Posted on 01/06/2014 8:23:58 PM PST by Lorianne
Photo essay
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
The website makes you load a whole new page of ads for every photo. No thanks. Moving on.
I wouldn’t like their chances of keeping the Falkland Islands if Argentina decided to invade again, but maybe that’s more down to the Marxists that run the government rather than the declining naval capacity.
Also, part of an effective military is having a society worth fighting and dying for. How much of that is there today? Is it really what it was in the bygone century? And that’s not a knock against Britain, I feel exactly the same about the USA. How are our soldiers supposed to fight for America with comrades who are doing their makeup and making daisy chains?
argentina invades? with what? didn’t their navy get repossessed?
seriously, i don’t believe they have the ducats to pull that off and i don’t mean just coin.
i doubt they want to face the thin red line again. i’m assuming that the UK still have troops that use the knife.
They might have difficulty with an invasion by the Irish at this point....................
“Also, part of an effective military is having a society worth fighting and dying for.”
And also the willingness to use the armaments one has. We have incredible power but a tiny will to use it. A large part of this lack of will is due to a loss of confidence in our values and what we stand for on the part of the people we elect to wield that power. And in the case of the current commander in chief, he doesn’t believe and has never believed in the values that made this country great.
6 destroyers, 13 frigates, 2 helicopter carriers, and two amphibious landing ships. 7 attack subs, and 4 boomers that are not really suited for much else than nuclear war. No air besides helicopters.
THAT is the -entire- Royal Navy. 1 destroyer, 3 frigates and 1 attack sub per ocean. One helicopter carrier, and one landing ship per half the planet.
The Japanese Navy today is far more powerful and outclasses the RN. Sad.
If Argentina did for some reason invade, the Brits cannot bomb Argentina. They have no bombers ,,, period. Their only strike aircraft has a useful range of about 875 miles. Falklands to Buenos Aries is about 1100.
The Harriers are gone. The Vulcans are gone. The carriers of the British Cold War ear Navy are gone. About all the Brits could do is interdict them with subs. But they cannot project combat power.
Their bigger problem is moral rot. This is the Royal Navy that had a boarding party captured by the Iranians ***within sight*** of a RN destroyer. That would have been utterly unimaginable in the past. Nobody would have even dared.
RN attack subs are equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles. Not enough to do major damage, but they could be used in a Doolittle style raid against a couple/few targets (like powerplants) that would send a message.
That all they could do, send a message. They could play defense and stop resupply to the island.
But they have no ability left to project power and force their will. The fleet and airpower they used in the Falklands war was enormous compared to what they have left today.
There are four fighters based on the islands, that’s it. And no hope of delivering others. Say some morning a commando team landed blows up the 4 fighters. Capture or disable that airport by any method, and there is a company of British infantry to deal with and that’s it.
War over. The Brits could not deal with it without dragging NATO (read USA) into it.
Its fun to have nostalgia for the days of British military prowess, but now they are a hollow force, a mere shell of the past.
Wonderful photographs. Thanks for sharing.
Britain’s tiny military is completely dependent on the US. While we have an anti-British regime like Obama’s, they cannot even count on that.
Argentina is just a quieter version of Venezuela. They will rattle swords but they, their government and their ideology are all broke.
I had a better collection of plastic model ships in the 50’s and early 60’s than the British have in real ships today.
Models by Marx, Revell and one other company.
Started with:
PT 109
USS Nautilus
USS Enterprise
USS Missouri
Missile Destroyer
possibly a cruiser
POGO vertical takeoff aircraft and other model
B 36, B-52; B-47, B 57, F80, 84C, 86, 94, 100 104, 105
Corsair, F 70 Lockheed , many others from WW2 & Korean war era.
If I could find them (given away years ago), I would lend them to the British so that they could double their forces.
Dream on!
even had a Spitfire
Worry not—the Royal Navy can, and will be rebuilt in time. England needs to figure out what it wants to be—an islamic nation, a weak state of a German dominated Europe or a great power. It is up to them. I believe they will select a great power. Why? They will have no choice—Germany will not give them a choice. As for the Muslims—they were be pushed out or controlled in short order once the UKIP dominate politics. I see England and France taking a big role in Africa in the future.
Good pics, but I wish websites would give you the option of looking at a pile of thumbnails instead of wading through all 33 of them one... at... a... time.
OOPS! I blew it! They actually DO have the option on this one to view it all as one page OR as thumbnails.
Sorry!
The RN is nearly as big as the Australian Navy. The UK has nearly three times the population and GDP so to say the RN is in a sad state is understating the matter.
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