ANSWERS: Submarine Q.O.T.W. 22 JAN 15

Background information, photos and links for questions are found at original posting here.

Submarine Questions of the Week with Answers:

1 - Australia is weighing the sourcing of RAN's new submarine fleet.  Japan has figured prominently in such discussions. Teruhiko Fukushima, an expert on Australia at Yokuska's National Defense Academy, referring to Australia's No. 1 trade partner, noted that the public would never approve of political actions that could seriously damage those ties. What country is Australia's number one trading partner?  ANS: CHINA  more

2 - China's PLAN (People's Liberation Army Navy) is keenly interested in blue water operations and since 1985, acquired four retired aircraft carriers for reasons other than design familiarity.  How many of the acquisitions are now active PLAN vessels?   ANS: One; China refurbished the propulsionless Varyag hulk and completing a modernised carrier commissioned Liaoning (CV-16) in September 2012.

3 - What became of China's other vessel(s)?   ANS: HMAS Melbourne had been bought for scrap; the ex-Soviet carrier Minsk had been sold for a Chinese "museum"; and the ex-Soviet Kiev is a prominent feature at Tianjin Binhai Aircraft Carrier Theme Park.  link 

4 - The multirole Admiral Kuznetsov class aircraft carrier Riga was renamed in 1990. What was its new name?  ANS: Varyag, which became the CV-16 Liaoning.

5 - A former PLA basketball player, alleges he had been chosen to acquire the Varyag for Beijing, posing as a businessman who wanted to use it for a floating casino in Macau.
a) What does he allege about the vessel delivered to China?   ANS: He revealed that the ship was fitted with engines at the time it was transported, contrary to some later reports.
b) What auction price did he allegedly pay the Ukrainian sellers?   ANS: $20 million.  
c) What does he claim is the total costs of purchase and delivery?  ANS: $120 million.
d) What does he claim Beijing still owes him? ANS: $120 million.  source

Submarines are always silent and strange.

Islam's Human Phantom

Background

It has often been said that the Islamic faith is lacking in an uptated testament that is tolerant of the religious freedom and inalienable rights of others rather than tolerant of their own lying and harsh treatment of others due to an intolerant, one-way (their way) religion.  Islam appears stuck in 7th century Sharia-type mandates.

Throughout Islam's history mankind has had to deal with radical sociopaths claiming to be devout Muslims and Muslim clerics claiming to be peaceful,  and no doubt some may be peaceful, yet too many who now reside in civilized nations seem little more than antisocial parasites.
Recent Example:

Muslim Claims: Lies, No Shows, or Meaningless Phantoms?

Below, guest cartoonist, Juan Caruso, takes the above expression one step further. Juan insists that repeating a lie often enough does not make it so.  Likewise, failure to back up what you claim to believe is bad citizenship in freedom-loving nations whether one is a Muslim or not. 
 
Finally, "peaceful Muslims" of legend must soon be considered insidious to our Constitution unless they take an Immigrants oath of allegiance to our U.S. Constitution that supercedes their Sharia law. Otherwise, they will end up demanding, initially, their own autonomous regions in the U.S. (perhaps in massive land areas President Obama has recently nationalized).

Submarines are always silent and strange.

Submarine Mystery QOTW - 22 JAN 15

Background

Submariners derisvely refer to surface vessels of our own navy as "targets".  The put-down captures an ongoing rivalry between the fleets in a humorous manner intended to clearly distinguish skimmers from bubbleheads.  Proof of Molten Eagle's underlying and undiminished respect for our surface vessel navy may never have been better illustrated than with The Kingston Trio's rendition of Guthrie's  "The Sinking of the Reuben James".

This week's mystery questions includes both large targets as well as a sub, and sheds new light on the definition of Chinese skimmers. You can't make this stuff up.

Questions of the Week

1 - Australia is weighing the sourcing of RAN's new submarine fleet.  Japan has figured prominently in such discussions. Teruhiko Fukushima, an expert on Australia at Yokuska's National Defense Academy, referring to Australia's No. 1 trade partner, noted that the public would never approve of political actions that could seriously damage those ties. What country is Australia's number one trading partner?

2 - China's PLAN (People's Liberation Army Navy) is keenly interested in blue water operations and, since 1985, has acquired four (4) retired aircraft carriers allegedly for reasons other than design familiarity.  How many of the acquisitions are now active PLAN vessels? 

3 - What became of China's other aircraft carrier(s)?  

4 - The multirole Admiral Kuznetsov class Soviet aircraft carrier Riga was renamed in 1990. What was its new name?

5 - A former PLA basketball player alleges he had been chosen by Beijing to pose as a businessman wanting to acquire the ex-Varyag for use as a floating Macau casino. 
a) What else does he allege about the vessel delivered to China?
b) What auction price did he allegedly pay the Ukrainian sellers? 
c) What does he claim is the total costs of purchase and delivery?
d) What does he claim Beijing still owes him? 

ANSWERS: Thursday, 29 JAN 2015

Submarines are always silent and strange.

A Laughing Matter: Excercise Short Sermon 2013

Background

We can all laugh about it now because the purpose of such drills is to identify and correct serious deficiencies.   Exercise Short Sermon is held every three years to prepare local officials for an accident at a Royal Navy dockyard.  A newly released report on the 2013 drill describes some amusing chaos worthy of The Three Stooges.

September 2013

How a Nuclear Disaster Drill to prepare for a catastrophic explosion aboard a Trafalgar Class nuclear submarine became a "successful" farce. 

... HM Naval Base Devonport, the home of the Royal Navy fleet

 

Selected Excerpts [color emphasis mine]

• Officials gave the order to evacuate the wrong village, caught hospital staff off guard after a worker posing as an irradiated victim arrived at A&E, and struggled to understand which way the radioactive cloud was travelling. 

• The response at Plymouth council became chaotic after the National Resilience Extranet, a highly secure government server used to respond to major emergencies, went off-line, forcing officials to communicate using their personal email addresses.

• The local fire service complained of a “lamentable” lack of maps and charts, and said they were kept in the dark over the risk posed by the radioactive cloud, with the dispatching of fire engines “confused”. 

• Staff from Devon County Council were left confused by not knowing "whether the wind was blowing from or to the direction named.” 

•  Senior NHS officials, whose role on the day was “assess on how a nuclear emergency would impact on health services”, complained they were unable to fulfil this because “there were no plans to include casualties outside of the dockyard."

• Overall, the Office for Nuclear Regulation deemed the exercise a success, it [the report] said.

 Submarines are always silent and strange.