[Travis McGee]

What is the status of the Royal Navy now compared to 1982?

Could the Brits even begin to attempt the same operation today?

[Jeff Head]

The UK could do the same. They still have two of their carriers operational, and they have new Amphibious assault ships that are stronger than what they had back then, and decent escorts.

But, if the Venezuelans jumped in with their new high-performance Russian jets and missiles, they would need our help. Those aircraft have the range, the carrying capacity, and the performance to overwhelm the harriers and hurt the Brit task force badly as they pass on their way south.

One Nimitz and its escorts would eliminate all of that though and, if it came to that, IMHO, we should provide it for our allies and help forcefully put down this renegade.

[Jeff Head]

...besides. It would be a GREAT object lesson to the Iranians.

[Disambiguator]

What is the status of the Royal Navy now compared to 1982?

It had to be better than the early 1970s.

:^)

[JasonC]

British Navy To Be Cut In Half

Today, government at all levels in the UK takes 43% of the national income. That is $1.15 trillion per year. Slightly more than half of that is spending at the national level. And they think they can't afford half the navy they had yesterday, which was already a tiny, 44 ship fleet.

Why? Because Britain is no longer a serious nation. Hasn't been for quite some time. A minority continue to put up a good show, but the bulk of the country has decided that the best use of wealth is to sit on their collective backsides collecting government checks and feeling really, really self-righteous.

[popdonnelly]

“Could the Brits even begin to attempt the same operation today?”

I don’t think the Brits have the naval assets to create a credible task force.

[archy]

What is the status of the Royal Navy now compared to 1982?

Could the Brits even begin to attempt the same operation today?

Oh, yeah. Note that while it took HMS Conquerer some three weeks to arive after setting sail from Faslane Naval Base on Scotland's River Clyde, five days after her arrival she spotted the Argie flagship and began shadowing her while awaiting instructions. After the opening shots of the war had occurred British admiral Rear Admiral J. F. Woodward ordered Conqueror to sink Belgrano. On 02 May Conqueror became the first nuclear-powered submarine to fire warshots in anger when she launched three torpedoes at Belgrano, two of which struck the ship and exploded. Twenty minutes later, the ship was sinking rapidly and was abandoned by the crew. The two escorting destroyers fled the scene under fear of further attack. 323 Argentine sailors aboard were killed.

On 23 March 2007, 15 British Royal Navy/Royal Marines from HMS Cornwall were surrounded by the Navy of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, had their boat allegedly rammed, and were subsequently detained off the Iraq-Iran coast. The 15 personnel were released on 4 April 2007, coincidentally just about the amount of time it would have taken for British nuke boats to have arrived from their home bases as the HMS Conquerer, decommissioned in 1990, did before.

The Brits have good equipment, and some excellent personnel. All they need is the sort of outstanding leadership and will of the sort they had back in 1982.