Friday various

Kind of a good-news/bad-news article. Let’s start with the good:

The Royal Navy is decommissioning the last of its Trafalgar-class hunter-killer subs. Considered as quiet (or more so) than our Los Angeles class boat, the first started being built and the last, the HMS Triumph, was finally pulled from service last week, almost 50 years later.

Each boat was 280 feet long, with a displacement of 5,300 tons when submerged. Powered by a Rolls-Royce pressurized water nuclear reactor, the T-boats could reach a submerged speed of at least 32 knots, driven by a pump-jet propulsion system.

The armament consisted of five 21-inch torpedo tubes for up to 30 Spearfish heavyweight torpedoes, to which were later added UGM-109 Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (TLAM), with a range of over 1,200 miles.

Among the highlights of Triumph’s service was a 1993 voyage to Australia, which saw the boat remain submerged while covering a distance of 41,000 miles, the longest solo deployment by any British nuclear submarine.

Trafalgar class submarines launched TLAMs during successive campaigns in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya. When HMS Trafalgar took part in the 2001 strikes against al-Qaeda and Taliban forces in Afghanistan, it became the first of its class to launch Tomahawk cruise missiles in combat. Triumph subsequently also took part in that operation.

Over 200 years of service between the 7 subs in the class. They are being replaced by 12 boats in the new Astute class.

And on the Royal Navy’s bad news side… The RFA Argus, the Royal Navy’s only amphibious warfare vessel, has been declared unfit to set sail.

The inability of Argus, currently designated as the naval service’s sole amphibious warfare vessel, to put to sea means the Navy has no ships capable of delivering the Royal Marines en masse into war zones.

The vessel’s safety problems reportedly include a leaky ballast tank, difficulties with fire doors and a worn seal on her main aircraft lift.

Its safety certification was withdrawn by Lloyds Register and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency after her arrival in Portsmouth on June 8, the Navy Lookout website reported.

Chris Parry, a retired admiral who once commanded the UK Amphibious Task Group, said the Argus was “only ever a sticking plaster” and that the naval service’s reliance on the ship was an example of “strategic incoherence”.The Telegraph

With a description like that, I’m surprised the word “Littoral” isn’t in its name.

And we’ll close with an interesting one.  Old Orchard Beach in Maine is like many shoreside towns, semi-deserted in winter and bustling with visitors in summer. So, they do what many cities like that do – hire temporary police.

ICE arrested Old Orchard Beach Police Department reserve officer Jon Luke Evans, of Jamaica, on July 25. The agency said Evans was illegally present in the U.S. and unlawfully attempted to purchase a firearm.

ICE said in a Monday statement that Evans had legally entered the U.S. in September 2023 and violated the terms of his admission by overstaying his visa.

ICE said in a statement that Evans admitted to its officers that he attempted to purchase a firearm for his employment as a police officer with the town. That triggered an alert to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which coordinated with ICE to make the arrest, the agency said in a statement.

Straightforward so far, right? Overstayed the visa, got caught. Except:

But Old Orchard Beach Police Chief Elise Chard said in her own Monday statement that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had verified that Evans was authorized to work in the U.S. in May of this year.

Chard said the department was notified by federal officials that Evans was legally permitted to work in the country and his authorization document would not expire until 2030.

Evans passed physical and medical checks, and a background check, Chard said. He also underwent the standard course of training before being deployed on duty, she said.  AP

Sounds like the person who said Hegseth didn’t apply to West Point must have moved to ICE.

Category: "Your Tax Dollars At Work", Government Incompetence