'We've got a strong Royal Navy': MP takes aim at Trump after insulted force as being 'too old'
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The US president made several derogatory comments about the Royal Navy, stating the force’s ‘toy’ aircraft carriers ‘don’t work’
A defence minister has defended the state of the Royal Navy and believes there is no truth in Donald Trump’s insults.
Luke Pollard MP, minister for defence readiness and industry, responded to the president’s claims that Britain’s ships are “too old”. Mr Trump hurled these spiteful comments at the UK following the government’s actions to refrain from directly joining the US-Israeli bombing raids on Iran.
Among them were jibes made towards HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Queen Elizabeth, with the president stating they are “toys” that “don’t work”. Asked on BBC Breakfast whether there is “an element of truth in that”, Mr Pollard said: “No. No, we’ve got a strong Royal Navy.
“HMS Sutherland, the Type 23 frigate behind me here, is crewed by brilliant men and women. We’ve got a globally deployed Navy at the moment. We’re adding to that Navy with new autonomous capabilities, creating a hybrid Navy.
“Our Navy works with our allies and, as the defence secretary revealed yesterday, our Royal Navy, the Air Force and other military units, have been involved in monitoring and deterring Russian submarine activity against our undersea cables in the Atlantic. So our Royal Navy is working, it is deployed, and yes, we are also dealing with the hollowing out and the underfunding of the Navy that we inherited from the previous government. That’s why the shipyards in Glasgow and in Rosyth are building the brand new Royal Navy frigates.”
Do we have a strong Royal Navy?
The state of the fleet has been put under the spotlight following the start of the Iran war on February 28. Only one of the force’s five air defence destroyers, HMS Dragon, was ready to be deployed to the eastern Mediterranean. Six weeks worth of work was completed in six days to deploy her. Despite a busy three weeks, she is now on the side-lines after a technical issue arose with her water supply systems.
HMS Duncan entered a maintenance period following trials, with HMS Dauntless already in a similar state. HMS Defender, Daring, and Diamond, are all undergoing major long-term refits to install new engines and fix entrenched propulsion problems.
Aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales is undergoing preparations in Portsmouth for Operation Firecrest, where she will take charge of a UK Carrier Strike Group in the North Atlantic and High North. Her sister ship, HMS Queen Elizabeth, is still in Scotland amid ongoing delays to fix mechanical problems and bring her back to sea.
The frigate force is dwindling, something which the public is noticed after defence secretary John Healey’s car crash interview a fortnight ago. Including HMS Richmond - not officially retired but due to be decommissioned soon - there are 13 Type 23 frigates. Not all of them are active. Replacement Type 26 and 31 vessels are still years away from entering the fleet.
Offshore patrol vessels HMS Tamar and Spey are globally deployed in the Pacific. The majority of the fleet is deployed in and around the North Atlantic. Several ships have been shadowing Russian vessels in recent weeks.