From Albion To Santiago

Author's Note: Albion is another name for the United Kingdom, while Santiago is the capital city of Chile, hence the name of this comic.

Fun Fact: The United Kingdom sold two warships named HMS Norfolk to Chile. The first one (D21) was a County-class destroyer, and the second one (F230) was a Type 23 frigate. The former was renamed to Capitán Prat (DLH-11), and was decommissioned in 2006 and subsequently scrapped two years later, while the latter was renamed to Almirante Cochrane (FF-05), and is still in active service with Chile as at the time of this comic being uploaded.

The Canard Fighters of 2000 and Beyond

Currently, there are three types of canard fighter jets in active service with any country's air force. All of them are of European origin, and all of them are in the Daisenryaku series of video games. They are the British-German-Italian-Spanish Eurofighter Typhoon, the French Rafale and the Swedish Gripen.

The Eurofighter Typhoon was the third British fighter jet developed in conjunction with other countries. The other two being the SEPECAT Jaguar (UK/France) and the Panavia Tornado (UK/Germany/Italy). It saw no combat service until the Libyan Civil War of 2011.

The Dassault Rafale was originally conceived to complement the Mirage 2000, which is why these two fighter jets are a common sight during Bastille Day. Like the Eurofighter Typhoon, the Rafale did not see combat until the Libyan Civil War of 2011.

The Saab JAS 39 Gripen was originally conceived to be the Saab 37 Viggen's successor. Like the Viggen, the Gripen is a delta wing fighter jet with canards. Unlike the Eurofighter or the Rafale, the Gripen has yet to see any combat whatsoever because none of the Gripen's operators are currently involved in any hostilities for now.

Anti-Tank Magical Girl

Continuing from that comic about characters who would win against a T-72 tank, I decided to expand on it by coming up with this comic about eight tanks Rit would win against if she were to confront them.

Remember when I said that the first boss of the Mysterious Pyramid levels of the arcade version of Rod Land was a tank? It turns out Rit and Tam won against that boss, which inspired me to come up with the comic about characters who would win against a T-72 tank, and this comic is a sequel focused on eight tanks Rit would win against if she were to confront them.

M47 Patton: This tank never got to fire a single shot in anger under the American Flag, but it saw a lot of action in various conflicts. However, its combat record was below average, with the biggest blemish being the Iran-Iraq War, where Iranian M47 Pattons got destroyed by Iraqi tanks of Russian origin.

Chieftain Tank: Britain's attempt to create a more powerful successor to the highly successful Centurion Tank was actually a disappointment that got rejected by Allied countries, including the Netherlands, Canada and Australia. There was a silver lining in that rejection, however, because Iranian Chieftains were getting massacred by Iraq in the Iran-Iraq War. Even Iraqi tank crews claim that their sabot rounds were going through Chieftain Tanks like a hot knife slicing through butter, and those claims turned out to be true.

Type 62 Tank: This Chinese light tank invaded Vietnam during the Sino-Vietnamese War, only to perform poorly in that conflict due to its weak armor.

Type 63 Tank: Another Chinese light tank that invaded Vietnam during the Sino-Vietnamese War. Like the Type 62, it performed poorly in that conflict as well. During the 1991 Gulf War, Iraqi Type 63 light tanks invaded the Saudi Arabian city of Ras Al Jafiji to little success. The reason behind the Type 63's poor performance in the Sino-Vietnamese War and the 1991 Gulf War? Blame its weak armor.

Type 69 Tank: When the Type 69 Tank first came out, it was initially rejected by the Chinese Ministry of Defence due to its poor performance, and all 100 Type 69 Tanks were sent back to the factory that built them. After improvements were made, the Type 69 tank got better. So much better that China manufactured Type 69 Tanks for Iran and Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War. Talk about playing both sides...

Panzer 68: The Panzer 68 had so many problems that it could well be considered the worst tank to have entered military service. The Swiss Ministry of Defence knew about the Panzer 68's problems and they rectified many of these problems with the upgrade to the 68/88 model.

TR-85: Romania's most successful attempt at an indigenous combat tank project was not without teething problems. The problems were so bad that the communist regime threatened to cease tank production. Even after the modernization program that came after the fall of communism, the TR-85 still looks like a relic of the Cold War. In fact, the Romanian Ministry of Defence is mulling over retiring the TR-85. But with no replacement, the TR-85 will have to remain in service with the Romanian Army despite its obsolescence.

