Talk:HMS Loki (CL-288)

Letter from Torli about the fate of Loki.

Hello Marc and Johnak,

first of all - sorry for the delay in answering. I had to think about it for a bit to sort it all out. And now, let's be about it.

TRMN started in 2007 as an Honorverse group in Second Life and transformed into official fanclub a bit later, when Second Life was no longer a viable option ( I am sorry, I really dont remember why it was so. Martin Lessem will probably remember more).

As Johnak already wrote, HMS Phantom was founded in 2008 as an INDEPENDENT Czech fanclub and we are not part of TRMN. We are in contact though, and let's be honest, most TRMN members probably think we are part of the organization still.

First TRMN chapter was the HMS Iwo Jima founded in April 2011 since first members left the Phantom to join TRMN in December 2010 - those were Stanislav Cech and Ivo Adamek ( I asked Stanislav to clarify that for me). HMLAC Kiki and later HMS Loki were founded for people who were not so military-oriented like the guys who crew HMS Iwo Jima, to provide a ship for them to go to. And as Johnak said, the driving thought behind it was to provide a buffer between the clashing egos - or at least, it was the reason why I decided to step up and try to work as an intermediary. I followed in Jan Cabrnoch's footsteps, to be honest. From my point of view, he started the trend, but being the CO of Iwo was not beneficial in that regard.

I will get a little bit personal here - I joined TRMN hoping to take the edge off the animosity that was plaguing both sides at the time and it was also one of the reasons why I agreed when Jan Cabrnoch asked me to serve as the CO of HMLAC Kiki and later Loki (by the way, Johnak got the timeline right - Loki was decomissioned in August 2014). My predominant motivation was to offer a place for people who wanted to join TRMN but were not OK with the stance of Iwo Jima's members. I cannot be sure how succesfull I was in that - the point being, some of the people who came onboard HMS Loki had dual-memberships, but that was about it. The thing I was constantly fighting with was the fact that my crew members were...well, passive. TRMN really did not took root here and after a year or so, I have decided to decommision the ship as it was not fulfilling its intended purpose. I have thought a lot about that, but the last straw was when I sent an email, explaining the situation to my crew and asking them about input and got no response whatsoever. After that, I sent the decommisioning request to BuShips. The inactive members were transfered to HMSS Greenwich and I transferred onboard HMS Iwo Jima. As far as I know, no one from Loki's former crew has ever asked to be transfered from there. Those, who had the dual-memberships carried on onboard Phantom and its sister ships - mostly passively, to be honest.

So, if there is any need in clarifying anything more, please feel free to ask. And sorry for the long paragraphs ;)

Captain (SG) dame Torli Mihai, KCR, SC Deputy Commander BatCruRon 39