Los comandantes de la Royal Navy británica han ofrecido hacer recortes en la flota que la dejarán a su tamaño mas pequeño desde tiempos de Enrique VIII para salvar la construcción de los portaaviones. Según estos planes, el número de buques se reduciría a la mitad, o sea 25 unidades entre fragatas, destructores, submarinos, y dragaminas. Los buques anfibios deberían ser desguazados.
Incluso aunque se construyeran, los nuevos portaaviones podrían navegar sin aviones embarcados, incluso podrían ser rediseñados o retrasados durante años.
Un nuevo portaaviones ya está en construcción, pero el segundo está bajo discusión.
Las opciones son retrasar los buques durante años o rediseñarlos para portar helicópteros o aviones mas baratos.
Además, el ejército cuestiona el coste de los portaaviones y su valor militar.
La Navy argumenta que los dos portaaviones son vitales para mantener el poder disuasorio del Reino Unido.
La Navy ha ofrecido reducir su flota a 12 buques de superficie, quedándose con seis destructores Type 45 y seis fragatas Type 23. Los submarinos se reducirían a siete convencionales clase Astute y cuatro clase Trident nucleares, con lo que el tamaño de la Armada sería la mitad del de Francia y similar a la de Italia.
La Navy advierte de que con esta reducción será extremadamente difícil proteger las líneas marítimas británicas, de las que dependen el 90% del comercio del país.
Además se tendría que renunciar la misión anti piratería en el Índico, a la protección de las plataformas petrolíferas y a las misiones anti droga en el Caribe.
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Navy chiefs yesterday offered to make cuts that would reduce the senior service to its smallest since the time of Henry VIII. Under the plans, the number of warships would be cut by almost half to just 25, with frigates, destroyers, submarines, minesweepers and all amphibious craft scrapped.
Even if built, the new carriers could sail without any British aircraft to fly from them after admirals "mortgaged everything" to persuade ministers not to abandon the £5.2 billion programme. The ships could also be delayed for years and redesigned to save money, defence sources have disclosed.
One new aircraft carrier is already under construction, but the fate of the second has emerged as the central issue of the Government's Strategic Defence and Security Review, which is supposed to frame military planning for the next decade but no decisions have been taken.
Options still on the table include delaying delivery by several years and redesigning one or both ships to carry cheaper jets or even helicopters.
Army commanders and General Sir David Richards, the new Chief of the Defence Staff, have questioned the cost of the carriers and their potential military value.
The Navy has argued that having two carriers is vital if Britain is to retain its place as a top-rank military power.
It is understood that the Navy has offered to slim down to as few as 12 surface ships, leaving it with six Type 45 destroyers and six Type 23 frigates. In addition, its submarine fleet would reduce to seven Astute hunter-killers plus the four Trident nuclear deterrent boats. With the two carriers, this would reduce the fleet by half from its current total of 42 ships.
Navy analysts warned that the cuts would mean Britain reducing its fleet to the size of the Italian navy and almost half the size of the French.
Navy sources have said that the reduction would mean Britain would find it "extremely difficult" to protect sea lanes on which 90 per cent of the country's trade relies.
It would also have to drop either anti-piracy patrols in the Middle East, protecting oil platforms in the Gulf or counter-narcotics operations in the Caribbean.
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