Arjun MBT: India's attempt to create "Leopard 2 Tank at home" was a huge disaster. How bad was the Arjun MBT project, you say? The project was mired in so much corruption that the final product ended up having a worse performance than the T-90 Tank. And Krauss-Maffei's involvement in the Arjun MBT project wasn't helping either because the Arjun's MTU engines were not the type of engines you would expect to find in the Leopard 2, but rather, these MTU engines were similar to the ones found in the Leopard 1.

With all that said, if Rit is a magical girl that is capable of anti-tank warfare, then she is eligible to be on the "Top 10 Best Magical Girls" list.

Too Late for the Cold War

Some Allied military hardware that were conceived during the Cold War entered service after the Cold War ended when Russia threw in the towel after the Soviet Union collapsed. Here are just seven military vehicles of the Allied Nations that entered military service after the Cold War ended in 1991.

If there was anything Britain's Challenger 2, France's Leclerc and Italy's C1 Ariete main battle tanks (MBTs) have in common, it's being conceived during the Cold War only to enter service with their respective countries after the Cold War ended.

The Seawolf-class submarines of the United States Navy (USN) were conceived with the possibility of a Russo-American War in mind. However, problems during construction meant the commissioning of the first ship of the class was delayed until 1997. By then, Russia had already admitted defeat.

The first keel for Canada's Halifax-class frigates was laid down in 1987, but HMCS Halifax, the first ship in the class, was not commissioned until 1992, meaning the Halifax-class frigates arrived too late for the Cold War, which ended at the end of 1991.

Australia's Collins-class submarines were the result of proposals to replace the Oberon-class submarines in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) in 1978. Like the American Seawolf-class submarines, the Collins-class submarines encountered construction problems as well. By the time HMAS Collins was commissioned, the Cold War was long over.

Taiwan's F-CK-1 Ching-kuo fighter jets had China as an opponent in mind when it had its first flight in 1989. When it entered service in 1992, the Cold War was already over by then, and China acknowledged that the Soviet Union had already collapsed, so technically, the F-CK-1 Ching-kuo fighter jets entered service after Russia threw in the towel.

Now with Russia, China and all their other battle buddies itching to go to war (Russia has already invaded Ukraine), these vehicles that arrived too late for the Cold War may just see real combat action (Challenger 2 tanks have fought in Iraq and are battling enemies in the war in Ukraine, while Leclerc tanks in UAE service have intervened in Yemen). Not to mention that all of these vehicles appear in the Daisenryaku series of military strategy video games.

Player-Owned Ports Memories (Part 1)

Do you remember the days when we gave all kinds of wacky different names to our ships in RuneScape's Player-Owned Ports? What about naming our Player-Owned Ports ships after actual ships of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy or the United States Navy? Those were the glory days...

For those wondering what ships Captain Rodney and his navy buddies are referring to, HMS Diamond, HMS Dragon, HMS Ocean and HMS Illustrious are Royal Navy ships that were in active service as at 6/6/2012, while USS Enterprise, USS Ranger, USS Fletcher, USS King, USS Narwhal, USS Shark, USS Jack and USS Swordfish are US Navy ships that were in active service as at 6/6/1988.

More Great Warships that did not fight in a war

Here is another comic featuring great warships that never had a chance to fight in a real war. Click here to see my previous comic about great warships that did not get a chance to fight in a real war.

HMS Vanguard (23) was the last battleship to enter service in the UK's Royal Navy. Having been commissioned in 1946, it came too late to fight against Germany and Japan, which were both vanquished in 1945. HMS Vanguard (23) did not even get to fire at communist forces during the Korean War, and it did not even get to fight against Soviet Russia throughout its 14 years of active service. Its only major role was for the 1960 film "Sink the Bismarck!" And that film was made shortly before the decommissioning of HMS Vanguard (23), in which the decommissioning was filmed as part of the Look at Life film series.

Did you know that Spain operates aircraft carriers? One of those aircraft carriers was Príncipe de Asturias. It was commissioned in 1988. By that point, the Soviet Union was on its last legs, meaning Príncipe de Asturias did not have to fight against Soviet Russia. Príncipe de Asturias did not take part in Spain's involvement in Operation Desert Storm, nor was it part of Spain's involvement in the Allied invasion of Iraq, meaning the Spanish aircraft carrier had a largely uneventful career by the time it was decommissioned in 2013.

