kscarbel2

You certainly should be able to convert your truck from steel rectangular to aluminium round. You want new parts? What did your Mack dealer say?.............https://www.macktrucks.com.au/find-a-dealer/ If they weren't helpful, call Mack Trucks Australia direct at 1300 69 6225.

You would want to use an ex-Post Office truck. But what are you going to do about parts? Volvo doesn't want to support trucks in excess of 15 years of age. When/if they still do, they charge you a ridiculous amount. If your goal is to make a profit............... .

August 11, 2016 More details are coming out today about the FBI wanting to investigate the Clinton Foundation, and the Department of Justice’s decision to turn the agency down. CNN reports that three FBI field offices were in agreement and wanted an investigation launched earlier this year, but the Loretta Lynch-led DOJ pushed back pointing to a preliminary investigation done on the Clinton Foundation a year before, after the book 'Clinton Cash' was released. At that point, not enough evidence was there to launch a case, and some at the Justice Department feared the request for a fresh investigation would look politically-motivated, especially in light of the FBI's investigation into Clinton's private email server. The FBI wanted to pursue a lead from a bank that tipped them off to suspicious activity from a foreigner who had donated to the Clinton Foundation. The initial news of the Justice Department going against the FBI's wishes was buried in a CNN story yesterday that detailed the latest release of Clinton's emails to the public at the hands of the conservative watchdog, Judicial Watch. Judicial Watch released 296 pages of Clinton's emails this week including 44 that the former secretary of state didn't initially hand over to the State Department. These new conversations shed light on how intertwined Clinton's State Department was with her family foundation. In one highly-cited example, the now-former head of the Clinton Foundation, Doug Band, reaches out to Clinton's top State Department aides, including Cheryl Mills and Huma Abedin, in April 2009 and notes that it's 'important to take care of' a particular person whose name has been redacted. In another exchange that year Band requests that Abedin and Mills put Gilbert Chagoury, a longtime acquaintance of Bill Clinton's who donated millions to the Clinton Foundation, in touch with 'the substance person re Lebanon' at the State Department. 'It's Jeff Feltman,' Abedin replied in an email. Feltman was then the U.S. ambassador to Lebanon. 'I'm sure he knows him. I'll talk to Jeff,' she said. The Clinton campaign is attacking Judicial Watch, whose dogged inquiries and Freedom of Information Requests led to the discovery of Clinton's private email system. Today, it was revealed that Clinton's State Department chief of staff Cheryl Mills visited New York in 2012 and interviewed two executives for a top position at the Clinton Foundation. Mill’s lawyer has called it “volunteer work for a charitable foundation”, rather than a conflict of interest. The State Department is describing the act as personal time. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Officials from the FBI and DoJ met several months ago to discuss opening a public corruption case into the Clinton Foundation. At the time, three field offices were in agreement an investigation should be launched after the FBI received notification from a bank of suspicious activity from a foreigner who had donated to the Clinton Foundation. FBI officials wanted to investigate whether there was a criminal conflict of interest with the State Department and the Clinton Foundation during Clinton's tenure. The DoJ had looked into allegations surrounding the foundation a year earlier after the release of the controversial book "Clinton Cash," but allegedly found them to be unsubstantiated and there was insufficient evidence to open a case. As a result, DOJ officials refused to open a corruption case into the Clinton Foundation. The FBI's investigation into Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe and his tie to a Clinton Foundation donor was also raised during the meeting. Representatives from the Clinton Foundation, FBI and DOJ refused to comment. The Clinton Foundation is under increased scrutiny this week. Newly released emails from Clinton's tenure as secretary of state depict a shady relationship between the department and the Clinton Foundation. A CNN investigation found that Clinton aide Cheryl Mills was involved in the Clinton Foudnation while she was also employed as Chief of Staff to the Secretary of State. On a trip to New York in 2012, Mills interviewed two executives for a top position at the Clinton foundation. The State Department said she was on personal time. Mills' attorney says she was, doing "volunteer work for a charitable foundation. She was not paid." In a hearing last month on Capitol Hill, FBI Director James Comey refused to say whether the Clinton Foundation was under investigation, saying "I'm not going to comment on the existence or non-existence of any investigation." The newly released emails from Judicial Watch raise questions about the relationship between the State Department and Clinton Foundation. Hillary Clinton pledged she would not be involved with the Clinton foundation when she became secretary of state.

