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Frigate aground at Christmas Island

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This just in from Defence Media.

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HMAS Ballarat

At approximately 4pm Sydney time, the Australian Navy’s ANZAC Class Frigate HMAS Ballarat ran aground at Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean.

The ship was engaged in Operation Relex II, a border protection activity, at the time.

No one was injured.

The full extent of the damage is still being assessed but there is known to be damage to the ship’s rudder and propeller. The ship’s hull was not holed.

Navy will conduct an investigation into the circumstances of the grounding as soon as possible.

Navy will not be able to decide whether the ship will be able to proceed under her own power for repairs until the full extent of the damage is known.

No further information is available at this time.

It’s never a good career move to navigate one of our navy frigates onto rocks.

Update 24 Jan

From this mornings Australian

Locals reported that several ships had run aground in the cove over the years as the seabed level changes dramatically near the jetty.

and from Defence Media

Since grounding on Christmas Island on Saturday 22 January, HMAS Ballarat has undergone a number of trials to assess the impact of the damage to her propellers and possibly the steering gear.

These trials, conducted in consultation with Navy engineers and the ship’s builder, will determine whether the ship will be able to undertake the passage to Fremantle under her own power or whether she will have to be towed.

The trials should be completed, and a decision made on whether a tow is required, by late evening Monday 24 January (AEST).

The frigate HMAS Canberra sailed from Fleet Base West, near Fremantle, late on Sunday 23 January and is now enroute to Christmas Island. This ship will either escort or tow HMAS Ballarat to Fremantle, depending on the outcome of the trials. She should arrive off Christmas Island late on Wednesday 26 January.

An investigation team of two Navy officers will arrive in Christmas Island today to begin preparations for the Navy Board of Inquiry that will convene as soon as possible once the ship arrives in the mainland.

The ANZAC-class frigate HMAS Arunta will sail from Fleet Base West mid-morning today to take over duties in Operation RELEX II, on which HMAS Ballarat was employed.

Defence

Specialist Graner

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I feel uneasy about Graner and his trial. Not to suggest he isn’t guilty of the crimes as charged. After all a jury has found him guilty but it just seems a bit surreal to me .

My first concern is the lack of rank on the man’s uniform. Living and operating at the bottom of the military food chain should prevent him taking unilateral actions as he appears to have done.

Where were his commanders when all of this was going on? What were the Sergeants, Lieutenants, Captains, Majors, Colonels and Star ranks doing while Graner was having his way with the prisoners?

My second concern is the length of sentence. With a good lawyer, a murderer can get less.

Ten years for being stupid seems a bit harsh to me. Western Armies, Australia’s included, dish out harder treatment to their own soldiers during training so forgive me if I think it’s all a bit much.

War on Terror

Blog Roll

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Ever felt so moved that a burning desire to send your Member or local Senator a message bubbles to the surface?

As a service to my readers, and in fact for myself, often so moved, I have included contact lists for the Senate and the House of Reps on the left side bar.

Go on, you know you always wanted to do it – send a message!

Politics

Banda Aceh

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HMAS Kanimbla arrived off Banda Aceh at about 18:00 EST according to a media release from the Defence Department.

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HMAS Kanimbla

As is the custom with the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) ships names are re-used thus the current Kanimbla is the second RAN ship to sail under that name. The history of the first Kanimbla is here This ship, also a Landing Ship spent a considerable part of WW2 in the Pacific taking part in landings in PNG and the Philipines.

The current Kanimbla comes with proud traditions.

In a media release Senator Hill said;

…it was anticipated that within a few hours of anchoring, Army landing craft – LCM8s – would commence the task of transporting equipment to the Banda Aceh shore. “Until now our focus has been the provision of life-essential needs of the Tsunami survivors such as food, water and medical support. The arrival of the Engineering detachment on board the Kanimbla means that we can now start providing reconstruction solutions for the longer term,” Senator Hill said. “Once on the ground the engineers will commence a busy schedule of clearing debris, repairing port facilities and constructing camps for displaced people who have lost their homes.

