The Submarine Construction - 1955 United States Navy Educational Documentary

HMS Protector on route to the Antarctic previous surveying in St Helena

The Royal Navy’s Ice Patrol ship HMS Protector is on her way for an eight-month deployment surveying and patrolling Antarctica. She left Portsmouth late September and is currently visiting St Helena to conduct surveys of the harbour in preparation for the building of a new jetty.

 The Ice Patrol during her last foray in Antarctica

HMS Protector is scheduled to call in the Falkland Islands and will arrive in Antarctica for the austral summer and has plans to make four forays into the ice. During this time she will utilize her multi beam echo sounder and deploy her survey motor boat to ensure the UK provides cutting-edge, hydrographic imagery of the Antarctic region.

Around 80% of the world’s charts are provided by the Royal Navy’s hydrographic department.

The ship will also assist with the re-supply of British Antarctic Survey stations in the region.

Protector’s Commanding Officer, Captain Peter Sparkes, said: “Building upon the success - and the lessons identified - from HMS Protector’s inaugural deployment to Antarctica, the ship and her company is ready in all respects to face again the challenges of the southern ocean. HMS Protector exemplifies the Royal Navy’s global reach and the UK government’s commitment to British interests in the South Atlantic.”

The 5.000 ton ice patrol is equipped with a flotilla of small boats, including: the state-of-the-art survey motor boat, ‘James Caird IV’; a. 8.5m ramped Work Boat, ‘Terra Nova’, and; two Pacific 22 rigid inflatable boats (‘Aurora and ‘Nimrod’). Three BV206 all-terrain vehicles and four quad bikes, complete with trailers, will also be carried and craned directly onto the ice to assist with the re-supply of British Antarctic Survey scientific stations.

HMS Protector has a historic connection with Britain's Antarctic commitment: it was the name of the ship, which preceded the former Endurance (1968-91) in the South Atlantic role.

She will carry out all the functions of an Antarctic patrol ship such as deployed to patrol and survey the Antarctic and South Atlantic, maintaining a UK presence and supporting the international community in the region. This involves close links with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the UK Hydrographic Office and the British Antarctic Survey.

Borders and Coast Guards in conflict won’t yield; government looks for scapegoats

Argentina’s Security Ministry decided the intervention of the Border Guards’ Department of Judicial Affairs due to “severe deficiencies” found in the application of the officers' “wage demands”, which led to the current situation that on Friday night was beginning its fifth consecutive day of conflict.

Cristina Fernandez television appearances overshadowed by the conflict

Protestors in front of their headquarter buildings waiting for Tuesday Protestors in front of their headquarter buildings waiting for Tuesday

Likewise, Security Minister Nilda Garré ordered the sanction and suspension of those officers responsible for the deficiencies, stated a communiqué.

In order to achieve the intervention, an administrative task force marched to the Centinela building, the Border Guards headquarters and sealed the judicial area to preserve documents.

According to the ministerial resolution the audit showed “irregularities in the process of judicial measures regarding wage claims”. It also stated that the Security Ministry will now be in charge of this area.

Meanwhile the protesting members from the Borders and Coast Guards announced that they will continue with their demonstrations waiting for the official reply to their list of petitions presented to the authorities who promised a reply before next Tuesday.

The Gendarmerie in Argentina is not only responsible for border patrolling but also accomplishes other security tasks in government buildings and some conflicting areas. Likewise the Coast Guard is not limited to sea patrolling but also must comply with some law and order duties in certain areas.

While the three traditional branches of the Argentine armed forces have been downgraded in resources and numbers, the Borders and Coast Guards, under the Kirchner couple administrations, have seen their numbers increase to over 50.000 and have also been assigned most of the intelligence gathering.

Last week a decree which was intended to mend long standing distortions in salaries, categories and contributions to pension funds, following on a court ruling, ended up implementing cut reductions in pay checks between 30% and 60%, which finally triggered the conflict.

On Thursday the Ministry of Security announced that all the deductions which caused the misunderstanding had been eliminated and pay checks were back to normal. However the conflict did not cease and on the contrary the protest continued this time with a long list of petitions including a starting wage or 7.000 Pesos equivalent to 1.400 dollars.

Protestors however have continued to comply with their forces’ responsibilities and those camped outside their headquarter buildings in downtown Buenos Aires and demonstrating are unarmed.

Meanwhile a branch of Argentina’s organized labour, which responds to the government, called for an end to the conflict and stated in full page ads in Friday newspapers that the “current protests leave citizens exposed and fearful” and insisted “security can’t be conditioned to any petitions, no matter how fair and honest, because it can become extortion and an open challenge to the constitutional authorities of a democratic States”.

But the secretary-general of the powerful CGT umbrella union Hugo Moyano, assured that “it is ridiculous” to label the protest over Border and Coast Guard wages a coup or an attack on democratic institutions.

