This just in: You may recall that the Coast Guard prohibited the Bobby Jindal, governor of Louisiana, from deploying oil-sucking barges due to an incomplete inventory of life jackets, fire extinguishers, and breath mints.
Turns out, this is long-standing policy of civilized nations:
Dunkirk Evacuation Delayed For Safety
June 1, 1940
DOVER (Routers) The evacuation of British and French troops from the besieged French city of Dunkirk was halted today, over concerns that many of the private vessels that had been deployed for the task were unsafe for troop transport.
Government officials ordered all soldiers to hold their places on the harbour waterfront and beaches, and those in the water were told to hold up boarding as well, until the various fishing and pleasure vessels could be inspected by the Home Guard, to ensure that there were sufficient life vests, fire extinguishers and other safety devices on each one. Each boat will also have to be tested for leaks before it will be deemed safe for the passage across the Channel.
?We can?t risk our soldiers? lives on these cheap boats,? explained one official. ?The Germans are firing on our ships, and we?ve already lost six destroyers to submarines and aerial bombardments, three of them just today. If all those non-military boats don?t have the proper safety gear, they won?t stand a chance,? he shouted over the din of incoming mortar fire from German troops only two miles away.
[more at