On 4 Mar, 10:45, Daniel Titley wrote:
> On 4 Mar, 07:36, "William Black" wrote:
>
>
>
> > I have today informed their lordships that they will at once transfer
> > operational command of the following submarines ships and aircraft carriers
> > to the Royal New Zealand Navy...
>
> That's a blatantly hostile act against France!
>
> Remember, in 1940 Britain massacred the French fleet in Oran in case
> they were transferred to the operational command of the German Navy.
> There's no way France is going to accept this, particularly if there's
> any sort of conflict between these new 'NZ' ships and French ships.
>
> Plus there the distance these new 'NZ' ships would have to travel
> before they'd be of any use. AFAIK, Britain had no standing naval
> forces in the South Pacific in 1985, but France did. If there's going
> to be any fighting, it's going to be between the NZ navy and whatever
> forces France already had in French Polynesia, and it might be over
> before foreign intervention (or French reinforcements) get there.
I would imagine there would be some warning before all this blew up. I
can see that some combined NZ, Oz and RN naval exercises being
arranged, which of course had been planned for ages (ahem).
And I wouldnt be so certain that the RN didnt have a sub or two
lurking around within striking distance of the south Pacific anyway. |