In 1789, George Washington wrote to Marquis de Lafayette, the French military officer who fought for the American Revolution: “Nothing but harmony, honesty, industry and frugality are necessary to make us a great and happy people.” And Americans were a frugal people well into the 20th century. But then came the era of instant credit, rampant consumerism and record personal bankruptcies.

Wall St. banks ask Fed for five more years to comply with Volcker rule Reuters / August 11, 2016 Big Wall Street banks are asking the U.S. Federal Reserve to grant them an additional five-year grace period to comply with a financial reform regulation known as the Volcker rule, people familiar with the matter said. If the Fed agrees, the extension would give banks more time to exit fund investments that are difficult to sell, but no longer allowed by the law. The added grace period, which follows three one-year extensions, would start next year and run through 2022. The law on Volcker rule implementation says banks can ask for an extra five-year extension for "illiquid" funds, where banks had contractual commitments to invest. In deciding whether to grant Wall Street more leeway, the Fed has asked banks to provide details on their specific investments to prove that they fall under the statutory definition of "illiquid," said the people, who requested anonymity to discuss non-public regulatory discussions. Those seeking the extension include Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N), Morgan Stanley (MS.N), JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) and some other banks, the sources said. They are making their push in part through Wall Street lobbying group the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA). "SIFMA is working with our members to ensure that regulators have the data they need to adequately appraise the situation," the association said in a statement to Reuters. Congress intended to provide "an appropriate transition period" so that banks could exit illiquid funds without disrupting markets, SIFMA added. The banks and the Federal Reserve declined to comment. The Volcker rule, named after former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, is part of the sweeping 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law. It aims to reduce risk-taking by preventing banks from using their own capital to make speculative bets. Critics say its many loopholes – with exemptions for activities like merchant banking and foreign exchange trading – have made it less effective than it was intended to be. "It's laughable that the biggest, most sophisticated financial firms in the world claim they can't sell the stakes year after year," said Dennis Kelleher, CEO of non-profit Better Markets. "Everyone else in America has to comply with the law and Wall Street should also." The Fed has already granted three one-year extensions for compliance with a broader provision of the Volcker rule regarding stakes in hedge funds and private equity funds – the maximum number of extensions it could provide in that context. The new requests, which were widely expected, concern "illiquid" fund investments. The Fed risks criticism for giving Wall Street more wiggle room, but also risks blame for fire-sale losses or for banks and their investor clients getting tied up in court if they are forced to exit certain contractual agreements quickly. Before the crisis, big banks had proprietary trading desks that made bets on market direction, as well as in-house hedge funds, investments in external hedge funds and co-investments alongside clients in internal private-equity funds. Underlying assets could range from investments in private companies to real estate and long-dated derivatives. While the regulated banks have spun off much of that activity, bankers say there are still some investments that do not contractually expire for years or lack a liquid market for an immediate sale. But disclosures are few and far between, making it difficult to independently discern how truly illiquid the investments are. Banks are now asking the Fed for more time to exit stakes in funds they deem to be illiquid, sources said. In response, the Fed is demanding more details about why the funds, or their underlying assets, are considered illiquid, how much time it would take to exit the investments and what efforts have been made to exit investments sooner, sources said. In granting banks its final one-year extension last month, the Fed said it would soon provide details on how it will address illiquid funds. Banks have been selling down non-compliant investments over the last several years, with Goldman having reduced its exposure by more than half since mid-2013. Yet in regulatory filings, banks have said they may face difficulty in getting rid of those investments by upcoming deadlines. As of June 30, Goldman Sachs held $7 billion worth of private equity investments, real estate holdings and hedge funds affected by the Volcker rule. In March, Goldman said it expected to sell the majority of those stakes before the July 2017 deadline, but it removed that language in its most recent quarterly filing. Morgan Stanley, which has about $3.2 billion in real estate and private equity funds, recently said it expected to be able to divest much of those investments. But the bank said in a second-quarter filing that it expected to ask for further extensions "for certain illiquid funds." JPMorgan has around $1 billion in hedge funds, private equity and real estate investments.

