Britain's decaying Royal Navy: Warships decommissioned because there's no sailors to sail them
The Royal Navy has such a lack of sailors, that it has been forced to decommission two warships in order to man its new frigates
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The Royal Navy has such a lack of sailors, that it has been forced to decommission two warships in order to man its new frigates.
HMS Westminster recently underwent refurbishment - which was a huge expense to the taxpayer - and is to be decommissioned alongside HMS Argyll this year.
It follows a "recruitment crisis" within the Armed Forces with the Navy having suffered a collapse in the flow of new recruits into the service.
Crews will now be sent to work across the new fleet of Type 26 frigates as they come into service.
Crews will now be sent to work across the new fleet of Type 26 frigates as they come into service
Getty Images"We will have to take manpower from one area of the Navy in order to put into a new area of the force," a defence source told The Telegraph.
Among eight Type 26 frigates, HMS Glasgow will not be operational until 2028 at the earliest and HMS Cardiff is expected to be ready by the end of the decade.
The total number of frigates in the UK's fleet will be brought down to just nine until the two new ships arrive.
It comes as Britain considers military action against Houthi rebels after they attacked ships in the Red Sea.
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It has been claimed that the Navy are looking to move HMS Lancaster to support HMS Diamond in the Red Sea.
Some have suggested the UK would have more capacity to protect cargo in the Red Sea if frigate numbers were not being reduced.
However, a Whitehall source supported the move and said the decision allowed the military to focus on "updating the Navy into a modern, hi-tech fighting force."
The source said: "It is always emotive when ships that have a long history of service come to the end of their working life.
"They and the sailors who crewed them have done the country proud. But decommissioning them is the right decision. The new Type 26 frigates will be in service before those ships can be refitted."
The Navy saw the worst out of the three services for recruitment in the 12 months to March
Getty/ Jake WargaAccording to the latest figures, the Navy saw the worst out of the three services for recruitment in the 12 months to March.
Lord West, the former first sea lord, has challenged the Navy over the decision to decommission warships without having a new fleet ready to take over.
"We are losing operational ships – which is all very well as long as there’s no war in the next few years," he said.
“With the number we’ve got, if we get involved in any action we are really poorly place. If the Government had taken seriously the issue of frigate numbers over the last 10 years, there would be sufficient to meet the requirements of trade protection in the Red Sea.”
A Navy spokesman said: “The operational requirements of the Royal Navy are kept under constant review.
"The Ministry of Defence is committed to ensuring the Royal Navy has the capabilities it needs to meet current and future operational requirements.”