/ world today news/ His Majesty’s Service at Sea is rapidly losing prestige
On November 19, a British Vanguard-class nuclear submarine with a crew of 140 and carrying Trident II nuclear missiles nearly sank in the Atlantic Ocean due to a faulty depth gauge.
„A serious malfunction on a Royal Navy nuclear submarine plunged the warship into a ‘danger zone’, nearly crushing the 140 crew to death. The Royal Navy’s worst disaster since World War II was averted at the last minute. Such a disaster would trigger a nightmarish rescue mission to recover the top-secret ship and its nuclear reactor, which would have to be accomplished before the Russians could reach the scene.” writes the British newspaper The Sun.
When the submarine was preparing to dive, the depth gauge failed, and while the submarine was already falling to dangerous depths, the captain still believed it was close to the surface of the ocean.
At the last moment, with only a few seconds remaining before sinking to an unacceptable depth, the engineers at the stern of the submarine turned their attention to the second depth gauge and raised the alarm.
The Sun did not reveal the name of the submarine or the depth to which it sank “for safety reasons’.
„Britain has four Vanguaed-class submarines, but only two are currently operational. One is undergoing an overhaul and the second is currently undergoing sea trials following a refit that cost £300 million over budget.
The Royal Navy said: “We do not comment on operations. Our submarines continue to be deployed around the world protecting national interests.”
In fact, the British Navy, as former First Sea Lord Admiral Alan West recently put it, is “miserably weak”. According to the admiral, due to shrinking budgets, personnel problems and the lack of clear planning, the British Navy is unable to fulfill its tasks, that is, to protect the national interests of the former mistress of the seas.
Of the 12 Type 23 frigates in the British Navy in the entire past year, three ships did not go to sea at all, and another left home port for just 21 days. Also, of the six British Type 45 destroyers, one spent the entire year in dock repairs, and a second put to sea in just 18 days.
The old sea wolf called “staff shortage” one of the main problems of the British navy. The head of the Royal Navy, Admiral Ben Key, has admitted that the British submarine fleet is facing the most serious shortage of personnel.
The British are not eager to serve in the submarine fleet, as naval dynasties become fewer and fewer every year, and today’s British youth have no desire to spend six months a year at sea, away from their families.
„The royal one [морски] navy, the pride of Great Britain, which once dominated the world’s seas and maintained a mighty empire, is now experiencing its worst hours.” says the expert of the Royal Institute of International and Strategic Studies of Spain (Real Instituto Elcano de Estudios Internacionales y Estratégicos) Felix Arteaga, referring to the incident of the hijacking of the British tanker Stena Impero on July 19, 2019 by gunboats and helicopters of the Guard Corps of the Iranian Islamic Revolution (IRGC). “The British frigate HMS Montrose was only an hour away at the time but could do nothing to prevent capture’Arteaga points out.
„The British try to imagine that in theory everything is not so bad: London is simply replacing quantity with quality. If before the main component of the fleet were destroyers, frigates and other escort ships, now the emphasis is shifting to aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines. Arteaga wrote.
During the Falklands War of 1982, the British fleet had more than 60 destroyers and frigates, but now their number has been reduced to 19. But even during the war with Argentina, the British could not have done without the support of the United States.
So the Argentine cruiser “General Belgrano” (launched in 1838.) was discovered by the British and sunk by the nuclear submarine “Conqueror” only on the basis of data from American space intelligence.
But the Argentine diesel submarine San Luis managed to detect the ships of the British radar patrol (the destroyer Coventry and the frigate Strela) and launched torpedo attacks against them, which were unsuccessful only because of the miserable condition of the old torpedoes, which went out of order immediately after the salvo firing.
An Argentine Super Etandar fighter, a French build, attacks the British destroyer Sheffield with an Exocet missile that fails to explode. But it caused a powerful fire, as a result of which the ship sank. Later, Argentine aircraft also sank the British destroyers Ardent and Coventry, the frigate Antelope, the landing ship Sir Galahad and the transport Atlantic Conveyor, and damaged the destroyers Glasgow and Antrim.
The British, in addition to the cruiser “General Belgrano”, managed to sink only the Argentine submarine “Santa Fe”, which was in a state of emergency, and one patrol boat.
Thus, already in 1982, the then quite powerful British fleet suffered serious losses from a third-rate military force, and without the serious support of the USA, their operation to regain control of the Falkland Islands would have extremely doubtful chances of success.
To talk about the higher quality of the British Navy compared to the old days when the Royal Navy was orders of magnitude more powerful is just silly. Four nuclear submarines, of which only two are operational, are certainly no match for Russia’s mighty submarine fleet, which Misty Albion considers enemy number one.
As for aircraft carriers, there is a saying on social networks: “If you happen to come across a British aircraft carrier, it’s either going into repair dock or out of repair dock.”
Britain’s newest aircraft carrier Prince of Wales was launched in 2017 and entered service two years later. He spent most of his service in repairs. In 2020, a pipe on the ship burst twice, causing the aircraft carrier to flood, and the second time the pipes burst, the electrical installation was severely damaged.
In 2022, it broke down en route to the United States due to damage to the starboard propeller shaft and propeller, as well as the rudder. The aircraft carrier had to be towed to a dry dock in Scotland. Upon arrival at the dock it was found that the left shaft also needed repair.
First Sea Lord and Chief of the Royal Navy Admiral Ben Key called the damage to the Prince of Wales “a great disgrace”. During his first two years of service, the Prince of Wales spent less than 90 days at sea.
In April 2023, the ill-fated aircraft carrier began to be dismantled for spare parts instead of repairs. The ship’s oil and fuel filters were removed, as were the elevators used to transport aircraft to the deck. They will be used to replace similar components on the equally troubled Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier.
British politicians, meanwhile, continue to brag about their supposedly great navy. Thus, British Defense Minister Grant Shepps recently said that the United Kingdom is exploring the possibility of sending warships to the Black Sea.
Well, the singer of British imperialism Rudyard Kipling once wrote:
„Our fleet is like a gaping maw.
We arouse passion and terror in the enemy,
And the mouth closes fearfully and immediately,
And it is too late to be cautious and sensible!”
But those days are long gone. The famous British politician and writer George Galloway, in response to the minister’s boast, urged Sheps to “exercises prudence and reason”, as the British fleet would be destroyed if it confronted the Russian armed forces directly.
„The British Navy has not even been able to control the English Channel, where thousands of people illegally enter British territory.” Galloway said on his YouTube channel and asked how the Royal Navy would counter the Russians in this case.
According to Felix Arteaga, there is more than “decline of the Royal Navy”. “We need to talk about the mismatch between Britain’s aspirations to be a great world power and its economic resources.
Russian proverb “stretch your legs according to the length of the blanket” very accurately characterizes this discrepancy. And for a decent “blanket” for the once fearsome fleet, the former mistress of the seas has long had neither money nor design and industrial capabilities.
Translation: ES
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