Your Mack dealer can sell you a "kit" to make the conversion.

Paul, they are claiming virtually all of the South China Sea as their territory (good luck with that), but not Micronesia (includes the Northern Marianas, Marshall and Caroline Islands), the Philippines, Hawaii and Antarctica.

Of course BC Mack is the expert, but one can sense the decline of investment in the Royal Navy, and Royal Air Force, was first felt in 1982 when Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on short notice had to send the fleet, fleet air arm and air force to a far corner of the globe and evict Argentinian trespassers. This superb video reflects a small part of that brilliantly executed operation, and the challenged caused by a lack of reinvestment. Two of the three V-Force members, the Avro Vulcan and the Handley Page Victor, were instrumental in sending a clear message to the invading army (The Vickers Valiant has already been retired in 1965). As the film mentions, the RAF's aging Vulcan bombers, that with their mechanical post-WW2 systems were suddenly called upon to save the day, were in a state of disrepair due to being just three months away from being scrapped! There's no more beautiful aircraft in the sky than a Vulcan. Note that the V-Force manufacturers were the same brilliant bomber designers of WW2, with the Avro Lancaster, Handley Page Halifax and Vickers Wellington (The Short Stirling, older and slower, was replaced by the Lancaster and Halifax as soon as possible). .

Rare photograph Paul. A captured Focke-Wulf 190A-5 (WkNr. 150 051) undergoing comparison testing during the war at NAS Patuxent River (down the river from the Glenn L. Martin plant). Not every day you see a 190 with a U.S. Navy tri-color paint scheme. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/Captured_Focke-Wulf_Fw_190_in_flight_near_NAS_Patuxent_River_in_1944.jpg

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Steve Brooks, Owner/Driver / August 11, 2016 Despite troubled beginnings, S. & S. Tyquin Bulk Haulage continues to see the benefits of PBS trailers Victorian tipper operator Steve Tyquin takes great pride in all his gear but perhaps none more than a new A-double combination operating under Performance-Based Standards (PBS). From any angle it’s an impressive outfit and Steve is obviously convinced of the potential for big benefits but after almost a decade of complying with PBS requirements for truck and dog trailer applications, and enjoying the commercial advantages it provides, he wonders why the process continues to be so frustrating. The founding principal of S. & S. Tyquin Bulk Haulage, Steve splits his time between a home office in Keilor East on Melbourne’s north-western fringe and a truck depot on 12 hectares of rural property little more than a stone’s throw off the Calder Highway near Sunbury. There are 12 trucks in the business ranging from water trucks and a couple of Isuzu 4x2 rigid tippers through to a Kenworth T359 eight-wheeler and a mix of Kenworth T909 and K200 body trucks hooked to three and four-axle dog trailers, plus a pair of K200 prime movers towing semi-tipper combinations. It is, without exception, one of the best presented tipper fleets you’re likely to find anywhere. The latest member of the Tyquin team is a new K200 ‘Big Cab’ hauling the equally new Hercules A-double tipper set, believed to be the first A-double combination to operate within the 26m overall length limit of B-doubles. His first introduction to PBS came in 2007 and he concedes it was the threat of encroaching competition that first influenced him to give serious thought to combinations working under Performance-Based Standards. At that point he was largely running 19m truck and quad dog combinations grossing up to 50.5 tonnes. However, the prospect of PBS compliance providing a jump on the competition by allowing a gross weight of 57.5 tonnes on the same number of axles arranged within an overall length of 20m was too good to ignore. However, the timing for his first foray into PBS wasn’t perfect. In 2007 PBS was in its infancy, with compliance sure to demand any number of bureaucratic checks and balances. What’s more, the Global Financial Crisis had kicked in and any investment had to be carefully considered. Still, the potential benefits ultimately drove him headfirst into the cost and confusion of the PBS process, singlehandedly working his way through the seemingly endless hoops and hurdles of VicRoads and the National Transport Commission. "It was a bloody stressful nightmare," he says with cold conviction. "The costs were scary and the whole process was daunting to say the least." "It was bloody ridiculous," he said sharply. Still, the commercial attributes of a truck and quad dog combination able to carry seven tonnes more payload were quickly realised when his first unit finally started work in early 2008. The costs of compliance were recouped in a matter of months, he asserts. In fact, so prompt was the payback that 12 months later he went through the whole PBS process again, admittedly a tad wiser, to put an identical unit on the road. Today, PBS is the norm for all his front-line truck and trailer combinations. "The process is a still a pain in the arse but for what we do, PBS pays off," a resolute Steve Tyquin confirms. As for development of the A-double, he says it all started over a dinner with leading compliance engineer Ken Cowell and Hercules Engineering sales manager Kevin Wright. The conversation revolved around a combination able to deliver inherently high levels of manoeuvrability, operational flexibility, and of course, maximum payload potential. It was eventually concluded that an A-double built within an overall length of 26m would satisfy all requirements, including access to the B-double road network. Four months passed from the time of the initial design through to the PBS application and assessment process, build time for the truck and trailers, and final certification and approval. Then, just when everything appeared ready for the A-double to start work, there was a delay in receiving the final road access permit from the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR). Despite the frustrations and setbacks, Steve concedes that productivity stands as the key to the combination’s commercial merit, with gross weights up to 74.5 tonnes delivering close to a 50 tonnes payload. "There’s nothing to complain about as far as earning capacity goes," Steve says earnestly. As he candidly states, "There’s no way I would’ve invested so much on this combination if I wasn’t absolutely sure of a good payback." Related reading - http://www.ownerdriver.com.au/product-news/1608/pbs-builds-hercules-strength .

