Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

If you are free this afternoon, you and I could take the Falklands just because they are there.

-Am



NAVY SHIPS NOT FIT FOR BATTLE


11:00 - 15 June 2005
Audit Office report reveals shocking state of British fleet

Barely half of the Navy's ships are in a fit state to go to war because of debilitating cuts in maintenance budgets, the National Audit Office warned last night.

In a worrying report on the readiness of the UK's armed forces, the Whitehall spending watchdog said that across the three services, 38 per cent of forces had "serious weaknesses" in their readiness levels and would struggle to deploy on operations within the time set by military planners.

The report found that the Navy had been particularly badly hit, with less than 60 per cent of the fleet reported as being in a good state of readiness - down from more than 90 per cent five years ago. The situation is now so serious that fleet command has classed it as the "top risk" it is facing.

The sharp decline follows five years of cutbacks in the Navy's maintenance budget. The latest round of cuts will see Naval spending fall by £310 million over the next two years.

Auditors warned that the cuts had had a "considerable impact", including:

Forcing Naval engineers to "cannibalise" parts off some ships and equipment in order to keep others going. Although the practice has always existed to a limited extent, it has increased six-fold in the last year alone. The NAO said the practice was wasteful and could affect the ability to mount future operations.

Putting some ships on "reduced support", where even basic maintenance will only be provided in response to specific problems, in order to keep a smaller group of ships ready for war.

Fears that the "ability to respond to demand" of key Naval yards like Devonport will be adversely hit.

The Ministry of Defence told the NAO that the cutbacks followed a "deliberate" decision to focus spending on the Army and some elements of the Royal Air Force.

The MoD said the Navy would return to "normal" spending levels at the end of next year, although the NAO warned that the "recovery" could take much longer.

But the maintenance problems revealed by the NAO come on top of wider concerns about the effect of cuts to the Navy's fleet of destroyers and frigates, which is being slashed from 31 to 25.

The Devonport-based Type 23 frigate HMS Norfolk made her last voyage under the White Ensign last November, before she was decommissioned in a bid to save money.

Opposition MPs in the Westcountry last night said the report confirmed fears about the impact of defence cuts on the Navy - and on the future of Devonport Dockyard.

Colin Breed, Lib-Dem MP for South East Cornwall, warned that Government cuts were putting the nation's security at risk.

Mr Breed added: "Cutbacks have been unco-ordinated and indiscriminate and have placed the safety and security of this country at some risk.

"We need to have our vessels in a position where they are ready when required. The only way we were able to respond to the Falklands War was because we had a large dockyard, with 14,000 staff able to get a significant number of ships ready in a very short period of time. We could not even begin to think about doing that now.

"It is a false economy because you undermine the assets that you have. The Government have been warned about this for some time - they have now got to take some action."

Gary Streeter, Conservative MP for South West Devon, described the report as "very worrying". He added: "The cuts to all of our armed forces have gone too far in the last few years and that is especially the case with the Navy.

"There is a real fear that we no longer have the capability we need as we step into an uncertain century. This requires urgent action."


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