Submitted by Ron, Jan 8, 2008 20:46

During the past century, before the advent of reliable electronic communications, a Naval warship was totally out of communication with Washington, or the King or whomever; and the Captain was called an Officer of the Line, which meant, in international waters he acted as the sovereign authority for the President or King as may be. Currently, in the gulf of Hormuz, it looks like our Navy Captains did not have the simple authority to shoot at those little floating white boxes to see if they would explode - and therefore call the terrorist's bluff, hah!, with no loss of life. Target practice must apparently need permission from George W. So my concern is, are Annapolis grads now taught to defer initiative? Ron, USN Ret.

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