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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to think we should deploy the entire fleet to deter those pesky French fishing boats?

160 replies

chomalungma · 12/12/2020 12:45

Just 4 gunboats?

Don't they know how big the channel is and the whole fishing area?
Not enough.
Our territorial waters need defending.
Deploy the fleet.

to think we should deploy the entire fleet to deter those pesky French fishing boats?
OP posts:
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5
Lonelycrab · 12/12/2020 13:15

Can’t we just lob some turnips at them instead? I understand we will all have plenty of them spare, and what we save from not deploying the navy we could give to the nhs?🤔

Frownette · 12/12/2020 13:16

I'll show my support, I'll set off in my dingy.

Rule Britannia!

Flaxmeadow · 12/12/2020 13:34

Not sure why this sarcastic thread thinks the situation is so funny

Fishermen breaking maritime law and attacking other vessels is dangerous to life. Deep sea fishing is already a perilous occupation to begin with, whole trawlers and their crew have been lost in the past, without idiots lobbing missiles or barging other boats.

What is your point?

BlackForestCake · 12/12/2020 13:36

What actually happens if we attack boats belonging to a fellow NATO member?

BlackForestCake · 12/12/2020 13:40

Not sure why this sarcastic thread thinks the situation is so funny

It's not funny, but it is ludicrous and absurd.

It is shameful that newspapers and MPs are talking like this. They should be mocked, which is what we are doing here.

chomalungma · 12/12/2020 13:43

What is your point

4 gunboats (what is a gunboat anyway) to protect UK waters,

It's pathetic. The UK has massive territorial waters and a gunboat has a top speed of 40mph.

So it's a token gesture - and if they were serious, then they would need to deploy many more vessels.

Or sharks with lasers on.

But the headlines in the Express and Mail look good.

to think we should deploy the entire fleet to deter those pesky French fishing boats?
to think we should deploy the entire fleet to deter those pesky French fishing boats?
OP posts:
GetOffYourHighHorse · 12/12/2020 13:43

'What actually happens if we attack boats belonging to a fellow NATO member?'

Well of course it's Armageddon doncha know as the op and her ragtag gang of flappers will tell you. I bet she's stocking up on bogroll as we speak checking the suppies in her bunker/garden shed. The end is nigh.

Lonelycrab · 12/12/2020 13:52

breaking maritime law

As opposed to breaking international law which is perfectly acceptable.

chomalungma · 12/12/2020 13:53

Seems we have 2 which are going to be at sea and 2 on standby

"Chris Parry, a former rear admiral and ex-chair of the Marine Management Organisation, said ministers should act assertively. “I would seek to make an example and take a [EU fishing] boat or two into Harwich or Hastings. Once you had impounded them, the others would not be so keen to transgress without insurance.

Missing a trick here. Remove the crew and blow the ship out of the water.

That will teach them a lesson.

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TwentyViginti · 12/12/2020 13:55

I think Captain Tom has some free time now he's finished the walk.

There's always Captain Birdseye too. Maybe Popeye is free?

chomalungma · 12/12/2020 13:57

However Sir Alan West, a former admiral and chief of naval staff, said the navy should protect UK waters from foreign fishing vessels if asked to do so in a no-deal Brexit scenario.

“It is absolutely appropriate that the Royal Navy should protect our waters if the position is that we are a sovereign state and our government has said we don’t want other nations there,” the peer told Today.

“There are complications in that you can push vessels aside, you can cut their fishing tackle, but boarding these foreign ships, they’ll need to pass probably a little thing through parliament to give authority to board and get on them.

“There is no doubt if you are a fisherman who has fished for years there – they are, as our fishermen are, quite stormy people – and you get a bit of a punch-up and you might need some Marines and things

This could get ugly.

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TheRubyRedshoes · 12/12/2020 13:58

It's a fun illustrative point that if we go no deal, macron won't have any water to fish in at all.

It's a chess move?

It's won't just be boats but also other reconnaissance vehicles and apparently someone in the navy said we do need more ships deployed.

Just drives home the point re no fish v some fish.

TheRubyRedshoes · 12/12/2020 14:01

Only ugly for macron, more riots? Endless jillet jaunes worn again.

LakieLady · 12/12/2020 14:02

Well, we deployed gunboats against Iceland (NOT the shop!) in the 70s, so I don't see why not. Mind you, Iceland won, so I daresay the French would beat us too.

But then would that be such a bad thing? We might be back in the EU if the UK became part of France. Wink

Flaxmeadow · 12/12/2020 14:02

4 gunboats (what is a gunboat anyway) to protect UK waters,

It's pathetic. The UK has massive territorial waters and a gunboat has a top speed of 40mph.

So it's a token gesture - and if they were serious, then they would need to deploy many more vessels.

Or sharks with lasers on.

But the headlines in the Express and Mail look good.

What exactly is it you think should be done when French vessels barge and throw missiles at UK trawlers fishing in their own waters. Do you even give a damn about men at sea.

And BTW the French have sent gun boats actually INTO UK waters in the past . Anything to say about that?

Maritime law is there to protect those at sea. Deep sea fishing, especially in the north sea, is one of the most dangerous occupations on earth, sometimes involving months away from home, and not particularly well paid either. This means people on low incomes can feed their families low cost protein, usually by fish fingers. But I expect you would laugh at that as well eh?

I'm sick and tired of sneering middle class remainers who think this is all some silly game for their own amusement. It isn't. Its everyday peoples job safety and job security, and a way of feeding people at a reasonable price with our own resources

DuncinToffee · 12/12/2020 14:03

Will they employ the wave machines that were suggested for use on immigrants boats?

BerriesAndPineCones · 12/12/2020 14:04

Pointless hostilities stoked up against our allies by the tories really appeals to thickos doesnt it

womanaf · 12/12/2020 14:08

Do we have any of those dolphins that plant mines?

MadCatLady71 · 12/12/2020 14:09

Or our fishermen could just fire all the tonnes of herring they catch at the French boats from water cannons - because what else are we going to do with it?

chomalungma · 12/12/2020 14:10

What exactly is it you think should be done when French vessels barge and throw missiles at UK trawlers fishing in their own waters. Do you even give a damn about men at sea

Laws should be enforced. The owners of those vessels should face consequences back at home in their courts.

All this talk of gunboats, the papers discussing the armaments they have and sending in the Marines because their might be a fight is just jingoistic hyping things up, that is designed to appeal to the worst instincts of people.

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Flaxmeadow · 12/12/2020 14:10

It's pathetic. The UK has massive territorial waters

No more massive than any other coastal nation in Europe

Flaxmeadow · 12/12/2020 14:11

Laws should be enforced. The owners of those vessels should face consequences back at home in their courts

I don't think you understand how maritime law works

chomalungma · 12/12/2020 14:12

No more massive than any other coastal nation in Europe

So how do you protect that with 2 gunboats with a top speed of 40 mph and a 12 mile patrol zone off shore?

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PatchworkElmer · 12/12/2020 14:14

HOWLING 😂

SleepingStandingUp · 12/12/2020 14:14

What caused ww3?
Cod
God?
No, cod