naptu2: I can still remember NTA's very first report from Liberia (in 1990) as if it was yesterday. The cameraman was with the troops on either NNS Ambe or NNS Ofiom (I can't remember exactly which of the LSTs) and he was filming the Port of Monrovia from the ship when a battle broke out between Samuel Doe's men and Charles Taylor's men. We could hear the explosions from the port and see the black smoke in the sky.
It took some time, but Doe's men were able to retain control of the port and the Nigerian soldiers landed safely.
I can't remember the name of the NTA correspondent.
naptu2: 1) Landing Ship Tank (LST) : A landing ship tank is a kind of naval vessel that can carry tanks, trucks, SUVs, etc and land them directly on shore without requiring port facilities. LSTs usually have a roll-on-roll-off (RORO) ramp with which vehicles can roll ashore or onto the ship without needing a crane to carry them.
Landing ship tanks were very important in the Pacific theatre of World War 2, when Commonwealth and US forces battled the Japanese from island to island. They ferried men, vehicles and other materials from captured island to the next island battlefield.
LSTs were also very important to Ecomog operations in Liberia and Sierra Leone. They carried nigerian troops and equipment to Liberia and Sierra Leone and they also carried refugees in the opposite direction.
NNS Ambe. NNS Ambe has a regular ramp at the rear of the ship (just like the World War 2 LST pictured above) and it also has an articulated ramp in front (which is why the front is higher than other parts of the ship). The ramp in front can be lowered and extended when the ship wants to offload its cargo in very shallow water. NNS Ambe played a very important role in Nigeria's Ecomog operations in Liberia. www.nairaland.com/attachments/10707347_1301080017201325749107094723537584321502138n_jpeg720043c7b964dbc871078d573022efee
I first knew what it was in 1990. On the 9 o'clock news they showed troops preparing to sail to Liberia. Its hull opened and armoured tanks, personnel carriers and fighting vehicles were rolling into it (or was it its sister ship, the Ofiom?). It's a Landing Ship Tank (LST)! The C130 of the navy.
I wish we had amphibious landing ships and amphibious assault ships.
1) Landing Ship Tank (LST) : A landing ship tank is a kind of naval vessel that can carry tanks, trucks, SUVs, etc and land them directly on shore without requiring port facilities. LSTs usually have a roll-on-roll-off (RORO) ramp with which vehicles can roll ashore or onto the ship without needing a crane to carry them.
Landing ship tanks were very important in the Pacific theatre of World War 2, when Commonwealth and US forces battled the Japanese from island to island. They ferried men, vehicles and other materials from captured island to the next island battlefield.
LSTs were also very important to Ecomog operations in Liberia and Sierra Leone. They carried nigerian troops and equipment to Liberia and Sierra Leone and they also carried refugees in the opposite direction.
NNS Ambe. NNS Ambe has a regular ramp at the rear of the ship (just like the World War 2 LST pictured above) and it also has an articulated ramp in front (which is why the front is higher than other parts of the ship). The ramp in front can be lowered and extended when the ship wants to offload its cargo in very shallow water. NNS Ambe played a very important role in Nigeria's Ecomog operations in Liberia. www.nairaland.com/attachments/10707347_1301080017201325749107094723537584321502138n_jpeg720043c7b964dbc871078d573022efee
2) Amphibious landing ship (Landing Ship Dock, Landing Ship Platform, etc) : Landing ship tanks have one disadvantage. They need to get to shore in order to land their cargo. This could be quite difficult if there are opposing forces on land (the LST could easily be hit by shore gun and missile batteries). For example, NNS Ambe could not land its cargo immediately it got to the Free Port of Monrovia because there was a battle between Charles Taylor's NPFL and the Armed Forces Of Liberia of Samuel Doe. Taylor's forces actually fired mortar rounds at NNS Ambe and its escorts.
This problem was resolved by the creation of amphibious landing ships (eg, landing ship dock). Amphibious landing ships have well docks within them from which a zodiac rubber raft, landing boat or an amphibious fighting vehicle can be launched at sea. An amphibious landing ship does not need to go near the shore. It can stay off shore, well out of range of shore defences and launch invading marines and vehicles.
The amphibious landing ship USS Tortuga (LSD 46) deploys Amphibious Assault Vehicles from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (31st MEU) for a landing at Gray Beach, Philippines during Balikatan 2009 joint exercise (April 14, 2009). www.nairaland.com/attachments/10731227_8_jpeg4f84f02beb6427bc9a6d8d09d2376746 Tracked amphibious fighting vehicles like the Assault Amphibious Vehicle propel themselves with their tracks when they are in water, while amphibious fighting vehicles that have tyres propel themselves with water jets.