Sweden's Sverige-class coastal defence battleships had a largely uneventful career. Other than HSwMS Drottning Victoria and HSwMS Gustaf V having to bring a dead Swedish queen back to Stockholm from Germany in 1930, HSwMS Gustaf V running aground off Malmö in 1933, and HSwMS Gustaf V having a boiler explosion in 1940 that killed ten people, the Sverige-class coastal defence battleships were to never see combat at all. This could be due to Germany having no interest in invading Sweden during World War 2 and Russia having no interest in invading Sweden during the early days of the Cold War.

The German Federal Republic had some great fighting ships during the Cold War. Among them were the training cruiser Deutschland and the Hamburg-class destroyers, both of whom along with the Lütjens-class destroyers, were among the biggest ships of the German Federal Republic's Navy. But neither the training cruiser Deutschland nor any of the Hamburg-class destroyers were to see any real combat whatsoever. In fact, no warship of the Federal Republic of Germany was to see combat throughout the entire Cold War because the Federal Republic of Germany took back East Germany when the East German communist regime blundered and as a result, surrendered without a shot being fired.

Little information is known about the career of USS Narwhal (SSN-671). It was eventful, however, because it was involved in monitoring Soviet vessels. USS Narwhal (SSN-671) sustained minor damage during Hurricane Hugo in 1989. It was also the venue of a 1993 reunion of the USS Narwhal (SS-167) crew, and it was also the stealthiest submarine in the US Navy until USS Seawolf (SSN-21) came along.

Denmark's Willemoes-class missile boats did not get to fight against the Russian Navy's Baltic Fleet because the Danish Navy did a very good job at keeping Russia's Baltic Fleet bottled up without any direct confrontation, and none of the Willemoes-class missile boats were involved in Denmark's participation in Operation Desert Storm. However, one of these Willemoes-class missile boats, HDMS Sehested, achieved a top speed of 42.5 knots, which were the highest recorded and documented speed ever achieved for the Willemoes-class missile boats. This was good enough to get HDMS Sehested preserved by the Royal Danish Naval Museum alongside frigate HDMS Peder Skram and submarine HDMS Sælen. So if you ever visit Copenhagen, please pay a visit to the Royal Danish Naval Museum and their three Cold War era museum ships.

Irish Famine Indifference

Ever wondered why the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland have a mutual dislike towards each other that resulted in terrorist activities during The Troubles? The Irish side of the story will tell you that even though the British people did try to lend a hand during the infamous 1845-1852 Irish Potato Famine, the British Government did not want the British people to even lift a finger to help Ireland in their time of need. This was the result of the intense hatred that Protestants and Catholics had towards each other, and it resulted in terrorist activities that have a lasting legacy on the British Isles to this day.

Opinions on Brexit

If there are any countries that will approve of the United Kingdom's decision to leave the European Union, it's Switzerland and Norway. Of course these two countries will approve of Brexit because Switzerland and Norway are not part of the European Union. Belgium, on the other hand, will disapprove of Brexit because Brussels, the Belgian capital city, is the headquarters of the European Union. However, many people do not see who the true power inside Brussels really is, and those that do had their political careers cut short. So much for Germany being reunited under democracy when those who uphold democracy were in the minority before reunification.

At the end of the day, Margaret Thatcher may have been right to say "You did not anchor Germany to Europe. You have anchored Europe to a newly dominant, unified Germany. In the end, my friends, you'll find it will not work."

D-Day 80th Anniversary

Today marks the 80th Anniversary of the historic D-Day Landings at Normandy. Between this event and the Russo-German War, the Third Reich was doomed, and Europe was liberated.

Unfortunately, this landmark anniversary has been overshadowed by the decline of the Anglosphere, the war in Israel, tensions over Taiwan and Korea, the Russo-Ukrainian War, and Europe shunning its liberators in favor of another attempt to revive the Roman Empire. Hitler's Third Reich was merely the sixth attempt to revive the Roman Empire. The European Union that deceived its member states has now been revealed to be the seventh attempt to revive the Roman Empire.