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An Australian LCM 8

The Kanimbla, with two LCM8s can move a lot of equipment on-shore including heavy plant for debris clearing and road re-construction. Just what the Indonesians need.

I’m not sure if it’s what they want, though.

INDONESIAN Vice-President Jusuf Kalla yesterday called on foreign military forces to leave Aceh by March 26 or even earlier if emergency relief work was under control.

This article from News.com doesn’t look like a welcoming mat to me. It sounds like ‘Give us all your goodies and piss off’.

The Vice President of Indonesia Jusuf Kalla wants us out.

Deadline … foreign troops providing aid to tsunami victims have been told they must be out within three months / Reuters

“Three months are enough. In fact, the sooner the better,” Mr Kalla said, according to the state Antara news agency.

Why is it I feel slightly miffed.

Mr Kalla, who is in overall charge of Jakarta’s tsunami relief operation, said Aceh would need foreign medical workers and engineers instead of military assistance.

“Foreign troops are no longer needed,” he said.

Doesn’t want our helicopters and LCMs. Doesn’t want our engineers rebuilding homes, roads and infrastructure. Doesn’t want our young men and woman working their butts off for his traumatised people because they wear a uniform.

Maybe he would rather some UN bureacrats – little would be done but it would look good and the UN are pretty well on the side of radical moslems anyway.

Jusuf (My God is better than yours) Kalla is under pressure from Moslems in the Indon Parliament to get us out before we corrupt their people with freedom of worship.

God forbid, but it’s not what we are about and because that is what they are all about they will never believe us.

Pity. The people will suffer

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Deep Impact

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Nasa mission has a mission underway that will travel to a comet and release an impactor on July 4, creating a crater on the surface of the comet. Scientists believe the exposed materials may give clues to the formation of our solar system.

I like the thought of NASA having the practised capacity to impact anything on a comet as in…comet on collision with earth…send up a spacecraft with an ‘impactor’…drop impactor in path of comet…wait for impact then detonate nuclear device inside impactor thus putting comet off course or disintegrating it all over space into little bits.

Sounds like a good plot for a movie. What’s that you say? It’s already been done. A case of life imitating art – an unpleasant thought. (Can’t think of the name of the movie but the hero died)

South Africa’s Independent Media Centre obviously has a ‘Tim Dunlop’ type journo writing for them as in this article, on the same subject, believe it or not, they miss the point altogether and then confuse it with ‘black hole’ class spin.

Nasa is presently drilling a hole into the core of an Astroid, and packing it with millions of Tons of TnT, to explode on the 4th of July. There is no public concensus. There should be.

and

This explosion could and will according, to NASA, possibly throw the Earth “a little ” out of orbit.

That bloody bastard Bush is at it again. I’ll have to shackle myself to the bar on this years 4 July celebrations. Don’t want to fall off my barstool when the Earth tilts a ‘little’.

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Mark is marked

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Might I suggest that the true cause of Mark Latham’s Pancreatitis is one of the knife wounds in his back actually damaged his pancreas.

I’ve just heard that Julia Gillard is rushing back to Australia from her holidays in Vietnam. For a moment I wondered why I didn’t run into her as we were obviously in the country at the same time but then I didn’t spend any time at the local People’s Commissariat.

Mark is quoted on the ABC as if there was no discussion about his leadership. (Somehow the word ‘leadership’ seems inadequate in this context but it’s all I can think of at the moment.)

In the ‘leadership’ battle that Mark isn’t having and the rest of Australia is, I’m personally going for Julia Gillard. The further left the ALP venture, the further away they will be from the treasury benches.

Go Jules.

Darlene Taylor has some comments as well. A little irreverent but telling none the less.

I read somewhere (can’t remember) that if Beasley got the nod now it would at least give him three years to practice his next ‘I’m sorry, we lost’ speech.

I notice the left wing blogs, at least the ones I link to, are not interested in the ‘Leadership’ debate. Strange – it’s the lead on the last ABC newscast I heard. The blogs are too busy discussing terrorists getting out of goal, redefining torture as any words or body language used in the presence of a terrorist and US bashing.

