Originally Posted by
Asturias56
If the Suez Canal was blocked again "Defender" is a VERY long way from home
And still no explanation of why she would suddenly be needed at "home"at short notice.......or indeed why the Canal would suddenly suffer another blockage, after the first major one in decades.
But anyway - assuming that there was a pressing need to engage M3 cricket balls in home waters at short notice (the Hundred gone badly wrong?), I suspect Diamond could get there quickly enough, or Dragon suspend FTSP.....
Originally Posted by
Asturias56
As SAS says its not the crews - its the lack of political will to cough up the cash to provide a force capable of doing what the politicians want it to do
To a degree, yes, in that the number of T45 currently in non-Fleet maintenance was caused by short-term measures in the late teens, combined with the PIP. That's actually more to do with short-termism in cashflow, rather than failure to buy enough ships. Something SoS and First/Second are adamant that the Navy fix - and are making good progress in doing so.