I'm truly stunned, and slack-jawed to hear this.
I do not doubt you, but would very much appreciate a source where I may confirm this.
No problem. I'll grab a couple of links:
(Note, the date in the first link is European - January 5, 2007. This is the story I remembered.)
Navy to cut its fleet by half
By Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent
Last Updated: 3:03am GMT 05/01/2007
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/01/05/navy05.xml
"Royal Navy commanders were in uproar yesterday after it was revealed that almost half of the Fleet's 44 warships are to be mothballed as part of a Ministry of Defence cost-cutting measure."
See also a later post from the LATimes via FR which says cuts to as few as 25, not 22:
"Even worse hit is the Royal Navy, which is at its smallest size since the 1500s. Now, British newspapers report, of the remaining 44 warships, at least 13 and possibly as many as 19 will be mothballed. If these cuts go through, Britain's fleet will be about the same size as those of Indonesia and Turkey and smaller than that of its age-old rival, France."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1793110/posts