Then again, Germany did not see the armies of the United States, Britain and Canada as liberators who overthrew a tyrannical regime but occupiers because the directive that was issued to Allied Forces in 1945 stated that Germany was to be occupied as a defeated enemy nation and not for the purpose of liberation. This is not a good sign because Germany is rejecting democracy in favor of another attempt to revive the Roman Empire and it will result in another World War. One that will end in no flesh being saved alive if Christ does not return...

Regulatory Imperialism

Nobody wants to hear this, but the real truth about the growing Internet censorship, be it the copyright takedowns or the European Union, Brazil and Australia calling for the censorship of X (formerly Twitter), is that Germany has imposed its will on the World Wide Web through mundane, boring legislation. It's called regulatory imperialism, and the European Union is weaponizing it. This is even more dangerous than the last time Germany plunged the world into a global conflict because the corrupt bureaucrats, their pawns and their allies will be screaming for your imprisonment for saying bad things about them online or just trying to defend free speech, Fair Use and freedom of creativity. It gets even worse when you learn that countries that are not part of the European Union such as Brazil, Japan, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, have signed regulation treaties with the European Union, meaning the only way to do business with the European Union is to obey their regulations. This includes copyright regulations, which can explain all the copyright takedowns, whether they are unlawful or not.

In conclusion, we are indeed living in the twilight days of Internet freedom, and its all the fault of an undemocratic institution that cheated and lied to millions of Europeans, including the French and the Germans...

Great Warships that did not fight in a war

Not all warships get to fight in wars. There are some warships that never get to fire in anger at any foe at all. Here are just several warships that I think were great warships that never had a chance to fight in a real war.

USS Nautilus (SSN-571): America's (and the world's) first nuclear-powered submarine was a game changer when it was first launched. Its was made famous through the first underwater voyage under the North Pole. Other than that and an embarrassing collision with aircraft carrier USS Essex, USS Nautilus (SSN-571) had a largely uneventful career. After it was decommissioned, USS Nautilus (SSN-571) was preserved as a museum ship.

Sweden's last class of cruisers, the Tre Kronor-class, did not get to fire a shot at any enemy vessel in anger at all, mainly due to Sweden being neutral in World War 2, as well as Russia choosing not to go to war against Sweden during the Cold War. Even under the Chilean flag, the Tre Kronor-class did not get to fire a shot in anger.

The De Zeven Provinciën-class cruisers from the Netherlands was another class of cruisers that did not get to fight against Russia or any of its clients during the Cold War. Even when in the service of the Peruvian Navy, the De Zeven Provinciën-class cruisers did not get to fire a shot in anger because whatever conflicts Peru was having during the time when they had the De Zeven Provinciën-class cruisers did not take place anywhere near coastal areas.

Britain's Tiger-class cruisers did not even get to fight in the Falklands War at all.

Chile's Almirante-class destroyers, like their Tre Kronor-class cruiser Almirante Latorre, never got to fight in any war at all.

Due to Canada staying out of wars in the years between the Korean War and the Gulf War, many Canadian warships did not get to fire a shot in anger. The Mackenzie-class destroyers were among those Canadian warships because they were not part of the Canadian flotilla involved in the Gulf War.

Italy's Impetuoso-class destroyers never fired in anger because the only communists that Italy had to fight against were not the armies of communist countries but Italian communists who use underhanded or subversive means to overthrow the enemies of communism in Italy.

These are just several great warships that did not get to fight in a war. There are many more great warships that did not get to fight in any conflict at all. Then again, any warship that stays out of war stays out of harm's way altogether, if the naval battles in World of Warships or War Thunder do not count, that is.

The Rise of King Charles the Third

Today is the day of King Charles III's coronation. He will be sitting on the throne of England, and by extension, the United Kingdom since taking over from his late mother Queen Elizabeth II after her death last year. His coronation, however will take place in a time when Britain no longer possesses an empire. Talk about once possessing an empire on which the sun never sets...

Here's hoping that Charles III is a good king, and perhaps a true servant of the British people.

Annus Horribilis 2022

2022 turned out to be another bad year. We had Russia invading Ukraine, which could possibly get the ball rolling for more conflicts and possibly bring about the end of democracy in Europe and Asia. There's also the assassination of Shinzo Abe, which people claim could herald the end of Japanese democracy, although Shinzo Abe was putting Japanese freedoms to the sword before his death. The high profile obituaries do not stop there, however, as the obituaries of Queen Elizabeth II and Pele also made the headlines. And let's not forget about the corrupt World Cup that was hosted by Qatar, whose soccer team had the worst performance of a World Cup host nation after losing all three Group Stage matches...

