Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
The only traditions of the Royal Navy are rum, sodomy and the lash.
Don't talk to me about naval tradition. It's nothing but rum, sodomy, and the lash.
The head of a ship however has not always an immediate relation to her name, at least in the British navy.
What astounds me about the history of the British Navy is how cheaply we have policed the world for 300 years.
There is no cannibalism in the British Navy, absolutely none. And when I say none, I mean there is a certain amount, more than I personally admit.
Military power tends to be a function of economic power, and the British Navy was the essential capability for establishing the imperial sway - which was attuned to furnish the raw materials for the British manufacturing ascendance. So they were mutually reinforcing.