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DeliciousChandler kidnap 'highly frustrating'
Wednesday, November 18, 2009First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope has described the abduction of a British couple from their yacht as "highly frustrating", after it emerged that Royal Navy personnel witnessed the kidnap.
Paul and Rachel Chandler, from Tunbridge Wells, were kidnapped by pirates off the Somali coast on 23 October. The pirates are demanding a $7m ransom for their release.
In an interview with the Times, Admiral Sir Mark praised the crew of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel Wave Knight, who located the Chandlers' yacht as the couple were being transferred to their kidnappers' motor launch.
"It's a huge piece of water and the fact that Wave Knight found the yacht was impressive," said Sir Mark, "but we were not in a position to engage. We were too late for that.
"You need special expertise to deal with hostage rescue, and we didn't have that expertise. Sailors with pistols couldn't do the job of ensuring the safety of the Chandlers. It was highly frustrating.
"There were broad rules of engagement that had to be followed, and it was a fairly easy decision to make, because the security of the Chandlers was the most important thing," he said.
"Wave Knight is not a warship. There was only a flight on board, and as soon as they got close, the pirates threatened the hostages."
Last week the MoD admitted that a Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel was in the vicinity of the hijacked yacht while the pirates were still present.
The MoD said the earlier statement, which said crews had merely found the Chandler's yacht adrift, had been released for "operational reasons".
HAVE YOUR SAY
The "most important thing" is not the safety of the Chandlers it is the safety of all seafarers. If that means some casualties are incurred for the greater good then so be it.
John Walkley - Budapest Hungary
Where is the spirit of "The Navys Here" that we had in WW2 when the RN rescued British merchantmen from captivity? The RN should be shelling these pirate havens. Its how we got rid of the pirate menace in the first place. If that means trying grasping human rights lawyers for treason first, then bring it on.
John Hartley - Woking, England, UK
what bothers me is that the SAS hasnt gone in to rescue them or why if this a regular occurence why not declare war on that country seeming as we do for oil why cant we for real people being robbed!
mark sykes - Huddersfield,UK
Not that long ago we would have had a Warship in the area that could have been in a position to help. Now with all the cut backs all we can spare is a RFA. Not degrading the RFA at all they do a good job, but as the Admiral said Wave Knight is not a Warship.
Chris Hayward - Ex Roc
From my understanding RFA Wave Knight had Royal Marines on board. Many RFA's do have Royal naval personnel on board operating weapons systems and helicopters if one is embarked.
J Hartley is spot on.In my opinion the root cause of this is NL political correctness. Just like the way the Iranians took the crew from HMS Cornwall, the rules of engagement are so severe.
What the hell is the first role of a countries military anyway? To protect its citizens. Seems they just sat and watched. Disgrace. Not on our forces there, I'm sure they were itching to get involved. But on them on high.
Like her or loathe her, does anyone think Thatcher would have sat idley by. No, action would have been taken. Why cant G Brown go on national television, and tell the world " the next group that touches a hair on a British citizens head will have the RN after them and the sky over their country dark with RAF aircraft. Fantasy I know, but thats how it should be. How do you deal with a bully? With a bloody big stick! Much as I disapprove of American foriegn policy, would they have sat by? I doubt it.
Finally, isnt it ironic how we fight tooth and nail to resist Abu Hazmas extradition, that Hook chap that wants the west in flames, who is not even British, yet two British subjects are taken and we just sit and watch. Somethings wrong there.
Daniele Mandelli - Guildford
I wonder if there is anything that we the general public can do to help - raise the money or petitions or something there does not seem to be anything to do but wait till they are shot. If it was my parents it would be horrific!
sam - glasgow
This rotten government with its lack of will and political correctness clearly effects our armed forces and in this instance and that of the incident in Iranian waters make us a laughing stock. I suspect our Navy is as good as it ever was but many must clearly be looking over their shoulder for the handwringers and those with 20/20 hindsight who will readily criticise them. I'm afraid in this issue the Chandlers safety is secondary, give in to the pirates and they will always come back.
Chris Price - England