3) Helicopter carrier: this refers to naval vessels whose primary purpose is to carry military helicopters (helicopter gunships, naval helicopters, transport helicopters, etc). Helicopter carriers were used during World War 2, but went out of style after the war, largely because aircraft carriers could carry both planes and helicopters.
4) Amphibious assault ships: Amphibious assault ships are basically a combination of amphibious landing ships and helicopter carriers. They have a well dock from which they can launch landing crafts and they also have a small flight deck from which they can launch helicopters. The basic idea is that the amphibious assault ships carry attack helicopters which can provide air support to the marines as they go ashore. Some amphibious assault ships also carry vertical take off/landing (VTO/L) aircraft like the Harrier Jump Jet and tiltrotor aircraft like the Boeing V22 Osprey. An amphibious assault ship can therefore stay offshore and launch a full scale invasion.
Amphibious assault ships are also used during refugee crises because they have enough space to accomodate the refugees, helicopters that can be used for extraction and marines to provide security.
A Landing Craft Utility (LCU) returns to the well deck of USS Belleau Wood (LHA 3 amphibious assault ship) during a Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) offload. The landing craft is transporting Marines, vehicles and their gear to the shores of Kuwait (7 July 2004).
5) Air craft carriers: Air craft carriers are large naval vessels that carry both vertical take off/landing (VTO/L) and short take off/landing (STOL) aircraft (both rotary and fixed wing). An aircraft carrier is like a floating airport and it is the biggest type of naval ship currently in use.
Aircraft carriers enable militaries conduct air operations far away from their homeland. They are one of the main means by which the great military powers of the world project force.
Naval vessels from five nations sail in parade formation for a rare photographic opportunity at sea. In four descending columns, from left to right: ITS Maestrale (F 570 Frigate), De Grasse (D 612 Frigate); USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74 Aircraft Carrier), Charles de Gaulle (R91 Aircraft Carrier), Surcouf (F 711 frigate); USS Port Royal (CG-73 guided missile cruiser), HMS Ocean (L12 amphibious assault ship), USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67 air craft carrier), ITS Luigi Durand de la Penne (D560 destroyer); and HNLMS Van Amstel (F 831 Frigate). www.nairaland.com/attachments/10731239_14_jpegdcf816fe7054b0a74c353321030b73ce
Abreviations:
NNS = Nigerian Navy Ship. USS = United States Ship. HMS = Her Majesty's Ship (Britain). HNLMS = Her Netherlands Majesty's Ship. ITS = Italian Ship.
GAGDI ON FOREIGN OVERSIGHT DUTY, INSPECTS LST 100 WARSHIP OF THE NIGERIAN NAVY IN AJMAN STATE OF THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATE.
In pursuance of his legislative function to oversee activities of the Nigerian Navy, and his innate desire for a robust Navy and improved security of Nigerian waterways, the Chairman House of Representatives Committee on Navy, Rt Hon. Yusuf Adamu Gagdi was in Ajman State of United Arab Emirate to inspect a Warship of the Nigerian Navy under construction by Albwarsdy Damen, a reputable warship Construction Company in the UAE.
The lawmaker, who inspected the multimillion dollar project, was taken round the facilities of the company in order to further appreciate the technical competence of the company to deliver the project.
Tagged LST 100 Warship, the project is expected to be completed on the 18th May, 2021 and be delivered to the Nigerian Navy on 9th March, 2022. The project was at 75 percent completion when the parliamentarian inspected the Warship. Meanwhile, the company has assured of a timely delivery of the Warship in accordance with the terms of the contract without let or hindrance of any kind.
The essence of the foreign oversight inspection of the facility was to ensure finances appropriated for the Nigerian Navy are expended as provided in the budgetary allocation of the armed force.
Expressing delight with the quality of the project, the lawmaker maintains that Nigerian Navy has been one of the most vibrant armed forces in Nigeria, with a near excellent performance record; hence the need to encourage them with the required facilities for optimal discharge of their responsibilities.
The lawmaker had earlier in 2020, led his committee members to oversight visit of all Naval formations across Nigeria in order to be fully abreast with the successes, challenges and future projections of the Nigerian Navy, thereby capping the oversight duty with visits to various ongoing projects of the armed force outside the shores of Nigeria.
Foreign oversight visits to other projects of the Nigerian Navy in the US, Germany, South Africa and UK are in the offing.
Gagdi is expected to be back in the country on Friday, 8th January 2021.
The FBI is seeking to identify individuals instigating violence in Washington, D.C. We are accepting tips and digital media depicting rioting or violence in and around the U.S. Capitol on January 6. If you have information, visit http://fbi.gov/USCapitol.
