After significantly cutting the size of its military in recent years, the United Kingdom was forced to call on France and Canada to help look for a Russian sub they believed was patrolling off the Scottish coast, according to a report in the Telegraph.
According to the report, the Russian sub was spotted more than a week ago and has yet to be found amid fears that it might be trying to spy on the UK’s Trident program — a sub-based nuclear warhead delivery system stationed in Scotland.
This is the island nation of the United Kingdom. Which endured two German efforts in two world wars to use submarines to starve Britain into submission.
The island nation whose nuclear deterrent is submarine-based.
So explain what power Britain plans to project into the Persian Gulf.
UPDATE: Britain will retire their largest warship after only 20 years of service:
The U.K. Royal Navy flagship — the amphibious assault ship HMS Ocean (L12) — is slated for scraping in 2018, the U.K. Ministry of Defence confirmed this week.
The move to decommission the Royal Navy’s largest ship, not mentioned in the MoD’s latest Strategic Defence and Security Review, follows mere months after the completion of a $97.8 million upgrade.
So no helicopter carrier to carry ASW assets or to project ground power to distant stations.
But don't worry. Britain will use one of their two new expensive 70,000-ton aircraft carriers--when finished--for amphibious operations.
That seems like a waste. Unless my notion for our Ford class carrier hulls has merit.
