The Royal Navy's largest ever warship HMS 'Queen Elizabeth' is floated out of its dock for the first time in Rosyth, Scotland, July 2014.
Wikipedia/Creative Commons
Posted on 08/10/2016 7:19:32 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Britain used to boast the most powerful navy in the world. No more.
That’s a serious problem for allies like the United States.
Traditionally, Britain’s Royal Navy has been the U.S. Navy's closest partner. The two have fought together against most every foe. So any weakening of the Royal Navy also erodes Washington's naval power.
Today, however, the Royal Navy is a shadow of its former self. Government budgeteers have repeatedly, and excessively, cut the numbers of its ships, planes and manpower. It can barely patrol the United Kingdom’s own waters, much less project British influence abroad.
Though London officials now vow to reverse the decline, it might be too late. With morale plummeting, and its few remaining ships frequently malfunctioning at sea, the Royal Navy’s suffering might be terminal.
The timing couldn’t be worse. The West is mobilizing to defeat Islamic State, deter an increasingly aggressive Russia and manage China's meteoric rise as a world power. The British fleet's collapse is an object lesson for cash-strapped governments struggling to balance competing budgetary needs in a seemingly ever more volatile world.
Yes, navies are expensive. They require long-term planning, work and funding. In peacetime, the fleet’s benefit is often invisible, marked by the absence of overt conflict.
Yet navies remain crucial to national defense. Patrolling international waters with sophisticated sensors and powerful, long-range weaponry, they can respond more quickly to crises and bring more firepower to bear than can air forces (which require nearby runways) and armies (which move slowly).
Navies that die from neglect leave a void that rogue states, terrorists and criminals can quickly fill. It takes navies to keep an eye on vast ocean regions.
(Excerpt) Read more at uk.reuters.com ...
The Royal Navy's largest ever warship HMS 'Queen Elizabeth' is floated out of its dock for the first time in Rosyth, Scotland, July 2014.
Wikipedia/Creative Commons
Guns versus butter. Who will defend America and the western world when the bill comes due.
Another reason why NATO is simply “security theater” - and a joke.
We have 28 trip-wires across Europe, but none serious about fighting or the will to defend themselves. A very dangerous combination.
NATO is just another ponderous government bureaucracy that won’t die, so its become just part of the vast leftist-progressive social engineering apparatus that is Europe today.
Don’t vote for liberal progressives.
We are following in the UK’s footsteps on guns/socialist butter.
But the UK had the USN to rely upon. There is nobody behind us.
Once the West opened its doors to the enemies, there was no reason for global militaries; if we are losing the war inside our country who cares what we can do to some Neanderthal on a mountain in Afghanistan?
They said we had to fight them over there so we wouldn’t have to fight them over here. Then they leave the borders open and fly in muzzies by the plane load.
Exactly; any soldiers in Afghanistan or Iraq would serve us better here.
When US troops protecting Saudi Arabia from Saddam were told to keep any Christian symbols inside their clothing, the writing was on the wall...
The fastest, effective solution to this is not found in the hardware, but in the training and experience of crewmen, which is as important.
In effect, the US Navy should integrate lots of UK Navy Reservists to serve aboard US ships. To insure their active duty personnel also get training, there should be a rapid back and forth transition in the UK Navy between active duty and reserves. At home, they are on active duty. Attached to US ships, they are reservists.
Most of the costs for this should be met by the US, with the idea that because reservists are paid much less, the UK could substantially expand its number of naval personnel.
The ships for this greatly expanded Navy are semi-mothballed, able to head to sea with a trained crew in much less time.
My God, that looks positively tiny.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.