This Is How A Navy Dies

The HMS Queen Elizabeth, floating for the first time in 2014 at the drydock in Rosyth near Edinburgh. Wikipedia

David Axe, Reuters: What the U.S. should learn from Britain’s dying navy

Britain used to boast the most powerful navy in the world. No more.

That’s a serious problem for allies like the United States.

Traditionally, Britain’s Royal Navy has been the U.S. Navy's closest partner. The two have fought together against most every foe. So any weakening of the Royal Navy also erodes Washington's naval power.

Today, however, the Royal Navy is a shadow of its former self. Government budgeteers have repeatedly, and excessively, cut the numbers of its ships, planes and manpower. It can barely patrol the United Kingdom’s own waters, much less project British influence abroad.

Though London officials now vow to reverse the decline, it might be too late. With morale plummeting, and its few remaining ships frequently malfunctioning at sea, the Royal Navy’s suffering might be terminal.

The timing couldn’t be worse. The West is mobilizing to defeat Islamic State, deter an increasingly aggressive Russia and manage China's meteoric rise as a world power. The British fleet's collapse is an object lesson for cash-strapped governments struggling to balance competing budgetary needs in a seemingly ever more volatile world.

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WNU Editor: The demise of the British Navy reminds me of the demise of the Soviet Army. At its peak both were a formidable force .... now one is a shell of its former self, and the Soviet Army is no more.

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