If you're displeased with this dealer's response to your concerns, I suggest you call Volvo Group's Mack brand "customer satisfaction " hotline for the U.S. and Canada at +1 (866) 298-6586 and speak to them about it.

Canadian police kill radical Islamist CBC News / August 10, 2016 A suspect being sought in connection with a terror threat, 24-year-old Aaron Driver, has been killed in a confrontation with police in Strathroy, Ontario. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) shot Driver after he detonated an explosive device that injured himself and another person. Police shot Driver after seeing he was going to detonate a second device. The suspect planned to use a bomb to carry out a suicide bombing mission in a public area, but was killed in a police operation. The RCMP were conducting an operation in a residential southwestern Ontario neighbourhood of Strathroy on Wednesday evening after it said credible information of a potential terrorist act was received earlier in the day. "A suspect was identified and the proper course of action has been taken to ensure that there is no danger to the public's safety," the RCMP said. Driver, a known ISIS supporter, agreed to the conditions of a peace bond in a Winnipeg court earlier this year after being arrested in June 2015. By agreeing to the peace bond, Driver was "consenting or acknowledging that there are reasonable grounds to fear that he may participate, contribute — directly or indirectly — in the activity of a terrorist group." Driver caught the attention of CSIS, Canada's spy agency, in October 2014 when he was tweeting support for the militant group ISIS under the alias Harun Abdurahman. He also said the Parliament Hill attack in October of that year by Michael Zehaf-Bibeau was justified. The Mounties planned to hold a news conference on Thursday to provide details. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ BBC / August 11, 2016 A man killed by police in the Canadian province of Ontario planned an attack within 72 hours, police said. The United States FBI sent the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) a video appearing to show a person preparing for an attack. Police quickly identified the suspect as Aaron Driver, 24, and apprehended him in a taxi in Strathroy, Ontario. Driver, who was known to authorities for supporting ISIS, was killed by police. Mike Cabana, RCMP deputy commissioner, said the FBI alerted Canadian authorities early on Wednesday about an "unknown individual that was clearly in the final stages of planning an attack using a homemade explosive device" in Canada. "Obviously it was a race against time," Mr Cabana said. "How quickly this was all established is actually a testament to the level of collaboration that exists between law enforcement agencies." The tip included a "martyrdom" video showing a masked suspect, later identified as Driver, saying he planned to detonate an explosive device in an urban centre during morning or afternoon rush hour. Police played the video at a news conference, showing a masked man denouncing Western "enemies of Islam," making reference to the attacks in Paris and Brussels and pledging his support to IS. "You will pay for everything you brought against us," Driver said in the video. Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) first learned of Driver when he tweeted his support for IS under the alias Harun Abdurahman in October 2014. Mr Cabana added that Driver had been in contact with a 15-year-old British boy who plotted to behead police officers at an Anzac Day parade in Australia. Driver, who was arrested in Winnipeg last June for supporting IS on social media, was under a peace bond, or a court order restricting his movements. Conditions of his peace bond included restricting access to a computer, cell phone, mobile device, social media and prohibiting him from having any contact with IS or other terrorist groups. He was ordered to wear a GPS tracking device, but it was removed earlier this year. Though his movements were restricted, RCMP officials said that he was not under constant surveillance. Police said Driver detonated a device in the back of a taxi, injuring him before he was killed by police. The taxi driver was also hurt. Driver was about to detonate a second device when police shot him. .