President Trump mentioned a far-right group during the first presidential debate, kicking off online celebrations by its supporters.
"Proud Boys - stand back and stand by," he said, in a response to a question asking him to condemn white supremacist and militia groups. Members of the group online took the answer as a call to prepare for action.
Mr Trump then insisted that violence was coming from far-left activists: "Somebody's got to do something about antifa and the left, because this is not a right-wing problem."
Joe Biden, the Democratic challenger, answered back: "Antifa is an idea, not an organisation. That is what [President Trump's] FBI director said."
Over the past few years, a number of fringe groups have been engaged in politically motivated violence on American streets. So who are Proud Boys and antifa?
Proud Boys
Founded in 2016 by Canadian-British right-wing activist Gavin McInnes, the Proud Boys is a far-right, anti-immigrant, all-male group with a history of street violence against its left-wing opponents.
The group's name is a reference to a song from the musical version of the Disney film Aladdin. Members often wear black and yellow Fred Perry polo shirts along with red "Make America Great Again" hats.
A Proud Boy must declare that he is "a Western chauvinist who refuses to apologise for creating the modern world".
Their platform, such as it is, includes Trumpian ideas ( "glorify the entrepreneur", "close the border" ) libertarianism ( "give everyone a gun", "end welfare" ) and traditional gender roles ( "venerate the housewife" ).
They're not exclusively white - yet have became notorious for violent political confrontations.
The Proud Boys and affiliated groups have faced off against antifa in a number of violent street rallies in the last two years, most notably in Oregon, Washington and New York. Two members were jailed last year for beating up antifa activists in New York.
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube have all banned the group from their platforms, and members and official chapters have been largely shunted towards less-popular networks.
Enrique Tarrio, the group's current chairman, reacted to the debate on the alternative discussion network Parler: "Standing by sir.... I will stand down sir!!!"
McInnes publicly disassociated himself from the group in 2018, saying that he was taking the advice of his legal team.
But in a video reacting to Tuesday's debate, he said (albeit not seeming entirely serious): "I control the Proud Boys, Donald. Do not stand down, do not stand back."
On the chat app Telegram, Proud Boys shared the debate clip along with posts taunting antifa and incorporating the phrase "stand back, stand by" into the group's logo.
Meanwhile, critics of the president loudly condemned him.
Antifa, short for "anti-fascist", is a loose affiliation of mostly far-left activists.
They include anarchists, but also communists and a few social democrats. What sets them apart is their willingness to use violence - in self-defence, they say.
The movement, which at one point almost entirely disappeared in the US, saw a surge of interest after the election of Donald Trump. They routinely clash with the far right.
The group has been prominent during Black Lives Matter protests in many major cities, and have been particularly associated with unrest in Portland, Oregon.
In late August, a self-described anti-fascist, 48-year-old Michael Reinoehl, shot and killed a supporter of Patriot Prayer, a Portland-area group that often marches with the Proud Boys.
Reinoehl was shot dead by police the following week.
Both groups are relatively small - and can count on, at the most, a few thousand active supporters. But their propensity for violence, particularly when they confront each other on American streets, has made them a much bigger topic of conversation than those numbers suggest.
President Trump - viewed as a hero by the movement - has stopped short of endorsing the conspiracy theory but has described QAnon activists as "people who love our country."
So what is QAnon and who believes in it?
What is it?
At its heart, QAnon is a wide-ranging, completely unfounded theory that says that President Trump is waging a secret war against elite Satan-worshipping paedophiles in government, business and the media.
QAnon believers have speculated that this fight will lead to a day of reckoning where prominent people such as former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will be arrested and executed.
That's the basic story, but there are so many offshoots, detours and internal debates that the total list of QAnon claims is enormous - and often contradictory. Adherents draw in news events, historical facts and numerology to develop their own far-fetched conclusions.
Where did it all start?
In October 2017, an anonymous user put a series of posts on the message board 4chan. The user signed off as "Q" and claimed to have a level of US security approval known as "Q clearance".
These messages became known as "Q drops" or "breadcrumbs", often written in cryptic language peppered with slogans, pledges and pro-Trump themes.
Actually, thousands do. The amount of traffic to mainstream social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and YouTube has exploded since 2017, and indications are the numbers have gone up further during the coronavirus pandemic.
The big social media companies subsequently tightened their rules about QAnon content and took down hundreds of Q-supporting accounts and videos.
But social media and opinion polls indicate there are at least hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people who believe in at least some of the bizarre theories offered up by QAnon.
