Posted on 11/01/2011 7:49:53 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
No Royal Navy warships left to guard Britain
DEFENCE HMS Portland was the last ship to be guarding British waters
By Michael Powell
Published on Tuesday 1 November 2011 15:30
DEFENCE cuts and the war in Libya have left the Royal Navy without a ship on emergency stand-by in British waters for the past four weeks, The News can reveal.
A frigate or destroyer is usually tasked to be in the UK at high readiness to respond to an emergency at home or abroad at a moment’s notice.
But the slashed navy has become so stretched that admirals have been left without a ship ready enough to fulfil the Fleet Ready Escort (FRE) role since the start of October. The last ship in the key role was HMS Portland, which left the position to take part in a fortnight of war games off the coast of Scotland on October 3 and is now having a rest period in Plymouth.
The navy sought to play down the gap, with a spokesman calling the FRE role a ‘luxury’.
But former First Sea Lord, Admiral Lord Alan West, said: ‘I would hardly say it is a luxury. If there was a terrorism incident in UK waters, this would historically be the ship sent in to deal with it.
‘It’s a big problem. If we haven’t got a ship ready to do this role then it’s worrying. It’s a very unsatisfactory position to be in.’
The shortage comes after the government cut the navy’s surface fleet to 19 frigates and destroyers in last year’s defence review.
Critics warned the cuts would leave the navy overstretched. Having had 10 frigates and destroyers deployed to Libya since February, there are now none left to be the FRE.
The MoD would not confirm the last time Britain did not have an FRE, but it is believed that was probably in 1982 after every available ship left for the Falklands War.
Lord West said: ‘What it shows is that the number of frigates and destroyers we’ve got now is insufficient. We need more ships as a matter of urgency.’
The navy denied British waters were unprotected and said ‘other assets’ were available. But it is understood these ships would take longer than an FRE to respond in an emergency because they are either undergoing maintenance, on sea trials preparing for operations, or are in a rest period having recently returned from sea.
The navy confirmed the lack of an FRE comes as a direct result of Britain’s role in Nato’s Libya operations, which officially ended at 9.59pm last night.
A spokesman said: ‘Due to the successful deployment of Royal Navy units to the Libya campaign, it has been necessary to reprofile the commitments of some ships.
‘Should a Fleet Ready Escort activation be required, a Royal Navy ship would be allocated.’
Asked why there has not been an FRE since HMS Portland, the navy spokesman said: ‘We do not need one currently. We’ve got ships off Libya and they are returning now. That’s the situation. We’ve had to look after our priorities and be flexible. We are doing the best with what we have got.’
First Sea Lord warned war would stretch navy
THE First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope was given a dressing-down by Prime Minister David Cameron in June when he warned the Royal Navy would become stretched if operations in Libya went on beyond September.
Now it appears Sir Mark’s controversial comments were an accurate appraisal of the state of the navy.
The deployment of 10 warships to Libya since February has left the service without a single ship in home waters at the level of high readiness required to be designated as the Fleet Ready Escort .
The FRE role demands a frigate or destroyer to be on a war footing to go anywhere she is needed in an emergency situation, whether it is in home waters or abroad.
The navy says it has to be flexible in these times of austerity and the role could be filled at short notice.
But military experts have expressed fears the navy fleet has shrunk to unsustainable levels and today’s revelation that Britain has not had an FRE since the start of October is likely to reignite a debate that has dogged the government ever since it cut 10 navy ships in last year’s Strategic Defence and Security Review to plug a £38bn black hole in the MoD’s budget.
At the moment, I don’t think their biggest threat is coming by sea.
Perhaps not, but this is so terribly sad.
Great tagline, btw.
I'm surprised there has only been one RN vessel filling this roll up until now.
Formerly Great Britain. How sad.
Their present, America’s future, as we transform into welfare entitlement states.
Not to worry. We shall have “peace in our time.”
Alas, I fear that "The Immortal Memory" is now just that...
hms victory is no longer afloat.
so when will the argentinians take the falklands since the brits can’t do anything and president dumbo supports the argentinians?
Is it in a drydock?..for some reason, I thought it was permanently moored alongside, like The USS Constitution..
...but we’re equipping Radio Caroline with a couple of pepper-spray canons, so all is well
Does this mean that moslem pirates will again start raiding England?
Oh wait! They are already inside the walls!
The Royal Navy has been reduced to a very small husk of its former self.
The new Tyrpe 45 destroyers are nice...but they are building ony 6 of them total and they are lacking several critical combat systems to allow them to fulfill their multi-role requirements. Great AAW, but lacking in ASW and anti-surface.
The two new carriers are going to be great...but they have already retired all of their HArriers, and they may well not have any JSF ready when the carriers come out so may be reduced to being helo carriers until they can embark an airwing.
They are showing the path we will tread if we do not get the spending (particularly social spending and foreign aid) under control and balance our budget so we can maintain adequate defense posture.
HMS Victory is permanently in drydock and does not float under its own power. USS Constitution is not “permanently moored” and does a sail in Boston Harbor every year, with US Navy sailors and officers and US Marines aboard.
The Victory is the oldest commissioned warship, but the Constitution is the oldest “operational” warship.
The navy of the Japanese Defense Force now has more ships than the Royal Navy.
The RPM rate in Lord Nelson’s casket is so high, it is cavitating
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