Fear the Canadian Menace
By 
All indications suggest that the Royal Navy will press ahead with its plans to build Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales, a pair of 65000 ton aircraft carriers that will be the largest ships the Royal Navy has ever operated. I have to wonder, though, what the point of having 65000 ton carriers is if the Canadians can sink them. To the left is an actual photo taken of HMS Illustrious from HMCS Corner Brook:
Had [submarine HMCS] Corner Brook been a hostile, rather than a participant in NATO’s exercise Noble Mariner, taking place in the North Sea and Baltic in May, “Lusty” [HMS Illustrious] would have been a matter of seconds away from taking a Mk 48 heavyweight torpedo in what British naval folk technically describe as the Khyber Pass. This came after the RN had issued a press release praising the ship’s ability to dominate the battlespace. It is doubly ironic in that Corner Brook is the former HMS Ursula, one of four Upholder-class SSKs built at great trouble and expense by the U.K. and then sold to Canada when the U.K. government decided to standardize on nuclear boats
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Indeed. In other news, the Royal Navy’s new Type 45 destroyers are just (and I put this as delicately as I can) as ugly as all get out:
Seriously; is the hope that the Iranians will be too overcome by laughter to kidnap British sailors?