tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11121925013370375102009-07-10T08:21:01.367-07:00Navy Lookouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15653804159878860040noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1112192501337037510.post-46412263518179456132009-04-20T03:40:00.001-07:002009-04-22T03:03:31.492-07:00

1. Protecting ships that carry the food you eat, the stuff you buy and the fuel you need. Most of the oil used by the UK arrives by sea. Global maritime trade relies on the free and lawful use of the sea. The UK is an island nation and most of the food and goods you buy in the shops has arrived from overseas on a ship. The same goes for the oil that powers your car (and just about every kind

Navy Lookouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15653804159878860040noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1112192501337037510.post-25041608591371523132008-12-16T03:03:00.001-08:002008-12-16T08:49:13.238-08:00

It's 2038. HMS Indefensible has been handed over to the Royal Navy... Today in a grand ceremony at Portsmouth dockyard HMS Indefensible was commissioned into the Royal Navy. Described as the most stealthy warship in the world, she is now the only vessel in the Royal Navy and replaces 2 mothballed aircraft carriers, 6 destroyers and 4 submarines. Responding to criticism about the shrinking

Navy Lookouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15653804159878860040noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1112192501337037510.post-16750091332173066712008-01-16T13:36:00.000-08:002008-03-07T05:10:48.774-08:00

In the recent leaked report from the MoD on the state of the RN it was stated the "Navy is vulnerable to unexpected shocks compared with 20 years ago" Compared to the high profile issues around warships, the 'teeth' of the navy, looking at the logistic 'tail' may seem less important but without the back-up of people, equipment and facilities, no navy can put ships to sea. "Today the RN is run by

Navy Lookouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15653804159878860040noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1112192501337037510.post-27200127399828661532007-12-04T04:19:00.000-08:002008-04-01T08:43:50.661-07:00

In typically restrained official words, the leaked report written by the MoD about the state of RN, states that "Anti-submarine capability is now below a "prudent minimum level". In a world where many countries are investing in new submarines, Britain, an island nation, is throwing away years of carefully acquired equipment, expertise and experience in hunting submarines. Two world wars

Navy Lookouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15653804159878860040noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1112192501337037510.post-42039694529111731432007-11-20T08:38:00.000-08:002007-11-24T13:29:29.603-08:00

The RN has roughly halved in strength since 1990. Many ships have been paid off and this is to be expected as vessels become old, obsolete and expensive to run. An average warship could expect to be retired after 25-30 years. What's surprising is the number of the relatively young warships that have been disposed of. Either they are flogged off to foreign navies (usually at prices well below

Navy Lookouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15653804159878860040noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1112192501337037510.post-59820691690032884202007-11-14T07:30:00.000-08:002009-06-26T00:33:49.053-07:00

In July 2007 it was announced that the government had started ordering equipment needed for the 2 massive aircraft carriers for the RN. (work on the actual ships should start in 2009) At about 65,000 tons, they will be the largest ships ever built for the RN and their size means they will be built in pieces (or 'super blocks') at various locations and assembled (adjacent to Gordon Brown's

Navy Lookouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15653804159878860040noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1112192501337037510.post-7570827445303197542007-11-08T05:04:00.001-08:002008-01-11T04:48:43.665-08:00

In 2007 the RAF finally took the first deliveries of the very pretty, very agile, and very expensive Eurofighter or Typhoon aircraft. This monstrously expensive white elephant is officially ‘just’ 4 years late although it has taken over 20 years to develop at cost the UK alone a whopping 19 Billion pounds - nearly 3 times the original quoted cost of £7 Billion! Those

Navy Lookouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15653804159878860040noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1112192501337037510.post-75111754368657777122007-11-06T06:33:00.001-08:002007-11-18T07:30:55.511-08:00

The great reality gap Every time the government is questioned about the decline in the size of the fleet they trot out the same old line about “This government has invested in the biggest shipbuilding programme for the RN for many years" (Tony Blair, May 2007). The truth is that while the shipyards are now relatively busy, since 1997 when the current

Navy Lookouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15653804159878860040noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1112192501337037510.post-13450618137803120422007-10-26T10:01:00.000-07:002007-12-03T12:21:56.052-08:00

Unlike the first part of the last century when the population of Britain proudly followed the progress of their navy and understood how much their well being depended on it, today the majority of people have little idea of the state of the RN or even the point of a having a navy. Many just see the armed forces as an expensive irrelevance and think the money could better spent elsewhere. In

Navy Lookouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15653804159878860040noreply@blogger.com7