And its popularity hasn't been diminished by events which would seem to debunk the whole thing. For instance, early Q drops focused on the investigation by special prosecutor Robert Mueller.
QAnon supporters claimed Mr Mueller's inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 US election was really an elaborate cover story for an investigation into paedophiles. When it concluded with no such bombshell revelation, the attention of the conspiracy theorists drifted elsewhere.
True believers contend deliberate misinformation is sown into Q's messages - in their minds making the conspiracy theory impossible to disprove.
QAnon supporters drive hashtags and co-ordinate abuse of perceived enemies - the politicians, celebrities and journalists who they believe are covering up for paedophiles.
It's not just threatening messages online. Twitter says it took action against QAnon because of the potential for "offline harm".
Several QAnon believers have been arrested after making threats or taking offline action.
In one notable case in 2018, a heavily armed man blocked a bridge over the Hoover Dam. Matthew Wright later pleaded guilty to a terrorism charge.
A Pew Research Center study in September 2020 found that nearly half of Americans had heard of QAnon- double the number from six months before. Of those who had heard about it, a fifth had a positive view of the movement.
And for many believers, QAnon forms the foundation of their support for President Trump.
Mr Trump has, unwittingly or not, retweeted QAnon supporters, and prior to the election his son Eric Trump posted a QAnon meme on Instagram.
One outspoken QAnon supporter, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, was elected to the US Congress in November.
With additional reporting by Jack Goodman and Shayan Sardarizadeh
Who were the protesters that broke into buildings on Capitol Hill after attending a rally in support of Donald Trump?
Some were carrying symbols and flags strongly associated with particular ideas and factions, but in practice many of the members and their causes overlap.
QAnon among the protesters
Images show individuals associated with a range extreme and far-right groups and supporters of fringe online conspiracy theories, many of whom have long been active online and at pro-Trump rallies.
One of the most startling images, quickly shared across social media, shows a man dressed with a painted face, fur hat and horns, holding an American flag.
He's been identified as Jake Angeli, a well-known supporter of the baseless conspiracy theory QAnon . He calls himself the QAnon Shaman.
His social media presence shows him attending multiple QAnon events and posting YouTube videos about deep state conspiracies.
He was pictured in November making a speech in Phoenix, Arizona, about unproven claims the election was fraudulent.
His personal Facebook page is filled with images and memes relating to all sorts of extreme ideas and conspiracy theories.
The Proud Boys
Another group spotted at the storming of the Capitol were members of the far-right group Proud Boys.
The organisation was founded in 2016 and is anti-immigrant and all male. In the first US presidential debate President Trump in response to a question about white supremacists and militias said: "Proud Boys - stand back and stand by."
His livestream from inside the Capitol posted on a niche streaming service was watched by thousands of people and showed him talking to other protesters.
A Trump supporter, Mr Gionet has made a name for himself as an internet troll.
He's been described by the Southern Poverty Law Centre, a US nonprofit legal advocacy group, as a "white nationalist", a label he disputed in a comment to The Insider .
YouTube banned his channel in October after he posted videos of himself harassing shop workers and refusing to wear a face-mask during the coronavirus pandemic.
Other platforms that have previously shut down his accounts include Twitter and PayPal.
Who wrote Nancy Pelosi a note?
A photo that went viral of a man who'd entered the office of senior Democrat politician Nancy Pelosi has been named as Richard Barnett from Arkansas.
Outside Capitol Hill buildings, he told the New York Times that he took an envelope from the speaker's office and says left a note calling her an expletive.
Reacting to the New York Times interview, Republican congressman Steve Womack said on Twitter: "I'm sickened to learn that the below actions were perpetrated by a constituent."
Local media reports say Mr Barnett is involved in a group that supports gun rights, and that he was interviewed at a 'Stop the Steal' rally following the presidential election - a movement that refused to accept Joe Biden's victory and supports the president's unsubstantiated claims of electoral fraud.
In the interview at the rally organised by 'Engaged Patriots' he said: "If you don't like it, send somebody out to get me 'cause I ain't going down easy."
The group associated with Mr Barnett held a fundraiser in October with proceeds going towards body cameras for the local police department, according to the Westside Eagle Observer local paper.
Reporting by Jack Goodman, Christopher Giles, Olga Robinson and Shayan Sardarizadeh.
The Falconets of Nigeria defeated the Basetsana of South Africa 0-2 in Polokwane via goals by Rasheedat Ajibade and Anam Imo. (Checkout Rasheedat Ajibade's goal [the first goal)
Politics › Re: Yusuf Gagdi Inspects Nigerian Navy's New Warship Under Construction In UAE by naptu2(op): 9:14am On Jan 09, 2021