Yes, a running prototype was built. The program was mature.

The key questions that all the 2016 presidential candidates only faintly skimmed over: 1. How do you intend to stimulate and grow the economy above its dismal 1.2% growth? 2. How do you intend to spark private-sector job growth? 3. How do you intend to secure our borders? 4. How do you intend to defeat ISIS? 5. How do you intend to reduce the crushing national debt? 6. How do you intend to balance the budget? 7. How do you intend to improve foreign relations with our allies?

Take the time to watch this video in its entirety. Your government (of the people, for the people and by the people), your employees in Washington, D.C. refuse to tell share with you..........anything. Your State Department’s spokesperson, Elizabeth Trudeau, refused to answer even the most reasonable and basic of questions. Reporter: I’m sorry, are you – am I not speaking English? Is this – I mean, is it coming across as a foreign – I’m not asking you if – no one is saying it’s not okay or it’s bad for the department to get a broad variety of input from different people. Asking – the question is whether or not you have determined that there was nothing improper here. Trudeau: “We feel confident that all the rules were followed.” Sarah Westwood of the Washington Examiner adds that Trudeau “also dismissed inquiries about whether Cheryl Mills, Clinton’s former chief of staff, lied under oath when she denied involvement in the botched handling of a 2012 Freedom of Information Act request for documentation of the email accounts Clinton used for official communication.” Asked why Mills didn’t respond correctly to the FOIA request in the first place, Trudeau answered, “Yeah. It’s a good question. I don’t have an answer for you.” .

Commercial Motor / August 10, 2016 NHS Supply Chain, which is operated by DHL, has begun taking delivery of 120 new Dafs from dealer Ford and Slater in Leicester as part of its fleet renewal programme. The new equipment includes 49 DAF LF 14-tonne rigids, 50 DAF CF 18-tonners, 16 DAF CF drawbar units, five DAF CF 6x2 tractors and 19 new Gray and Adams trailers including three double-decks. DHL will manage the day-to-day operation of the fleet through its central maintenance control facility in Manchester and the vehicles will be introduced over the next few months across NHS Supply Chain’s seven UK locations. The trucks all come with DAF MultiSupport compliance contracts, covering vehicle servicing, tachograph calibration, MoT inspection/certification and legal inspections. They feature birds-eye view 360° camera systems, near side detection systems for vulnerable road-users, left turn audible warning systems, four-camera monitoring systems and front/rear proximity warning systems. NHS Supply Chain is operated by DHL and managed by the NHS Business Services Authority, providing more than 300,000 products to 1,000 different customers. DHL recently extended its contract for a further two years until October 2018. Tim Slater, CEO at NHS Supply Chain, said: “Our investment in the new vehicle fleet reinforces our commitment to deliver a great service with vastly increased safety and environmental credentials.” .

Volvo Trucks USA has withdrawn the video.

