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Britain's Royal Navy has "woefully low" number of warships, warns MP

Xinhua, November 21, 2016 Adjust font size:

Britain is at risk of not having the naval maritime strength to deal with threats the country faces right now, the chairman of a parliamentary committee warned Monday.

The House of Commons Defense Committee Report said the Ministry of Defense (MoD) had yet to explain how it would replace its 13 ageing frigate, due to leave service at the rate of one per year between 2023 and 2035, whilst maintaining even the "woefully low" number of operational vessels currently available and the skilled workforce to renew them.

The chairman of the committee, Member of Parliament (MP) Julian Lewis said: "We are putting the MoD on notice that it must not let this happen."

The report examines the MoD's plans to modernize the Royal Navy's escort fleet, including the introduction of two new classes of frigate, and calls for a National Shipbuilding Strategy outlining how and when the Royal Navy's new frigates will be delivered.

"Without that information, the strategy can be little more than a collection of aspirations. The building of new ships requires a skilled workforce," says the report.

The committee of MPs have demanded a detailed timeline for the delivery of new warships and an assessment of the potential to build a new complex warship every two years.

Lewis said: "For decades, the numbers of Royal Navy escort vessels have been severely in decline. The fleet is now way below the critical mass required for the many tasks which could confront it, if the international scene continues to deteriorate."

"The National Shipbuilding Strategy offers the potential not just to manage this work efficiently and effectively, but also to reverse the trend of ever-decreasing numbers," the report read, adding the MoD must deliver this program of modernization on time.

"If it fails to do so, the government will break its categorical pledge to maintain at least 19 frigates and destroyers," the report read. Endit