buck passing from top as usual, as they were ordered to put a boat out to patrol iraq waters so the navigater in charge of boat is in charge, so his/her fault, but because he is in charge of ship he gets it in teeth because government embarrassed, take blairs title away as ultimately he is in charg

jonathan rose, Gt Torrington, uk

Whether or not the politicians failed, Commander Woods failed. A captain is responsible for anything his crew does or does not do as well as his actions. His actions led to 15 of his crew being captured. Relief from command is a very mild action. He could have been court-martialed and imprisoned.

Gregory Baker, Odenton, Maryland, USA

I am a retired US Navy "jack" who served temporarily on
HMS Cornwall in 2000. I can state without reservation that the crew I knew was a very professional one. If they had to surrender their arms, they most certainly did so to prevent loss of life; a very noble thing.

jay "nobby" clark, knoxville, tn, usa

These people have done a disservice to the British Navy, an otherwise fine institution that has stood with the best the world has seen.

The administrative reassignment of the captain should end his career, and justifiably. The Admiralty should bear some blame for not having trained for this.

Earnest, Whitehouse, OH, USA

Steady, Blaise McCain.

The grammatical errors of which you complain are nothing to do the verb tense

They are simply the result of the poor chap from Florida not knowing that his 'of' is in fact '-ve', a contraction of have.

It's an increasingly common mistake. English is not a phonetic language.

Chris Palmer, Southampton,

Capt. Doogan knows little about the respective naval strengths of Iran and the UK and military judgements, and next to no English grammar. "Would of been killed...?", "could of rescued...?", "..not only of shot...?"

Good Lord, man...have you never heard of the perfect tenses?

Blaise MacLean, Bogota, Colombia

"What did they expect him to do? Start World War Three?"

The UK could bomb Iran for a year straight, and it wouldn't start World War III.

Nobody's coming to Iran's defense. No other country will risk war with the U.S., Britain, and the EU.

A war with Iran would be over in less than a month.

Tom W., Los Angeles, California, USA

To Capt. Doogan in Florida:

"would of" ..."could of" ???
Presumably you can get your captains licence in Florida without any knowledge of English.

Will, Tampa, USA

It was wise of the British to surrender otherwise they would of been all killed, no amount of British helicopter support could of rescued them. The Iranians would not only of shot the helicopters out of the air but they have the power to wipe the entire British fleet of from the map.

Capt. Doogan, Florida, USA

The captain should have been court martialled. End of story.

Keith, Grantham,

Poor bugger. Gordon brown is a national embarrassment too but we see no signs of him being shifted out of his job.

Richard, Effingham, UK

If there is blame to lay at this officer's door why has it taken so long to implement this response. I suspect this man is being made a scapegoat for lack of training, poor decision making at all levels and major buck passing by everyone. Also he won't sell his story but just get on with life.

Bob Curtis, Portsmouth, UK

It's all very fine to admonish the Captain of the Ship but the real culprit is the Govmt. The reputation of the Navy has been tarnished for it's 'whimpish' conduct in not laying down fire against the Iranians! Servicemen must have been rolling in their graves!

Paul Brett, Sandown, UK

God bless the British Navy and my Brother Marines.
i have to admit I was very suprised that ANY British Navel personel would allow themselves to be grabed by any foreign troops. I have a strange feeling that it will never happen again.

Semper Fi,

SSGT Bruce Tibbetts United States Marine

Bruce Tibbetts, St Albans, USA

Politicians totally unaccountable. This leader did not stray into Iranian waters and yet is punished and made a scapegoat because of Labour's weak policy in support our military personnel.

steve tea, manchester, cheshire

An abysmal episode - I could not understand why the Revolutionary Guard were not the ones with the problem?

Jim, Prudhoe, England

The Lynx helicopter should have been overhead to intercept the Iranians before they got to our lads.

The Commander made a very bad judgement call leaving them out there without cover.

Steve, The Hague,

There was some distance (8 miles) between HMS Cornwall & the inflatable. The Lynx helicopter had been called back for refuelling. The Iranian Boghammers are amazingly fast. The error seems to have been with whoever ordered the boarding to proceed without the helicopter being around.

Chris Clark, Ruislip Manor, UK

No margie, just the Iran precursor to it.

Terry, Guildford, UK

Better Mr Bean than Dr Strangelove...

This sounds like typical establishment behaviour... blame the guy on the ground because the Admiralty (who are more at home sipping cognac in the Athenaeum than anywhere near the front line) know better...

Simon, London, UK

Have those embarrassments calling themselves "sailors" been moved to "posts where their talents and experience can be used to better effect"?

SG Halliday, Farnham, UK

Your are missing the point margie, he should never have allowed the situation to arise, as a commanding officer the safety of his crew and the execution of the task at hand is his ultimate responsibility.

Mark, Hampshire, UK

It all worked out in the end. What did they expect him to do? Start World War Three?

margie , victoria, australia