International Truck introduces Accelerator Write-Up mobile application Truck News / July 28, 2016 Navistar announced today that it will provide its new Accelerator Write-Up – a mobile application that will expedite customers’ service visits by streamlining the write-up and diagnostic process – to its service departments at all 700 International Truck and IC Bus locations. “The Accelerator Write-Up Tool was designed with extensive dealer input with the goal of saving time, removing ambiguity and standardizing procedures during the service check-in process,” said Mark Reiter, Navistar vice-president, Customer Support. “The goal is to maximize customer uptime and provide a best-in-class customer experience.” The Accelerator Write-up is an Android mobile application that simplifies the customer experience at an International Truck or IC Bus dealership by collecting customer vehicle issues using a multiple-choice questionnaire to assign corresponding complaint codes, then linking these issues to action plans that provide service technicians with clear direction on how to diagnose and repair specific vehicle issues. The application allows the customer and dealer collaborate to 1) confirm customer information; 2) collect the customer vehicle issue by assigning it a code; 3) capture photos of all four corners of the vehicle; 4) connect to the vehicle to capture a health report and 5) agree to the terms of service. This write-up data then becomes accessible to customers subscribing to OnCommand Connection, Navistar’s remote diagnostics system, giving customers the ability to view their vehicle’s complete service history and health reports from their own computer or mobile device. “The new Accelerator Write-up application supports our leadership in the connected vehicle space,” said Terry Kline, chief information officer, Navistar. “This is just one of an entire marketplace of high-tech tools that are currently in development to better meet the needs of our customers.” Dealerships will begin implementing the Accelerator Write-up on July 28, 2016. To find an International Truck or IC Bus dealer, visit www.internationaltrucks.com or www.icbus.com.

International Trucks Press Release / August 10, 2016 .

No sales marketing literature was ever printed because Volvo killed the program.

Much thanks to your friend for sharing these photographs. The black engine appears to be a "display" unit. Does it have unit pump injection? Mack Trucks had planned to re-launch the E9 V-8 in 2003 with Bosch electronic unit pump (EUP) injection. Revisions allowed it to meet the latest EPA standards The military spec units were probably built in 2003.

U.S. complains after Philippines president uses homophobic slur to describe envoy The Washington Post / August 10, 2016 The first rule of diplomacy? Don't use a homophobic slur when referring to a foreign dignitary. But that's exactly what Rodrigo Duterte, president of the Philippines, did in televised remarks Friday. Washington reportedly summoned Manila's charge d’affaires in Washington on Monday to complain, in what must have been a rather awkward meeting. Duterte, a fast-talking former mayor who swept to power this spring, was telling reporters about his relationship with U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg when he made the wildly homophobic — and utterly undiplomatic — remark. "As you know, I’m fighting with [U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry’s] ambassador. His gay ambassador, the son of a whore. He pissed me off,” Duterte said. (He was speaking in Tagalog, the main language of the Philippines, and the word for "son of a whore" isn't quite as pointed as it seems in English. It might be compared to calling someone an S.O.B.) During this year's election campaign, Duterte drew national and international condemnation for saying he wished he had "been first" to rape an Australian missionary who was assaulted and killed during a prison riot. The Australian ambassador objected, as did Goldberg. Duterte told them both to "shut up." The not-so-presidential comment came at a sensitive time. With China pressing its claims to virtually the entire South China Sea, the Philippines and the United States have moved to deepen their long-standing military alliance. A defense pact upheld this year allows the U.S. military to build facilities at five Philippine bases, and more U.S. ships than ever are stopping by the former U.S. naval base at Subic Bay. But Duterte has gone back and forth on his relationship with the United States, a fact that has raised questions about how he would handle a potential conflict in the South China Sea. During his campaign, Duterte said he might be willing to make a deal with China in return for major infrastructure spending on his home island, then quixotically vowed to ride a water scooter to the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea and plant the Philippine flag. As president, he has thus far taken a more restrained approach, potentially laying the groundwork for better ties with China. Duterte is also facing criticism from the United States and others over a bloody crackdown on alleged drug dealers. [‘Shoot him and I’ll give you a medal’: Duterte urges public to kill drug lords] Since Duterte took office, more than 400 suspected drug dealers have been killed, 4,400 have been arrested, and more than 600,000 people have surrendered themselves to authorities to avoid being killed, the Associated Press reported. [In this area, he’s effective] “We are concerned by these detentions, as well as the extrajudicial killing of individuals suspected to be involved in drug activity in the Philippines,” U.S. State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said Monday. Goldberg is not the first dignitary to be subjected to crude comments from Duterte. The now-president once made headlines for using the same "son of a whore" word to describe the pope. Duterte later issued a letter of apology and said he would fly to the Vatican to apologize. He then backpedaled on the visit bit.

