[lit-ideas] Re: YesMinisterology/Trafalgar
- From: Judith Evans <judithevans001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2010 22:49:25 +0100 (BST)
>...but the bloomin' U.S. navy has ten of the things...and more in >mothballs.
yes. But we aren't the same kind of world power. And this government is making
massive cuts overall, in fact, "defence" is somewhat protected.
Judy Evans, Cardiff
--- On Tue, 19/10/10, David Ritchie <ritchierd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
From: David Ritchie <ritchierd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: YesMinisterology/Trafalgar
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Tuesday, 19 October, 2010, 22:11
On Oct 19, 2010, at 1:26 PM, Judith Evans wrote:
The BBC paragraph's a bit muddled, isn't it?
Yes, David. 2 new aircraft carriers, one of which will be mothballed, no
planes. (No planes in time.) It seems building the carriers is less expensive
than cancelling them...
Reminds me of the "Yes Minister" episode in which there was a hospital that ran
very efficiently... because there were no patients.
Dining with the Lord Mayor of London (as one does when one is as triffically
important a person as one...is) I was once seated next to the admiral charged
with building these two new carriers. When he heard that I live in the U.S.,
he expressed what I can only call "carrier envy." He was sure that the British
carriers would be first rate...when they were built...possibly by the
French...but the bloomin' U.S. navy has ten of the things...and more in
mothballs.
If you run into him, do please say that I'd be happy to pop up to Bremerton,
which is not so far to drive, and put his name on one of the ones that seems to
be going spare. Who knows, they might throw in a couple of biplanes as a
lagniappe?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aircraft_carriers_of_the_United_States_Navy
While in a naval vein, I might mention I've been enjoying David Howarth on
Trafalgar, which has the great virtue of including in the account, views from
Spanish and French decks. I learned that one of the Spanish ships, the "Rayo,"
was commanded by an Irishman, Henry Macdonnel. As an exercise, I compared
Howarth's account of Macdonnel's role with one
here: http://www.antrimhistory.net/content.php?cid=478
You'll see, if you so wish, that the two accounts can't even agree on how to
spell Macdonnel.
Howarth says that Macdonnel had only just taken command of the ship when the
fleet sallied out, and at the moment of battle he was in the process of
discovering how old and rotten the vessel was. The answer? "Very." In
Howard's account, there were two consequences to this discovery: "Rayo" was the
only ship in the fight to leave without firing a shot and, just when it seemed
the ship might survive, the entire rigging fell overboard. The ship then drove
ashore in a storm and was wrecked.
The web account has MacDonnell, not only firing during the fight, but then on
the day after MacDonnell wants to rescue fellow countrymen, thus demonstrating
"indomitable courage."
A rare instance of two completely opposite interpretations of the same
circumstance.
David Ritchie,
celebrating Arsenal's win,
Portland, Oregon
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