This week's House of Commons Select Committee's report entitled: Restoring the Fleet: Naval Procurement and the National Shipbuilding Strategy has a key phrase:
"At 19 ships, compared with 35 in 1997, the Royal Navy’s frigate and destroyer fleet is way below the critical mass required for the many tasks which could confront it. If the National Shipbuilding Strategy can deliver the Type 26 and Type 31 GPFF to time, the MoD can start to grow the Fleet and return it to an appropriate size. The 2015 SDSR set out the Government’s ambition for a modern, capable Royal Navy. Now is the time for the MoD to deliver on its promises".
Few would argue with that statement.
Several newspapers and commentators have picked up on this and the phrase 'and
It was widely reported this week that Royal Navy ships will be left without ASuW missiles and forced to rely on naval guns. The Navy’s Harpoon missiles will retire from the fleet’s frigates and destroyers in 2018 without a replacement, while there will also be a two year gap without helicopter-launched anti-shipping missiles.
Harpoon missiles are unlikely to be replaced for up to a decade, naval sources said, leaving warships armed only with their 4.5in Mk 8 guns for anti-ship warfare. Helicopter-launched Sea Skua missiles are also going out of service next year and the replacement Sea Venom missile to be carried by Wildcat helicopters will not arrive until late 2020.
A Naval source said the new helicopter-launched Sea Venom missile will have a shorter range than the Harpoon and helicopters are also vulnerable to bad weather and being shot down.
By Allen George
Lying 35 fathoms deep, at the northern end of the Drøbak Sound 15 nautical miles south of Oslo, is the wreck of the German heavy cruiser BLÜCHER, still detectable on the echo sounders of passing ships. She was sunk by shells and torpedoes from the Oskarborg island fortress which guards the entrance to the Norwegian capital, a testament to Norway’s ability and willingness to fight the German invasion of April 1940, and the courage and initiative of a 64 year old Norwegian officer, who acted without orders.
Outbreak of hostilities:
The early months of 1940 were a time of anxiety for Norway, and a growing awareness the country would have to prepare for war, despite being neutral, if it was to protect its freedom. The country was under pressure from Great Britain, which wanted to stop the coastal iron ore trade from Narvik in the north to Germany, but was hampered as the traffic sailed within Norwegian territorial wate
In January 1974 a group of warships, sailing under the flag of Flag Officer Second Flotilla, departed on a nine month deployment to Australia and the Far East. Task Group 317.1, as it was known, comprised the flagship FIFE, escorted by the frigates ARGONAUT, ARAIDNE, DANAE, SCYLLA and LONDONDERRY, supported by the RFAs TIDESPRING and TARBATNESS.
On 17 September 1974 the helicopter cruiser BLAKE sailed from Portsmouth accompanied by the frigates LOWESTOFT and FALMOUTH and the RFAs STROMNESS and OLNA. Later that day the group rendezvoused with the submarine WARSPITE, three more frigates, ACHILLES, DIOMEDE and LEANDER, and the RFA GREEN ROVER. Once assembled, Task Group 317.2, under the flag of Flag Officer First Flotilla, set course for Gibraltar at the start of a nine month deployment to the Far East.
At the time, this new policy of group deployments was seen as having many benefits over the traditional solo deployment or patrol. The ships could operate over an extended p
