What a suprise - another official investigation that finds no-one is responsible for what happened. If the commanders of the UK's armed forces and their political masters are not responsible for the actions of troops in the field who exactly is??? The idea that Des Browne should bear no blame for the troops publishing their highly embarrassing accounts of the fiasco is nonsense. It is another example of a dishonest politician seeking to absolve themself of the consequences of their actions.

John, Beijing,

The officer in charge of this group should have uttered two words, "Open fire".

Robert Wright, St. Charles, USA

The Royal Navy is respected because of its efficiency and operational discipline. Partly this is because errors have always been sanctioned by its line of command. This is an essential element in retaining the morale of the serving men and women. They need the assurance that their officers are responsible and competent. The report of General Fulton cannot be the end of the matter. It is now for the Navy to make its own investigation and decide whether disciplinary action is justified. A court martial of the commander of Cornwall would clear the air as he did with his helicopter.

stephen Bull, fontes, france

Paul from Rochester - have you ever been in a situation where there are a couple of heavy machine guns, a rocket launcher and several rifles pointed at you, with no back up, knowing that the slightest wrong move on your part will get you and your friends blown to pieces for no good reason? No? Well, neither have I - but I'd like to think that if I was I'd have enough common sense to live to fight another day, rather than waste my life and those of my comrades in some ridiculous bid to be a dead hero. There clearly were failures during this operation, but it seems like the marines and sailors in the boarding party did exactly the right thing. Settle back in to your arm chair and let the people who are actually out there do their job.

Bukowski, Dubai, UAE

What a suprise - another official investigation that finds no-one is responsible for what was a fiasco from start to finish. How is it possible for nobody to be responsible in an organisation that defines itself by its clear chain of command.

John, Beijing,

And I thought the buck stopped with the Minister in charge. Not with nu labour it seems

John, Essex, UK

Why does this whole incident leave me profoundly concerned about the quality of some of the officers and other ranks serving on board HM ships? There is nothing but failure after failure - all at a personnel level.

If the British public could only hear the snickering that goes on aboard foreign warships when an RN vessel now enters port I doubt whether many would feel terribly proud of what has happened.

Michael, Berkhamsted,

Yeah OK but if something heroic happened the skipper would have got a medal.

Dave Madley, Poole, UK

Good. That's the end of that. Let the Royal Navy learn the lessons from this story and get back to doing what their good at. And let's hope the parents and friends of these fifteen also stay silent.

Lester May, London, UK

These personnel should at least have been tried by Courts Martial for cowardice. The British public deserved that and the case would have been able to set a precedent, one way or another. As it is, no one has learnt anything and the young people in our Armed Forces still have no idea of when they need to fight. The current opinion seems to be surrender as soon as possible and live to make money by selling your story. They are a disgrace to every serviceman who has ever fought for England.

Paul, Rochester, UK

With regard to the significance of the international situation surrounding the Iranian hostages, it is quite astounding that no individual is to blame for the operational failures that took place. The point was clearly made by Iain Duncan Smith today in the Commons – if there is a chain of command, there must lie, at some individual’s doorstep, a burden of responsibility. It is the absence of such a chain, as perceived, that ultimately discredits the RN, as opposed to how the matter was handled with regard to boarding and training procedures. Regarding the media, they can by grossly insensitive and inaccurate about portraying how events take place. They should have national security considerations in mind when reporting. By no means should the captives be opportunists and be able to sell their story for profit – if indeed this was allowed by senior Navy officers, the Defence Secretary should have vetoed the decision. Let’s hope that the MoD report sheds some more light on such matters.

Marcin Roth, London, UK

Very interesting that there are no comments on this subject - as yet, possibly as it was late news after the day's edition. This case is symptomatic of the degeneration of HM Forces. Nothing particularly to do with this government as such, but the result of a long term decline that started even before the "peace dividend" after the end of the Cold War, and the "options for change".

Senior commanders will never admit it, because they never do, but there is a decline in morale across the Services. Lack of resources, lack of higher leadership, and the sense that nobody cares anymore is having a profound affect on all Servicemen directly, or indirectly. Until all officers, and, in particular, senior officers, wake up, and stand up to their responsibilities instead of cow towing to protect their careers, position, and pension the decline will continue, and perhaps accelerate. It is no coincidence that AWOL rates are at an all time high.

Jim D, Norwich, UK

In his report, Mr Hall said: "This was a collective failure of judgment or an abstention from judgment, rather than a failure of judgment by any one individual."
I always thought that the Navy had a chain of command! And I imagine that Nelson thought so too! In those days anyway some individual somewhere -not 'collective judgements'- was always responsible and compelled to take decisions. Not a whitewash ?.

Robert Sebag-Montefiore, Geneva, Switzerland