Rum Ration
the Navy Network

MoD:

"The Mail on Sunday (6 May) carried an article in which it was wrongly claimed that the Type 45 destroyer HMS Dauntless was left helpless and stranded off West Africa. The article does carry the following statement from a Royal Navy spokesman but fails to acknowledge that the ship was not stranded or helpless: "HMS Dauntless was not left drifting and her propellers did not stop. An electrical overload did occur and, to ensure that essential systems remained powered, low priority systems were briefly isolated until the problem was fixed. Every new class of ship has teething problems. Ships have their own characteristics and it takes time for the ship's company to learn them in every environment."

The reference to an electrical overload was gleaned from one short sentence in a full-page piece written by another journalist embedded on HMS Dauntless as the ship successfully exercised with the navies of West African nations. The journalist who was on board HMS Dauntless focused on the benefits for the UK of engaging with other countries through training and exercises, rather than a momentary electrical overload which formed the focus of the Mail on Sunday article."

I wonder whether the Mail will print an equally prominent retraction.

(Who am I trying to kid?)

I can see why the Mail chap wasn't on board. I mean, you don't want a Leake on a ship...

In the wake of the truth coming out, Thin Pinstriped Line ( I think I 'know' you) comments on the nature of the Mail.

So, it is frustrating to see the Daily Mail continue on its curiously diverse campaign to bemoan the decline of society, while simultaneously doing all it can to do down the society it wants to protect. It is frustrating to see this sort of article as it not only does down the efforts of the sailors who man these vessels, but more importantly it fails to give a balanced account on the good work that the RN is doing day in, day out to support UK interests and wider global security around the world.


What then is the solution to this sort of issue? Well the problem is that no media organisation is likely to focus on the wider truth that all ships breakdown, but equally the media is often keen to lambast the UK government for going to war in Iraq, purportedly on the basis of scanty evidence laid out in a dossier. Surely the media has a similar responsibility to report accurately, and not fill a sensationalist story based on little more than one throwaway comment in a report, then to take it utterly out of context, prior to belittling the efforts of British sailors far from home, who are doing an excellent job of supporting UK national interests?

Journalists claim that journalism is a profession. It would need among other attributes, ethics to qualify. My tar brush is broad but in journalism, there are too many knobs with too big an agenda and / or too small a brain for ethics to get in the way.

So, from a non ship specific engineering view point; overload (choice of several reasons for that ) alternator(s) can cope but prefs trip, MEOOW and platform/propulsion management does his/her its thing, ship continues to generate HV, props keep turning, albeit not as fast as before, lights stay on.

Mail journo hears about this second hand, gets erection, imagination goes into overload, no clever programs there to connect him with reality, puts pen to paper, writes ill informed bollocks, editor approves work, publishes.

Reading between his lines earlier, it was obvious he wasn't there and hasn't a scooby about the T45s' generation and propulsion or any like it in the commercial world and didn't bother to ask. Kept the engines turning slowly? Yeah, right.

Originally Posted by Seadog

In the wake of the truth coming out, Thin Pinstriped Line ( I think I 'know' you) comments on the nature of the Mail.




Journalists claim that journalism is a profession. It would need among other attributes, ethics to qualify. My tar brush is broad but in journalism, there are too many knobs with too big an agenda and / or too small a brain for ethics to get in the way.

It's a sad day when the discomfort of press reporting filters down the line and the rank & file complain about it. I would much rather have this than read about the RN being the best thing since a young lad cycled up a cobbled road to fetch a loaf of bread (No offence Assistant Editor).