From a newspaper which used to be known as the Daily ToryGraph but now shills on a daily basis for the Labour Party, we obtain some very disturbing news.

In 1982 the icebreaker HMS Endurance was withdrawn from around the Falkland Islands. Although not a front line ship its withdrawal was taken by the Argentinians as showing that we weren’t interested in the islands any more. They were proved to be very mistaken as our brave servicemen (including my father) headed off to demonstrate otherwise.

The ongoing evidence of our support for self-determination to the islanders has been apparent ever since by the presence of a RN warship and troops – just as we provide a West Indies Guardship. However HMS Northumberland (pictured – its the grey pointy thing with a gun on the front and a large stack of missiles) has just been withdrawn and replaced with RFA Largs Bay (pictured, its the grey blunt thing looking as threatening as a fried egg).

Mere words cannot describe my fury. No disrespect is intended from me to the civilian crew but they aren’t equiped or trained for hostilities. They don’t have the experience, background or the big gun on the front. Many very good people lost their lives the last time we pulled a similar stunt.

We’ve gone down from 65 frigates and destroyers the last time there were issues at the bottom of the world in 1982 to 22 now – some of which as I’ve noted on posts below are only still theoretically available for reactivation but just on paper.

Without wanting to quote more than a section of the article, please consider at least these paragraphs.

HMS Northumberland was due to begin a six-month voyage in the South Atlantic but has been diverted to take part in the European Union counter-piracy mission off the coast of east Africa.

Since when did the EU get dibs on our few remaining ships? I recall French missiles hitting our ships and the (par for the course) Belgians refusing to sell us munitions. But that’s hardly an issue as their only use since foundation has been as the German military shortcut to France.
This new (illegal) EU army is only a French/German attempt to undermine NATO and it is being allowed to succeed

In its place, RFA Largs Bay, a landing ship which is crewed by civilian sailors, will arrive in the South Atlantic this week to begin its mission of protecting the islands from the potential threat posed by Argentina, which still claims sovereignty of the islands.

The vessel will be equipped with a Lynx Mark 8 helicopter and Sea Skua anti ship missiles for self-defence. The landing ship has a small number of Royal Navy sailors who are responsible for manning a helicopter flight deck as well as a boarding party made up of lightly-armed Royal Marines but Royal Navy sources have said that the ship would be able to do little more than protect itself in the event of an emergency.

The size of the military force on the Falklands has been dramatically reduced since the end of the war in 1982. The islands are garrisoned by just 50 soldiers, composed of infantry, engineers and signallers. The RAF has four Tornado F3 air defence aircraft and crews to maintain them while the naval component consists of just one ship.

The Royal Navy has some 22 frigates and destroyers in the fleet, however only a third are available for operations at any one time and the seven currently available for operational service are already taking part in deployments.

One senior naval source said that successive cuts by the government had left the Royal Navy vulnerable and unable to properly defend its interests overseas.

“In any shooting war with a serious enemy the Royal Navy would cease to exist within a few weeks. Rock bottom is an appropriate description of where the Royal Navy now is.”

Gibraltar lies awake listening for the sound of Spanish tanks rolling down Main Street.