HMS Illustrious is taking part in the flypast to commemorate the 100th anniversary of what would become the Fleet Air Arm. As part of the festivities, the BBC filed a report on life aboard the carrier. Unfortunately, the correspondent, Mr Rajini Vaidyanatha, needs to do his homework or at least avail himself of the services of a decent copy editor. He not only calls Illustrious a "strike carrier"(she is no such thing. Her official designation is a "through-deck cruiser", though she is more commonly referred to as a "light carrier"), but he compounds the embarrassment by claiming she carried 700 "staff". First, the number leaves out 370 Fleet Air Arm personnel and is therefore too low, and I have no idea what "staff" is supposed to be. Presumably he means "officers and men".If the RN is the wooden wall, then the BBC are the knotholes.
The less said about the BBC the better. Maybe the sailors assigned to handle Mr. Vaidyanatha needed to say some words at him so he could pick up the jargon. I remember reading an account of a hard-hat dive by a similarly clueless journalist, early 19th c., in a book about the history of diving; the tradition is old, apparently.
ReplyDeleteIs that a ski-jump on the deck of that ship?
Believe it or not, that's what it's called.
ReplyDeleteYes, they are still fitted as the jump allows the Harriers to carry a much greater payload than if they used either a vertical or rolling take off. In the unlikely event that their replacements are ever built they will have the same facility but conceivably could be retrofitted to use conventional catapults.
ReplyDeleteThe BBC, however, lack journalists with military knowledge. Frankly I think they lack knowledge of english.
TTFN
Mike G7AZW