Almost half of the British Royal Navy's warships are to be mothballed as the Ministry of Defence (MoD) tries to slash costs, the Daily Telegraph reported yesterday.
Prime Minister Tony Blair's government has admitted that 13 warships are in a state of "reduced readiness" and six further destroyers and frigates are being proposed for cuts, the paper said.
The move comes as ministers reportedly try to cut the defense budget by ?250 million (US$486 million) and amid major armed forces commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"What this means is that we are now no better than a coastal defense force or a fleet of dug-out canoes. The Dutch now have a better navy than us," said an unnamed senior officer.
It is likely that the six destroyers and frigates will eventually be sold or scrapped, while there are also fears that two new aircraft carriers promised in 1998 will never be built, the paper said.
Unnamed MoD sources told the paper it was possible that the navy would discontinue one of its major commitments around the world to save money.
It also quoted unnamed defense sources saying that two of eight destroyers on the order books will not be bought.
The former head of the Royal Navy, Sir Alan West, told the Sunday Telegraph last week that the government was putting British interests at risk by reshaping the armed forces to wage long-term campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The MoD was behaving "like these tinpot countries" which fail to invest in major equipment programs and was running the risk of turning the armed forces into "a gendarmerie," he said.
SPEAKING OUT: After Siranudh Scott’s allegations surfaced, celebrities and public figures took to social media to share their own experiences of sexual misconduct and abuse A high-profile alleged sexual abuse case within a wealthy Thai beer brewing family has prompted a wave of painful accounts from survivors of unconnected abuse in the conservative nation. Siranudh Scott, a member of the billionaire Thai family that founded the ubiquitous Singha beer brand, posted an emotional video this month accusing his elder brother Sunit of repeatedly abusing him when he was a teenager. Sunit, who is in his 30s, later denied the allegations in a video posted online, but Singha parent Boonrawd dismissed him from his executive role with the company on Tuesday last week. “I felt I needed to speak
SEEKING ORDER: Rodrigo Paz said that ‘anyone who wants to destroy the nation will have to deal with this president and the full force of the constitution’ Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz on Wednesday said that the nation was at a “breaking point” after nearly a month of protests that have caused shortages of food, fuel and medicine. Paz, who took office six months ago amid the worst economic crisis there in four decades, is battling a groundswell of fury over his policies. The political capital, La Paz, has been besieged by low-income workers and members of the indigenous majority calling for his resignation. “The country needs order and is reaching breaking point,” the 58-year-old said at a public event in La Paz, renewing his appeal for dialogue. On Tuesday, the Bolivian
COMMUNITY CONFLICT: Concerns about disease spread from corpses has run up against friends and families’ desire to bury their dead as infection spreads in the area Angry residents of a town at the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) attacked and burned a tent that was part of a health center where people are being treated for the virus, the staff there said Saturday. It was the second such attack in the region in a week. No one was hurt in the attack, according to reports but as patients ran out to escape the fire, 18 people with suspected Ebola infections fled the facility and are unaccounted for, a hospital director said. Angry residents arrived at the clinic in the
Forecasters in Europe yesterday warned of exceptional heat as record temperatures driven by a “heat dome” push temperatures well above seasonal norms across the continent. The surge follows a record-breaking Monday, with France logging its hottest day in the month of May on record, its weather agency said, and the UK also posting unprecedented highs. A so-called “heat dome” of warm air from northern Africa trapped under a high-pressure system over western Europe is behind the high temperatures not usually seen until high summer. Restrictions on outdoor work were imposed in parts of Italy, beaches in southwest France filled earlier than usual and
RSS