David Axe, Reuters / August 10, 2016 Britain used to boast the most powerful navy in the world. No more. That’s a serious problem for allies like the United States. Traditionally, Britain’s Royal Navy has been the U.S. Navy's closest partner. The two have fought together against most every foe. So any weakening of the Royal Navy also erodes Washington's naval power. Today, however, the Royal Navy is a shadow of its former self. Government budgeteers have repeatedly, and excessively, cut the numbers of its ships, planes and manpower. It can barely patrol the United Kingdom’s own waters, much less project British influence abroad. Though London officials now vow to reverse the decline, it might be too late. With morale plummeting, and its few remaining ships frequently malfunctioning at sea, the Royal Navy’s suffering might be terminal. The timing couldn’t be worse. The West is mobilizing to defeat Islamic State, deter an increasingly aggressive Russia and manage China's meteoric rise as a world power. The British fleet's collapse is an object lesson for cash-strapped governments struggling to balance competing budgetary needs in a seemingly ever more volatile world. Yes, navies are expensive. They require long-term planning, work and funding. In peacetime, the fleet’s benefit is often invisible, marked by the absence of overt conflict. Yet navies remain crucial to national defense. Patrolling international waters with sophisticated sensors and powerful, long-range weaponry, they can respond more quickly to crises and bring more firepower to bear than can air forces (which require nearby runways) and armies (which move slowly). Navies that die from neglect leave a void that rogue states, terrorists and criminals can quickly fill. It takes navies to keep an eye on vast ocean regions. Remove what was once the world's leading fleet, and you create a virtual security vacuum. During World War Two, the British fleet was still dominant. On D-Day in 1944, it was able to send more than 900 British warships across the English Channel to escort the Allied troops who would liberate Europe from Nazi Germany. As recently as 1982, the Royal Navy could quickly muster no fewer than 115 ships — including two aircraft carriers carrying jet fighters, plus 23 destroyers and frigates — to retake the Falkland Islands from Argentina. Today, the British navy doesn’t even have jet fighters. It mothballed its last Harriers in 2010. It possesses just 89 ships. (By comparison, the U.S. Navy and Military Sealift Command, the Pentagon's fleet of support ships, have roughly 400.) Britain’s fleet has declined amid steady defense budget cuts, from 4.1 percent of gross domestic product in 1988 to 2.6 percent in 2010. Reductions in 2010 sliced another 8 percent in real terms. As part of a defense review in 2015, London vowed to stop cutbacks on the fleet. But the damage has been done. On paper, the Royal Navy's 89 ships include one helicopter carrier, six amphibious assault ships, six destroyers, 13 frigates, seven attack submarines and four ballistic-missile submarines. The rest are minesweepers, survey ships and other support vessels, many no larger than the U.S. Coast Guard's small patrol ships. Only the six destroyers, 13 frigates and seven attack submarines can be considered true frontline vessels, with adequate sensors, weapons and protection to fight and survive in a battle with a sophisticated foe. The other ships require escort through dangerous waters. Roughly half the ships are in routine maintenance or training at any given time. Several others are committed to small standing patrols, which leaves just a handful of vessels to respond to emergencies. But that's assuming there are enough sailors to operate the ships. The Royal Navy has shed people faster than ships. Britain had 39,000 sailors in 2000. It now has a little more than 29,000, at least 2,000 short of its authorized strength. Fleet planners tried to address the personnel shortage by sidelining two of its most powerful ships. This summer, for example, the Royal Navy placed the large Type 23 frigate HMS Lancaster in “extended readiness”: It was tied up pierside, its crew assigned to other vessels. Meanwhile, the new Type 45 destroyer HMS Dauntless suffered serious problems with generators and entered port for repairs that could last at least until 2019. As with Lancaster, the fleet dispersed Dauntless' sailors to other vessels. With those vessels out of action, the Royal Navy's real strength dropped from 26 fighting ships to an unprecedented modern low of 24 [just 24 fighting ships available to call on!]