Politics

Kiwis embarrassed

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Australia raises more at a cricket match for Tsunami victims than the NZ Government gives in aid.

IN true Australian fashion, the nation turned to sport in response to its heartbreak over the tsunami disaster and raised $14.6 million for the devastated regions of Sri Lanka and India.

Striving hard be outdone, NZ offers the proceeds of an afternoon tea party at the Lefty Luvvies club in Wellington.

NEW Zealand will dramatically raise its tsunami aid after criticism of the Government’s “inadequate” $NZ10million donation and embarrassment over aircraft breakdowns that have hampered aid flights.

Not only is Hulun Clarke tight she is also anti military. Having disabled the fighter arm of the NZ Airforce she has also opted to rebuild 38 year old Hercules aircraft rather than buy new ones.

And pays the cost.

Two New Zealand Air Force C-130 Hercules planes have struck maintenance problems in recent days while attempting to deliver aid to the Indonesian province of Aceh, forcing flights to be delayed and preventing Foreign Minister Phil Goff from touring the devastated region.

I though left leaning governments were big on charity but with Australia giving an average of $57.25 per person and NZ $2.45 per I’m not so sure.

I don’t have an issue with Kiwis per se except to point out that they are developing a track record of voting in weird governments.

I now wait for the caterwauling from the left about how Hulun Clarke was embarrased into increasing donations to the Tsunami victims – just like George Bush.

Waiting…waiting….waiting

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Where’s Wally Mark Latham

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Mark is on sick leave and nothing will change his mind. His doctor said he is to take it easy. 150,000 people die and the silence is deafening.

Nothing.

Bad call, Mark.

Labour aplogist, University of Adelaide professor of surgery Guy Madden, explains why Mark may be keeping silent

…(he) said the pain that pancreatitis caused was “extremely severe” and “one of the more unpleasant pains” that patients might suffer. Morphine and pethidine were options for pain relief in such cases, he said, especially in severe cases. As pain reduced, he said, codeine preparations were often used that broke down in the body into compounds similar to morphine.

“In large doses, it makes people less than sensible,” he said. “Many of the pain medications will make you less than functional – they make it difficult to be rational and sensible.”

I had a friend die of pancreatic cancer last year and he could talk right up to the eve of his death. He made sense and he was on morphine.

Tim Blair reports Mark may be on holiday at Terrigal.

Holiday…sick leave..all the same. If you getting ‘Leader of the Opposition’ type remuneration then the country can reasonably expect a comment from you on the Tsunami disaster.

Even if sick and incapacitated it wouldn’t take much to gather some Labour stallwarts around his bed and whisper in their ears…

..Just say to the press that…I feel for the people in the disaster area, support the Government in what they are doing and…cough…cough… will visit the area when I’m better ( or when I get back from Terrigal)

Politics

Torture or not

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Over at Southerly Buster Alan is maintaining the rage over the treatment of prisoners by the US in Guantanano and elsewhere…or in fact anywhere.

He then goes onto try and prove torture alegations but misses the point in not defining torture. He goes on about torture but in todays world torture can be anything from bad music to ordinary food.

As the radical Left lost their prime cause long ago when the Berlin Wall came down the only viable anti-US force today are the terrorists organizations and it is to them the Left must turn in their war against the US.

In my reading, occassioned by the re-emergence of the Abu Ghraib saga in the press, I came across this piece at City Journal. It is lengthy but for readers with a desire to seek the truth and thus be able to counter the Left’s spurious ‘torture’ claims, it is well worth the read.

A good read for a slow Sunday.

Via Donald Sensing at One Arm Clapping

War on Terror

Aceh Photos

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Go here for the best set of photos of the devastation resulting from the tsunami. The photos are before and after satellite shots with a toggle for easy comparison.

They are very graphic, particulalry Set 5 and 6 that captures the damage at Banda Aceh Shore.

Courtesy reader Bob Buick.

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