Sunday, December 2, 2007

Navy would struggle to fight a war - report

By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent Last Updated: 3:44am GMT 03/12/2007

The Royal Navy can no longer fight a major war because of years of under­funding and cutbacks, a leaked Whitehall report has revealed.
With an "under-resourced" fleet composed of "ageing and operationally defective ships", the Navy would struggle even to repeat its role in the Iraq war and is now "far more vulnerable to unexpected shocks", the top-level Ministry of Defence document says.
The report was ordered by Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, who had intended to use it to "counter criticism" on the state of the Navy in the media and from opposition parties.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=XTJRDREULNQOLQFIQMFSFFWAVCBQ0IV0?xml=/news/2007/12/02/navy102.xml

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