. Last month, the new attack submarine HMS Ambush collided with a merchant vessel off Gibraltar. The sub suffered serious damage and limped back to Britain for repairs that could take months, if not longer. That accident reduced the Royal Navy's undersea combat strength by nearly 15 percent. It was a stark reminder that Britain has almost no naval strength in reserve. As budget reductions cut deeper, the British fleet withdrew from much of the world. Before 2010, the Royal Navy played a leading role in efforts to curb piracy off the Somali coast. British frigates formed the core of various international task forces that patrolled the Indian Ocean and Red Sea. But in 2012, London quietly ended its permanent role in the counter-piracy efforts. Britain also felt the dearth of ships much closer to home. In January 2014, the resurgent Russian navy, which under President Vladimir Putin has embarked on an extensive modernization program, sailed a missile-armed cruiser through the North Sea. The Russian ship approached to within 30 miles of Scotland. The Royal Navy's crucial job is safeguarding British home waters. But the only available warship, the destroyer HMS Defender, was at Portsmouth on England's southern coast. Defender took 24 hours to make the 600-mile journey to Scotland. It eventually located the Russian ship and, after the two crews exchanged a few radio messages, Defender escorted the cruiser away from British territory. A few months later, Islamic State fighters swept through northwestern Iraq. The world mobilized air and sea power to help Baghdad push them back. The U.S. and French navies deployed aircraft carriers to launch air strikes on the militant forces. The U.S. Navy even occasionally positioned two flattops in Middle East waters. But for the first time in a century, Britain could do little to help. It had no aircraft carriers capable of supporting fixed-wing planes. London had decommissioned its last — HMS Illustrious — in August 2014. Illustrious' Harrier strike jets had preceded the vessel into retirement. Perhaps most damning, in 2016 the Royal Navy withdrew from the South Atlantic after 34 years of deploying at least one large warship to deter Argentina from again trying to seize the Falklands Islands. Under successive Labour and Conservative governments, London has consistently cut the Royal Navy for more than a decade, while denying that the cuts were detrimental to national security. The government pointed to several multibillion-pound shipbuilding programs for new frigates, destroyers and submarines, as well as an ambitious plan to build two new large aircraft carriers and outfit them with F-35 stealth fighters. But the new ships are too few, too late. They are also too lightly armed to adequately replace older vessels. Much less to expand and enhance the fleet. In recent years, the Royal Navy has replaced 12 old Type 42 destroyers with just six new Type 45s, which are larger and more heavily armed than the Type 42s but mechanically unreliable. In addition, there are too few to handle all the missions the older vessels once undertook. The fleet is getting just seven new Astute-class attack submarines, to replace 12 old Swiftsure- and Trafalgar-class subs. As with the Type 45 destroyers, the Astutes are bigger and pack more firepower than the ships they're replacing. But like the Type 45s, the Astutes have proved difficult to operate. In any case, there aren't enough to cover all the areas the older submarines once patrolled. Today there are 13 old Type 23 frigates in the fleet. The government has approved just eight new Type 26 frigates. Meanwhile, it is promising to build at least five smaller Type 31s to help keep up the fleet's strength. But the lighter Type 31s could lack the firepower and protection to be a credible deterrent to Russia's far heavier vessels. Indeed, many of Britain’s newest ships are remarkably light. London has placed orders over the past two years for several small, lightly equipped patrol vessels. The net effect is a Royal Navy that's increasingly made up of small, underarmed vessels that maintain the official ship count, but continue the hollowing-out trend that has steadily sapped its real strength. The new aircraft carriers are perhaps the best examples. The two Queen Elizabeth-class ships, which are 920 feet long and displace more than 60,000 tons of water, are the biggest warships Britain has produced. When they enter frontline service in 2020, they should restore the at-sea aviation capability that the Royal Navy lost when it retired its Harrier jets in 2010. The Queen Elizabeths, however, were planned for a larger fleet. An aircraft carrier requires more planes and escorts than Britain can provide. The U.S. Navy, for example, never deploys a carrier without 60 aircraft aboard and a convoy of three or four destroyers and cruisers, a submarine and several supply ships. The Royal Navy expects to deploy just one carrier at a time and keep the second at home. It projects that its new carriers will only deploy between 12 and 24 F-35s — too few to use the ships to their full potential. In addition, assigning the vessels needed to accompany and supply the carrier — three or four frigates and destroyers as escort and a several supply ships to sustain it — would monopolize the Royal Navy's entire deployable strength. A 60,000-ton carrier can accommodate 50 or more aircraft. London plans to buy just 48 F-35 fighters, which means many could be in maintenance or training at any given time. Navies are indeed complex and expensive. Stop paying attention to your fleet, and it will go away. For Britain’s allies, there’s a powerful lesson in that.