Politics/Current Affairs
Navy Up The Creek Without A Paddle
Saturday, January 6th, 2007 at 18:57 by Ellen PhillipsBritannia rules the waves? Not any more, if the government has its way.The Ministry of Defence is to scuttle almost half of the current fleet of 44 warships, according to senior officials. One commented, “What this means is that we are now no better than a coastal defense force or a fleet of dug-out canoes.”
Apparently, this is because ministers need to save 250 million pounds from their defence budget. The Slant wants to know if they’ve tried looking down the back of the sofa. Or maybe they could try not spending millions of pounds on studies to tell them how to keep their desks clear. (Use coloured tape. Really.)
13 warships are already in a state of ‘reduced readiness’, meaning that they’re around 18 months away from being fit for service. 6 destroyers and frigates which are to be mothballed ships may well be sold off, and the 2 new aircraft carriers promised back in 1998 might never arrive.
The MOD may well have to cut back on major naval commitments around the world, and reduce the fleet to little more than a coastal defence force, but it’s a sad day for the most powerful navy in the world when we can’t even take on the Spanish fishing fleet.
Keywords: Defence Budget, Ministry Of Defence, Royal Navy
January 8th, 2007 at 6:11 pm
I seem to remember, back in the days of the Falklands crisis, that there were difficulties finding sufficient ships even then to transport troops. The QE11, among others, being pressed into service. Those of us living in Portsmouth were wondering when HMS Victory might be dug out of dry dock.
Of course, these days there’s only HMS Victory, even Portsmouth dockyard is under threat of closure!