{"id":1120,"date":"2014-10-17T16:17:37","date_gmt":"2014-10-17T15:17:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/gosport-fareham-and-district\/?p=1120"},"modified":"2014-10-17T16:17:37","modified_gmt":"2014-10-17T15:17:37","slug":"thats-life-in-a-blue-suit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/2014\/10\/17\/thats-life-in-a-blue-suit\/","title":{"rendered":"That’s life in a blue suit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Preventing conflict is top of the Royal Navy\u2019s mission statement, members heard at the October supper meeting.<\/p>\n

In an entertaining talk peppered with fascinating facts and observations, weapon engineer Captain Richard Hobbs regaled the club with tales of a thirty eight and a half year career in the navy.<\/p>\n

He had joined up as a rating at the age of 16, lured by a glamorous beach shot of Malta in a recruitment brochure, and had risen up the ranks to become an officer before retiring at 55.<\/p>\n

\"Captain<\/a>
Captain Richard Hobbs with acting president Audrey Welsh<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

His talk, entitled That\u2019s Life in a Blue Suit, was delightfully illuminated with photographs ranging from warships and submarines to scantily clad apprentice sailors at a fancy dress event.<\/p>\n

He explained that it cost \u00a340bn a year to run the navy, still one of the top six in the world despite massive cuts. Ninety per cent of imports and exports arrive by sea and the UK shipping industry contributes \u00a310bn a year to the economy and provides work for 600,000 people in maritime trades.<\/p>\n

The navy has many roles, he said, sometimes simply by presence, strategically positioning a warship at the mouth of the Baltic, for example, stabilising problems before they occur and providing security. Combating piracy, providing humanitarian aid, maintaining the UK\u2019s role in NATO all take up a large amount of navy time as well as carrying out time-consuming exercises that enable them to be ready to fight, if necessary.<\/p>\n

Showing slides of navy vessels he said that the cost of building a ship was astronomical.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefence is expensive and it\u2019s a struggle to meet all the commitments due to cuts in the budget over recent years,\u201d he said. In his view, co-operation with other countries would occur more and more.<\/p>\n

The real assets of the navy are its people, around 30,000 in the UK, but staff retention was a main problem.<\/p>\n

He described his career as wonderfully interesting and adventurous, and said he would recommend it to any young person today. \u201cIt\u2019s not a job, it\u2019s a way of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

