Wednesday, July 24, 2019

A Look At The Shrinking Royal Navy

(Click on Image to Enlarge)

Daily Mail: Royal Navy has only ordered one aircraft carrier, four fishing patrol vessels, one frigate and five subs for the next TEN YEARS as report warns it will get even smaller amid criticism it can't protect ships in the Gulf

* Comes as questions have been raised over Britain's ability to defend itself after attacks on UK vessels by Iran
* Aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales, which joins 'Big Lizzie', is the only other of the behemoths being built
* There are two types of submarines underway, made up of the Astute class and Dreadnought-class
* To stem flow of migrants trying to reach the UK, four river-class offshore patrol vessels are being developed
* And a fleet of frigates are to join the UK's defence force, but only one has been been given commission date

The Royal Navy has only ordered one aircraft carrier, a handful of offshore patrol vessels, five submarines, and a single new frigate for the next decade as a report says its force will get even smaller.

It comes as serious questions have been raised over Britain's ability to defend itself following Iran seizing the UK-flagged tanker Stena Impero in the Strait of Hormuz.

The aircraft carrier, HMS Prince of Wales, will be a sister ship to the Navy's flagship HMS Queen Elizabeth and will not come on line until next year.

Four river-class offshore patrol vessels are being developed and will be operational before the end of the year, however they will be no use in the current stand-off in the Gulf.

Those boats will be pressed into service to stem the flow of migrants trying to reach the UK mainland.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: And the trend of shrinking the fleet will continue.

11 comments:

Roger Smith said...


How embarrassing. How insulting.
More obamma-think. What a disease.

Bob Huntley said...

...

Anonymous said...

The current carrier the British have is one of the most well equip carriers in the world today, not only is it full of stealth attack jets but has Apache helicopters and much more. That being said it is lacking on defense, it has no air superiority fighters to protect a taskforce, the F-35's dogfight capabilities is that of a F16, looking at the Eurofighter which is very close to F16 in design with added features would mean means pilots are flying less capable fighters with the F35. The Sea Harrier despite having a 22/0 k/d ratio is still a single engine fighter, and while i would argue that the British should revamp a few of them, i would go further as to push for a twin engine aircraft, one that Britan would own intellectual property on.

If we take the Battle of Midway as an example, it was 4 hellcats that created enough space for dive bombers to hit and sink the enemy aircraft. There is a valid reason to have non stealth aircraft on an aircraft carrier, likewise there will also be a need for air superiority when defending a carrier group. F35, while multi role is more suited to ground attack missions. If their notion of stealth is lost, even Irans F14's could pose a challenge for the British task force.

All and all, air superiority could be accomplished by drones, the drones wouldn't need to be stealth either, rather in decent numbers and high G turns they could outclass any pilot. Might be something worth investing in, as if you have seen the movie Enders game, they can literally be used as a shield for incoming attacks of all varieties.

Anonymous said...

Yes. The decline of the RN since the end of the cold war is the fault of Barack Obama.

Really makes you think, Roger.

Anonymous said...

It is Obama's fault. There are British versions just like the sucker.

In Britain illegal immigration up. Welfare is up. The RN is down.

Coincidence?

I think not.

Obama frequently visits his European doppelgangers as president and post-presidency. They bromance. He encourages them. Yup, Obama's fault.

They still hid the sucker's grades. We know Gore's, Kerry's. GWB's and McCain's.

"Beuhler, Beuhler,Beuhler..."

So we have this protected know nothing, advising people. This liberal Chauncey Gardiner who utters platitudes such as fill you car tire with air and is taken as a great sage.

Anonymous said...


"Beuhler, Beuhler,Beuhler..."

Anonymous said...

: Republican lawmakers who backed Trump’s tax cuts now freak out over bipartisan spending deal –
--Yesterday offered a fresh example of Trump forgetting an important rule: it's a bad idea to attribute made-up quotes to real people who can speak for themselves
Source: Trump forgets the rule about not making up quotes from real people
Trump sues to block New York law allowing Congress to get his state taxes
-- William Barr Says the Government Should Have Access to Your Encrypted Data | Digital Trends

Anonymous said...

"Trump sues to block New York law allowing Congress to get his state taxes"

Fast Freddy lose with the fact and fast with tyranny.

Tyrannical Fred wants ex-post facto laws.

Tyrannical Fred hates the Constitution

"In the United States, Congress is prohibited from passing ex post facto laws by clause 3 of Article I, Section 9 of the United States Constitution. The states are prohibited from passing ex post facto laws by clause 1 of Article I, Section 10. "

Why does Fred hate clause 1, article I, Section 10?

Could it be, because he loves socialism?

fred said...

Trump is kicking 3 million more people off food stamps for the stupidest possible reason
-- Bill Wehrum, an Architect of E.P.A. Rollbacks, Faces New Ethics Inquiry - The New York Times
-- Legal experts stunned by the ‘bizarrely adversarial’ letter Bill Barr’s DOJ sent to Robert Mueller
--President Gives Rant For the Record Books at TPUSA Event
-- Trump Tweeted Jewish Dog Whistles About Jon Stewart – The Forward
-- What Is the Point of Trump’s Second Term as President?

fred said...

Mueller tells Congress his report did not exonerate Trump of obstruction
-- Yale psychiatrist has a message for Mueller: Stop ‘enabling Trump’s disease’
-- Trump goes off on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for having a Spanish name – then lies about her saying ‘evil Jews’
-- Trump tells youth group: ‘I have the right to do whatever I want as president’

Anonymous said...

Ah the squid is back squirting ink of no consequence, of no coherency, and of course wrapped in a cloud psuedo patriotism, education, spiced with a pomposity that no knows no boundaries.