Navy Chiefs Rename HMS Agincourt Submarine to Appease French
Royal Navy chiefs have been slammed for “woke nonsense” after dropping plans to name a new attack submarine after the 1415 Battle of Agincourt, in which England defeated France, to appease the French. The Telegraph has more.
The seventh and final Astute-class submarine was to be called HMS Agincourt, but it will now be named HMS Achilles instead.
Grant Shapps, the former Defence Ssecretary, said the name change was “nothing short of sacrilege” amid speculation it may have been undertaken because of a fear of offending the French Government.
Sir Gavin Williamson, the then Defence Secretary, announced in 2018 that the Ministry of Defence had signed a £1.5 billion contract to build a seventh Astute-class hunter-killer submarine called HMS Agincourt.
That would have made it the sixth Royal Navy vessel to have been named after the battle in October 1415, when the English, led by Henry V, defeated a larger French force.
It is recognised as one of England’s greatest military victories and provided the backdrop to William Shakespeare’s Henry V in which the monarch famously declares “once more unto the breach”.
Mr Shapps and Sir Gavin both criticised the name change.
Sir Gavin said: “It is so pathetic that the Government is so ashamed of our history that they are literally renaming it. Next, they will probably want to rename HMS Queen Elizabeth for fear the Spaniards might be upset about the Armada.”
Mr Shapps tweeted: “Renaming the HMS Agincourt is nothing short of sacrilege. This submarine carries a name that honours a defining moment in British history.
“Under Labour, woke nonsense is being put ahead of tradition and our Armed Forces’ proud heritage.”
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Achilles isn’t a good name for a submarine for obvious reasons. It is crazy to use that name. This is real suicidal crap.
And it might upset the Trojans.
“to appease French” makes it sound like the French are angry or upset or even mildly offended.
Instead, the French don’t even care. More likely, they don’t even know.
This is some fat, pink haired, busybody, lesbian twat pushing for it in their job as Public Relations.
The BBC will use “Gulf of Mexico” to appease their staff.
I dunno, it’s all looking rather manly at the top. So here’s your ”strong leadership” as far as the aforementioned ”Royal Navy chiefs” go, apparently. But this isn’t the first time DS have featured an article which just confirms the Navy, if not the entire military, have gone to sh*t due to the insidious woke mind virus. Here’s naive me assuming wanting to serve in the military means you’re a patriot but in actual fact you’re expected to be apologetic. Madness;
https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/organisation/our-people/leadership
It would have been the seventh of that name, we have to assume the French were okay with the previous 6.
Do Abba need to change the name of their fist hit song? The Kinks song?
Do we need to change the name of the London train station?
And this bunch of wankers are in charge of our nuclear deterrent. Heaven help us.
First question: Have the French complained?
You can’t expect anyone to sail on it and if they do then they are heading for a dark outcome.
Honestly it is wrong and crazy don’t do it.
Meanwhile no doubt crack MoD sensitivity readers are updating Shakespeare accordingly:
Follow your spirit; and upon this charge,
Cry ‘God for Harry! England! and Saint George!’
And be kind, gentle and sensitive to
The feelings of our enemy the French.
Where’s Sir Laurence Olivier when you need him?
Royal Navy Sunk by Woke
Perhaps, upon being fed the query “What is the name of The seventh Astute-class submarine?”, Google will return “Achilles” to Francophiles and “Agincourt” to Anglophiles, rather like it does for Mexico/America.
This sounds like erasing a little more of our own history than appeasing the French.
Note that this is actually the second change of name for the submarine, originally it was to be HMS Ajax before that became HMS Agincourt.
There have been 7 previous RN ships named Achilles so it’s following an illustrious tradition.
We also had an HMS Trafalgar, and that could be expected to have upset the Spaniards too.
What on earth was wrong with HMS Ajax?
Did someone think this name would upset people who support other Dutch football teams?
Ajax is too close to the contentious naming of previous ships.
Vim.
And Vigour.
Or cleaning products!
We don’t have HMS Dettol, Cilit Bang or Domestos after all.
It’s the Navy’s fearsome ‘Scourer Class’ of vessels, kev.
Don’t give them sponsorship ideas…!
HMS Agincourt is a name that’s been used before as well, notably in a battleship that fought at Jutland.
How long before some woke idiot, possibly Sadiq Khan’t, tries to rename Trafalgar Square and Waterloo Station because they think these names will upset French tourists?
Don’t give them ideas.
There is a (not) good reason why the Submarine’s name Ajax was changed ‘In July 1947 (Ajax) took part in the Exodus 1947 incident, in which she formed part of the Royal Navy task force which subdued the illegal immigrant ship and later escorted it back to Germany’ ‘Due to the high public profile of Exodus 1947 the British government decided to deport the migrants back to France. Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin (labour) suggested this and the request was relayed to General Sir Alan Cunningham, High Commissioner for Palestine, who agreed with the plan after consulting the Navy. Before then, intercepted migrants were placed in internment camps on Cyprus, which was at the time a British colony. This new policy was meant to be a signal to both the Jewish community and the European countries which assisted immigration that whoever they sent to Palestine would be sent back to them. ‘Not only should it clearly establish the principle of refoulement as applies to a complete shipload of immigrants, but it will be most discouraging to the organisers of this traffic if the immigrants … end up by returning whence they came.’ At least Achilles is a more distinguished name than Agincourt within RN annals, Achilles playing a distinguished role in the operation that… Read more »
They should call it ‘The Surrender Monkey’
Or maybe The Dunkirk Runaway. After all, it’s not the fault of the French that they couldn’t flee to an island after being defeated in the field.
It was a marathon not a sprint.
The naming of capital ships used to be a Royal Prerogative. I wonder if our woke King was involved in this?
Have the French communicated their distress or is it preventative action to preserve french mental health. Achilles was a successful and violent character so to name it after him would be inappropriate. Suggest “HMS Cuddles” as a compromise
HMS Vive la France!
Great to see such illustrious Conservatives as Mr Shapps and Mr Williamson paying such attention to the really important political issues of the day.
Will cul-de-sac be renamed? Cul means arse in France.
I’m sure the French would have no problem naming a boat after a famous victory.
Their problem is that they can’t think of one.
I think Mers el kebir would be a super name, invoking as it does millions of recent arrivals to our Albion.