A light-hearted quiz on \u2018Jackspeak\u2019 provided the opportunity for some club members to reveal their knowledge of matters maritime. They knew the origin of naval terms such as \u2018up the creek\u2019 that are now part of our everyday lexicon.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Preventing conflict is top of the Royal Navy\u2019s mission statement, members heard at the October…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":1123,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-club-news"],"yoast_head":"\nThat's life in a blue suit | News | Blog | Events | SI Solent East<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"SI Solent East : Blog & News : That's life in a blue suit : Keep up to date with the latest news, articles and events from the Soroptimists of SI Solent East . Read more about That's life in a blue suit .\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/2014\/10\/17\/thats-life-in-a-blue-suit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"That's life in a blue suit | News | Blog | Events | SI Solent East\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SI Solent East : Blog & News : That's life in a blue suit : Keep up to date with the latest news, articles and events from the Soroptimists of SI Solent East . Read more about That's life in a blue suit .\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/2014\/10\/17\/thats-life-in-a-blue-suit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SI Solent East\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-10-17T15:17:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/files\/2014\/10\/Capt-Hobbs.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"452\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"kaymain@ntlworld.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"kaymain@ntlworld.com\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/2014\/10\/17\/thats-life-in-a-blue-suit\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/2014\/10\/17\/thats-life-in-a-blue-suit\/\",\"name\":\"That's life in a blue suit | News | Blog | Events | SI Solent East\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/2014\/10\/17\/thats-life-in-a-blue-suit\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/2014\/10\/17\/thats-life-in-a-blue-suit\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/files\/2014\/10\/Capt-Hobbs.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-10-17T15:17:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/#\/schema\/person\/f73cb24f8c6cef438db4fb8e02b13ba7\"},\"description\":\"SI Solent East : Blog & News : That's life in a blue suit : Keep up to date with the latest news, articles and events from the Soroptimists of SI Solent East . Read more about That's life in a blue suit .\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/2014\/10\/17\/thats-life-in-a-blue-suit\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/2014\/10\/17\/thats-life-in-a-blue-suit\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/2014\/10\/17\/thats-life-in-a-blue-suit\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/files\/2014\/10\/Capt-Hobbs.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/files\/2014\/10\/Capt-Hobbs.jpg\",\"width\":640,\"height\":452,\"caption\":\"Captain Richard Hobbs with acting president Audrey Welsh\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/2014\/10\/17\/thats-life-in-a-blue-suit\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"That’s life in a blue suit\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/\",\"name\":\"SI Solent East\",\"description\":\"A Soroptimist International of Great Britain and Ireland Club website\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/#\/schema\/person\/f73cb24f8c6cef438db4fb8e02b13ba7\",\"name\":\"kaymain@ntlworld.com\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/083b7c9e9206290536e36af73b38c7fbc2445fcc16f784f7091a5d42c23ecba3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/083b7c9e9206290536e36af73b38c7fbc2445fcc16f784f7091a5d42c23ecba3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"kaymain@ntlworld.com\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/author\/kaymainntlworld-com\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"That's life in a blue suit | News | Blog | Events | SI Solent East","description":"SI Solent East : Blog & News : That's life in a blue suit : Keep up to date with the latest news, articles and events from the Soroptimists of SI Solent East . Read more about That's life in a blue suit .","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/2014\/10\/17\/thats-life-in-a-blue-suit\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"That's life in a blue suit | News | Blog | Events | SI Solent East","og_description":"SI Solent East : Blog & News : That's life in a blue suit : Keep up to date with the latest news, articles and events from the Soroptimists of SI Solent East . Read more about That's life in a blue suit .","og_url":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/2014\/10\/17\/thats-life-in-a-blue-suit\/","og_site_name":"SI Solent East","article_published_time":"2014-10-17T15:17:37+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":452,"url":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/files\/2014\/10\/Capt-Hobbs.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"kaymain@ntlworld.com","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"kaymain@ntlworld.com","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/2014\/10\/17\/thats-life-in-a-blue-suit\/","url":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/2014\/10\/17\/thats-life-in-a-blue-suit\/","name":"That's life in a blue suit | News | Blog | Events | SI Solent East","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/2014\/10\/17\/thats-life-in-a-blue-suit\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/2014\/10\/17\/thats-life-in-a-blue-suit\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/files\/2014\/10\/Capt-Hobbs.jpg","datePublished":"2014-10-17T15:17:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/#\/schema\/person\/f73cb24f8c6cef438db4fb8e02b13ba7"},"description":"SI Solent East : Blog & News : That's life in a blue suit : Keep up to date with the latest news, articles and events from the Soroptimists of SI Solent East . Read more about That's life in a blue suit .","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/2014\/10\/17\/thats-life-in-a-blue-suit\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/2014\/10\/17\/thats-life-in-a-blue-suit\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/2014\/10\/17\/thats-life-in-a-blue-suit\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/files\/2014\/10\/Capt-Hobbs.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/files\/2014\/10\/Capt-Hobbs.jpg","width":640,"height":452,"caption":"Captain Richard Hobbs with acting president Audrey Welsh"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/2014\/10\/17\/thats-life-in-a-blue-suit\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"That’s life in a blue suit"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/","name":"SI Solent East","description":"A Soroptimist International of Great Britain and Ireland Club website","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/#\/schema\/person\/f73cb24f8c6cef438db4fb8e02b13ba7","name":"kaymain@ntlworld.com","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/083b7c9e9206290536e36af73b38c7fbc2445fcc16f784f7091a5d42c23ecba3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/083b7c9e9206290536e36af73b38c7fbc2445fcc16f784f7091a5d42c23ecba3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"kaymain@ntlworld.com"},"url":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/author\/kaymainntlworld-com\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/237"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1120"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1124,"href":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1120\/revisions\/1124"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/solent-east\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}