If you want to get your hopes high for 2023, prepare for more disappointment. We may have less than ten years left before the start of the Great Tribulation...

The End of a Queen

It is with great sadness that Queen Elizabeth II passed away yesterday. Her obituary was just announced today. King Charles III is now the new King of the United Kingdom. With the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the United Kingdom's new Prime Minister, Liz Truss, is about to have a wild ride on a rough road that lies ahead for her. Amid the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War, the arguments between China and the USA over Taiwan and Korea, and anger against the descendants of Judah for being corrupt, England is about to face a crisis bigger than what Winston Churchill faced at the start of World War 2.

A combination of Brexit and the death of Queen Elizabeth II will bring about bad things. But a dictatorial Britain as seen in V for Vendetta or Code Geass is not going to happen. Instead, Britain's decline will not go into reverse gear but will accelerate faster than an Aston Martin or perhaps a McLaren. Who knows, maybe King Charles III will find himself witnessing the next World War...

Territorial Woes

Author's Note: This comic is about the 1961 War for Goa between India and Portugal. This was the story of the situation.

In 1947, India was granted independence from Britain. However, a few areas of the Indian subcontinent were still under Portuguese rule. Attempts by the British and Indian governments to convince Portugal to relinquish control of their exclaves turned out unsuccessful because the dictatorship in Portugal at the time kept rejecting peaceful negotiations. As a result, war between India and Portugal was inevitable. India won that conflict. Britain felt that the situation could have been solved peacefully. But then again, it was the fault of the Portuguese dictatorship for turning down all the peaceful means in the first place and averting unnecessary bloodshed.

On a side note, this comic about a footnote in India's history is also dedicated to India's 75th anniversary of their independence from Britain. Glory to the Commonwealth!

Undeniable Truth

It's official. The Golden Age that was Pax Britannica and Pax Americana is officially over, and we can deny it no longer. However, this depressing end was prophesied in Leviticus 26:14-39 and Deuteronomy 28:15-68 regarding the consequences of violating the God-given laws stated in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. Had we known that the United States and the British Commonwealth were descendants of Joseph's sons Ephraim and Manasseh, we would do anything to slow down the inevitable downfall of the United States and the British Commonwealth. Unfortunately, it's already too late to prevent this tragic demise. The sad fate of the United States and the British Commonwealth going to suffer the same tragic fate as the Israelite Empire will perhaps happen within our lifetime...

35 Years in 8 Pictures

Author's Note: Having observed people portraying past years in meme form, I decided to come up with my own portrayal of past years. Here's how the last 35 years are portrayed in 8 pictures, now in comic form.

1986: Back when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, a reactor in the Chernobyl nuclear power station exploded, rendering the nearby town of Pripyat uninhabitable. It turns out that Chernobyl was a terrible name for a nuclear power station because Chernobyl in Russian means "wormwood", which is synonymous with bitterness.

1991: A pivotal year for the Allies as they not only defeated the Iraqi Army in Operation Desert Storm, but the Allies rejoiced over Russia throwing in the towel as a result of the Soviet Union's collapse.

1996: Metal Slug's launch gave the Neo Geo arcade cabinet, and the run and gun genre, a new lease of life. Metal Slug was also known for iconic quotes such as "Heavy Machine Gun!" and has since become an icon of the SNK community.

2001: The day the worst terrorist attack in history happened on American soil was believed to be the day the biblical end times began. Since then, America was never the same again.

2006: Nintendo launched the Wii console, which went on to be the first Nintendo home console to have unit sales that surpassed 100 million units sold.

2011: Japan's worst earthquake, tsunami and nuclear reactor explosion combo left several parts of the country's east coast devastated, and the area around the nuclear power station damaged by the tsunami was rendered uninhabitable as a result.

2016: The United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. Nobody, not even those who advocated for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union expected the "Leave" camp to emerge victorious.

2021: The year the European Union Copyright Directive, as well as Japan's copyright regulations that prohibits manga piracy, comes into force. Everybody fears that the copyright regulations will censor the Internet by getting rid of copyright infringement first before turning their attention towards those who call the European Union undemocratic, which they obviously are.