At the height of the Royal Navy's dominance of the world's oceans in the late 1800s, Britain had more warships than the next seven navies combined. As of June 25 this year, there were just six destroyers, 14 frigates and six attack submarines available for tasking, with 10 other combatants in refit or at "reduced readiness", the Whitehall euphemism for being laid up because of fuel costs, lack of spares or crew shortages.
For most of the latter, it would take between six and 18 months to make them seaworthy. Then there would be the problem of crewing them in a navy that has too few sailors to man even the rump fleet which remains.
Read more
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.