“The greatest creator of this situation is the government itself,” the union boss said, furthering that “people want to live in a democracy, but in a real democracy, not in the kind of democracy that only gives authority to those who have responsibility to govern.”

Meanwhile President Cristina Fernández held her Friday agenda at the Olivos presidential residence, where she met several officials, in a week which only counted with one public rally.

Along the day, Cristina Fernández received Cabinet Chief Juan Manuel Abal Medina, Economy Deputy Minister Axel Kicillof and the head of the Anses, Diego Bossio.

It was the third consecutive day with little public activity. The Head of State continued with low profile, and still has not given any statement over the Border and Coast Guard officers protest.

This week, the Argentine leader headed a rally at the Government House and met with her Lebanese counterpart, with whom she held a shared conference about bilateral relations and international politics.

US defense chief blasts Karzai over troop deaths

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has voiced frustration with Afghan President Hamid Karzai preferring to "criticize" American troops, rather than acknowledging the sacrifices they have made.

Panetta, who arrived in Peru late Friday to begin a Latin American tour, told reporters aboard the military plane taking him to Lima that Karzai should remember that more than 2,000 US troops have died in Afghanistan.

The angry riposte came after Karzai said on Thursday that the United States was failing to go after militants based in Pakistan, another charge that Panetta chose to hit back at.

Speaking at a press conference in Kabul, Karzai accused the United States of playing a "double game" by fighting a war against Afghan insurgents rather than their backers in Pakistan where, in Karzai's words, "terrorism is financed and manufactured." The Afghan president also lamented what he described as NATO's refusal to supply Afghanistan with modern weapons necessary to fight its enemies.

But a visibly displeased US defense secretary suggested the Afghan president had focused on the wrong things.

"We have made progress in Afghanistan because there are men and women in uniform who are willing to fight and die for Afghanistan's sovereignty and their right to govern and secure themselves," Panetta said.

"We've lost over 2,000 US men and women, ISAF has lost forces there and the Afghans have lost a large number of their forces in battle.

"Those lives were lost fighting the right enemy, not the wrong enemy. And I think it would be helpful if the president, every once in a while, expressed his thanks for the sacrifices that have been made by those who have fought and died for Afghanistan rather than criticize." The outburst was rare for Panetta and the remarks came as relations between the United States and Afghanistan are under strain in the wake of several deadly and high-profile attacks on US troops by their local comrades.

In Afghanistan, the United States has also seen its image tarnished among ordinary Afghans this year by the burning of Korans at a military base, the abuse of corpses and a massacre of civilians by a rogue American soldier.

An unprecedented number of Afghan security personnel have turned their weapons against their allies, killing at least 51 NATO soldiers this year.

Despite this, many Afghans, particularly in the cities, fear the departure of the Western troops in 2014 from a country where the government of Karzai is widely seen as corrupt and dependent on foreign support.

In Lima, Panetta will meet President Ollanta Humala and Defense Minister Pedro Cateriano, Pentagon press secretary George Little told reporters.

"This trip will reaffirm the department's commitment to strengthening partnership around the world, particularly in Latin America and Europe," said Little.

The United States has provided Peru with surveillance planes to disrupt drug traffickers and help tackle remnants of the Shining Path guerrilla group. Washington gave Lima $659 million in associated aid between 2006 and 2011.

A senior US defense official said Panetta would offer further help to Peru under the Ministry of Defense Advisers program, a scheme currently being used in Afghanistan.

"What MODA does is that it embeds technical experts within the MOD for one or two years and they can provide technical advice," the official said.

Panetta will be in Uruguay on Sunday, the Pentagon said, and he will take part in the 10th Conference of Defense Ministers of the Americas at the Punta del Este resort, before traveling to Brussels on Monday.

Two attack submarines visiting San Diego

The Navy's submarine base at Point Loma is a bit more crowded than usual. All of the San Diego-based subs -- Hampton, Asheville, Albuquerque, Topeka, San Francisco and the Jefferson City -- are in port, along with the Houston and the City of Corpus Christi. The Navy lists Guam as the homeport of Houston, and Corpus Christi is based at Pearl Harbor. Earlier, the Key West, which will be home-ported in Guam, visited San Diego. The visits are considered part of the normal movement of the fleet, and the boats are not open to the public.

October 7th - On This Date - USN Submarine Service

1916 - Keel is laid for the USS O-16 (SS 77)

    1918 - USS R-19 (SS 96) is commissioned

    1931 - Keel is laid for the USS Cuttlefish V-9 ( SS 171)

    1942 - USS Tinosa (SS 283) is launched

    1943 - USS S-44 (SS-155) was lost on 7-Oct-1943 with the loss of 56 officers and men when it was sunk on 5th patrol off Paramushiru, Kuriles (Northern); One day out of Attu (2 men were taken prisoner, both survived the war).

Credit - Ron Howard