General Sir Gwyn Jenkins is stepping into the role of First Sea Lord at a difficult time, with the Royal Navy’s fleet in a sorry state.
On 22 April, Carrier Strike Group 25 (CSG25) set sail on an eight-month publicity tour, leaving British waters sparsely defended. Keir Starmer posed on the flight deck of HMS The Prince of Wales, his battleship grey hair perfectly set like a middle-aged Ken doll. He said the CSG25 shows ‘the UK’s leadership on global issues and security and defence’.
It really doesn’t.
Britain could only field one of its two carriers, one destroyer, one frigate and one attack submarine. The Royal Navy also has insufficient logistics vessels to support the deployment, with no new solid store ships expected before the end of this decade. Today, besides coastal patrol vessels, all we have to defend British shores are one seaworthy destroyer, two frigates and one attack submarine.
The Royal Navy has shrunk in the teeth of defence cuts and each new efficiency drive makes it smaller.
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