At this rate . . .

. . . we'll be selling them our old ships:

The government is planning further big cuts to the Royal Navy after deciding that terrorism is the only serious threat to Britain. Annual accounts from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) show that it is to cut funding for new ships and equipment by more than 20%, from about £1.8 billion a year to a maximum of £1.4 billion.

The cuts come as the MoD tries to fill a £2 billion shortfall in its budget over the next three years. Overspending has left funding even for this year uncertain. They will force the navy to shrink its commitments around the globe, further limiting Britain's ability to play a role in world events at a time when the perceived threat from both Russia and China is increasing.

The Royal Navy has not sent any ships to join a Nato force in the Black Sea since the Georgia crisis began, in contrast to poorer countries such as Poland and Spain.

It really has been the death of a thousand cuts for the RN . . . from being the mightiest fleet to ever sail through the 19th century, to a "fleet" of literally coastal defence level (except for those two monster aircraft carriers on order). I thought that the slow death of the Royal Canadian Navy had been a disaster, but the fate of the Royal Navy appears to be even worse. Those two carriers may be the last straw . . . if the government is only willing to fund the ships themselves, but not the necessary escort ships and aircraft, they'll be the two largest white elephants ever launched.

The navy has secured its most important project — two giant aircraft carriers to replace three smaller ones. But the destroyer fleet will be cut from nine to six — half the number deemed necessary by the 1998 Strategic Defence Review.

Attack submarines will be reduced from 11 to seven and many of Britain's 17 frigates will go. When Labour came to power the fleet had 35 destroyers and frigates. The defence review said it needed 32. There are now only 26 — and that figure could drop to as low as 15. The MoD cannot say how many frigates it will buy but the government has already indicated that large numbers are not needed.

The military economics are stark, for naval operations. To maintain a ship at sea on a full-time basis actually requires three, because each ship can only stay fully combat-ready and seaworthy for about 2/3 of the time, and it takes time to get to and from where it is needed. So, for each vessel in service, there's another one in the dockyard being maintained, and a third one in harbour or in transit to or from its duty station. You can get by with just two ships, but you're shortening the effective life of each vessel and increasing the strain on the crew by maximizing deployment time and shorting major maintenance.

The rest of the sad story is here.