No! Good Lord Aloft, Please Do Not Accuse BOOJUM! Of Treason!
UNIT and Spectrum are always on the lookout for Your Humble Scribe's transgressions and they'd be in here inside 30 seconds if they imagined we are referring to Chuck Triple One.
In fact we refer to his grandad, King George V, perhaps better known to the non-Latin qualified as "King George The Fifth", who was a Royal Navy brat whom went to sea as a 12-year old and whom spent 13 years in the Senior Service. Art!
We have moved on since 1892
Ol' George kicked the bucket in 1936, an interesting time as Perfidious Albion was trying to keep her pre-eminent position in naval strength by negotiating (a.k.a. 'trying to bully') with other major maritime powers, by keeping warships below a certain tonnage and limited to guns of a defined calibre.
Here we come to the 'King George V' class battleships that Perfidious Albion was set to construct in order to remain ahead of the naval power game. These were brand-new big-ticket items that took into account all the military analysis carried out after the First Unpleasantness and put it into practice. They were laid down and launched in the early years of the Second Unpleasantness. Art!
HMS Vanguard to port, HMS King George V to starboard
The reason I mention this monstrous metal marine malefactor is because of an item in "The War Illustrated" that happened, by sheer coincidence ('DON ARMOURED ANTI-HYDRA UNDERWEAR NOW!') to instruct one in how a warship of that era operated. Art!
This is actually one of the turrets of a British WW2 cruiser, and the assembled crew are 'only' firing 5.5" shells, rather than the larger guns of a battleship. Note the crew wearing anti-flash hoods and gauntlets, the better to be protected against transient high-temperature explosive detonations, whether accidental or deliberate. Art!
 |
| Thanks to "The War Illustrated" |
Here you see inside one of Kingy's 14" gun turrets, which would have an alphabetical name assigned to it - probably omitted thanks to wartime censorship. The chap in the foreground is responsible for lifting the one-ton shells from the magazine many yards below him into the turret by way of an electrically-powered hydraulic system, as we saw earlier in the week with that blog about 'Barbetter Than None'. The intent is to have as little possible explosive material in the turret at any one time, so that an enemy strike causes as little damage as possible under the worst possible circumstances.
If you wonder how the effete British managed their battleships, let it be known - quietly, for we are not a boastful nation - that Kingy and Roddy got the measure of the Bismarck and rapidly pounded it into scrap in this month, as of 1941. Art!
HMS King George V and Rodney go a-hunting
Kingy turned up in the Pacific in time to best the sons of Nippon, which probably infuriated the South Canadian Admiral King - a kind of 'How Dare You My Surname, Sir!' moment - as he was definitely on course for an Iron Cross or even two.
Hmmmm well having biggened up the Perfidious Albion side of matters, and kicked Admiral King to the curb, I think it's time to move on before we unravel NATO.
Motley! I fancy travelling in style at sea for a while - get me a cabin on Murmansk Adventure-Time Cruises.
A Venture Into Retail Remuneration
As you may remember, Conrad has worked in HR at both the Co-Op and Sainsbo's, and has an insider's view of what goes on internally and externally. Thus I was interested in seeing this headline. Art!
The meat of the matter is that the current venture-capital owners of Asda have a huge burden of debt that they acquired to purchase the business from the previous owners (Conrad code for "Can't remember who nor be bothered to look them up"). They are seeking to cut staff pay to cut corners and get back in the black; in this case, people getting an allowance for working in London <hack spit London>.
<shakes head forbiddingly>
Um no. If Asda do cut this London-centric payment, then their staff will leave for Tesco or Morrisons, who WILL pay this element. Both the Co-Op and Sainsbo's had an Inner and Outer London Payment for staff, so if you're not getting it at Employer Number One, it's child's play to get it at Employer Number Two.
About Them Baroque Portraits
We don't have a definite time-frame for when 'Star Wars' takes place, only that it's several galaxies over and probably a few million years ago - doubtless there are academic nerds out there who have honed this to the Trifid Nebula three billion years ago but ne
He still looks like a zombie that got hit by lightning whilst having s***** congress with *** **** ******* ***** ** ***** ********* *****.
Hmmmmm you know, that cape makes you look a lot more dashing than an unscrupulous mercenary ought to be.
I have omitted Obi Wan and Yoda as they really don't bring anything to the table bar beeswax and a rag.
"The Sea Of Sand"
We are coming to the end of this epic. Many humans have died to ensure the march of history takes place as it ought to.
‘Water?’ asked the German NCO of
the liaison officer, Captain Hertz, waving a water bottle under the officer’s
nose.
‘No,
not yet,’ replied the lanky officer, climbing up on the back of the big
armoured car.
He’d
come out here to Mersa Martuba with the leading elements of the 33rd
Reconnaissance Battalion, to see what they could capture from the British supply
depot reported to be located there.
Well,
“nothing” seemed to be the answer. Von
Dem Borne, not to mention Rommel, wouldn’t like that, however true it was. The depot didn’t exist any more, having been
flattened totally. No mud huts, palm
trees, water or anything else, just half a square kilometre of what looked like
a great glass crater, now crazed and split by the elements.
Hertz
sighed.
‘Nothing
to see, nothing to steal. Nothing
happening here at all, Feldwebel. Let’s
get back to the rest of the battalion.’
Behind
them the desert gravel, sand and stone remained baking in the sun, untouched.
A
real waste of time! judged Hertz. There
was nothing out here.
Well, if he only knew, readers!
Conrad: Not Impartial
Now, when it comes to politicians <hisssss> whom do not have the same orientation as Conrad, we have issues. Malcolm Rifkind, for one, was a Tory politico whom nevertheless found favour with Your Humble Scribe for being 1) Scottish and 2) Intelligent. He was also descended from Lithuanian Jewry, so probably felt right at home in Edinburgh, facing a foreign foe across the border. His on-screen persona carried a fair bit of intellectual heft. Art!
He had a long career in law, so was pretty adept at being personable when in front of the cameras, especially if he didn't have to wear a wig. He later went on to big things in charge of the Intelligence Community so REMEMBER ME POSITIVELY MALCOLM.
Conrad A Bit Disappointed
You know how Conrad takes a disgustingly intense focus on the BBC's 'Have Your Say' Comments page when a ballfoot game gets permission to be discussed?
Yeah well it happened again. The City Of Manchester ballfoot club won the Permier League, which seems to be about permafrost and tundra, and there was nothing but a long list of vile compliments about how well they'd done.
How can a man make schadenfreude from this? I ask you.
