threat from Japan in 1941 it was planned to augment Naval Forces which included HMS Prince of Wales, the old battlecruiser HMS Repulse and the brand new carrier HMS Indefatigable. However the carrier ran aground in Jamaica during her working up to full efficiency period and was sent to the US for repair. This was probably a blessing since the aircraft that she carried were no match for the Japanese Zero's. The deployment of the ships was a decision made by Winston Churchill. He was intensely warned against it by the First Sea Lord, Sir Dudley Pound, and later by his friend, Field Marshal Jan Smuts, PM of South Africa, who prophesied the fate of the capital ships, when he addressed the crew of HMS Repulse just before she left Durban for Singapore.

Churchill was also part responsible for the debacle that was Crete. Churchill ordered supplies and reinforcements desperately needed elsewhere be dispatched to Greece to help in the defence against the invading Italians. His view was that it was a matter of honour to fulfill our obligations made under a support Treaty. When the Germans came to the Italians aid it was on his orders that Crete must be held at all costs although how this was to be done since the nearest air cover was based in Egypt is difficult to see. The RN lost many valuable ships in covering the Army's withdrawal from Crete.

There has been some criticism of the non-intervention of Churchill when Air Ministry politics driven by Sholto Douglas and the self seeking Trafford Leigh-Mallory ensured the removal of Dowding, Keith Park, Quintin Brand and Richard Saul the overall commander and 3 of the four group commanders of RAF Fighter Command. Some say that it was petty mindedness on Winston's part since Dowding and Park had refused to allocate more fighters to fight against the invading Germans as he had promised the French so that England and London in particular could be defended against the attacks that would surely come. The King had suggested that Dowding be promoted to Marshal of the Royal Air Force but Churchill demurred.

It is too fanciful by far to suggest that almost single handedly Churchill won the war. That is insulting to the memory of the thousands of British and Empire soldiers, sailors and airmen who lost their lives. Rememberance Day is not about glorifying Churchill but for the living to remember the dead and maimed and pay our respects to those who made such sacrifices so that we may be free. Do you suggest that the Russians who suffered far more greatly than others had little to do with the victory? America made a large contribution too once they realised that dealing with a Europe controlled by the Nazis would be no picnic. Even some of the French helped out as did all the occupied countries.

That said, there is no doubt that he was an inspirational and forceful leader. He embodied the pugnaciousness of the British Bulldog so that in our minds the prospect of us losing was never part of our senses. I will never forget the snarl in his voice when he described Hitler as 'a guttersnipe'. His use of the full range of English language and its vocabulary was unsurpassed and those Churchillian tones particularly heart warming. I support the view that he was the "Englishman of the Century" but let us not forget that he was imperfect, just as we all are.

You are impertinent in the extreme regarding my knowledge regarding WW2. I was there growing up surrounded by mayhem and I will never forget school lessons in an air raid shelter. I am a survivor of the London Blitz and remember the terror of my mother as we endured the bombs, the V1's and the horrific V2's, and her despair of her being unable to cater to her families needs because of food and other shortages. As a very young lad I joined the Royal Navy and served with many who had tales to tell. One was a survivor from the sinking of HMS Prince of Wales and had spent the rest of the war as a prisoner of the Japanese. He was in a sorry physical shape and still suffered from nightmares, unable to talk about his experiences. One of my C.O.'s had, as a young Commander, been one of Admiral Cunningham's famous band of destroyer captains engaged on Malta convoys and raids against North African ports. He sported a DSO, DSC and bar, and had been awarded medals for heroic service by the Polish and Greek Governments. Another C.O. who I was closely associated with as his coxswain was one of only two of the gallant band of aviators, who in their 'Stringbags' inflicted such a heavy defeat on the Italians at Taranto, who survived the war.

Since it is a subject of interest to me my bookcase holds many books on the subject of WW2 and I have spent long hours in the War Museum in Lambeth, and scanning the Navy List editions from 1934 onwards and issues of the London Gazette in Birmingham's excellent public library. I am a member of some computer forums about Naval ships of all nations and naval actions from Jutland onwards. The U Boat forum has a great deal of information and is of special interest.

What you are trying to say is way, way off beam and I resent any implication that I am spouting of things that I know nothing of.

[bangon04]

Sent in the aircraft carrier....thailand has one isn't it..i remember during the Shin Corp saga thailand threatened to send the aircraft carrier to Singapore...ha ha ha..

Would be very bad PR if the pirates seized this aircraft carrier too....