Originally Posted by
Asturias56
"Tisa getting feedback of another two T23s which may be uneconomic to repair - that would take the escort fleet down to 8…."
I think its possible - but it really should just say "we've run out of money"
With 6 xT45 and 8 x T23 that means we can field 5-7 escorts using the usual refit/training/service metric. Surely a Labour Govt can't do any worse than the lot currently running UK defence?
You may wish to reflect on the fact that it was the last Labour government that :
1. Ordered the T45 with the WR21 propulsion plant - although to be fair the "doesn't work in hot water" story is a red-herring, it's actually the CLS contract and associated spares that are the issue
2. Deferred a decision to proceed with what was the T22/23(R), then FSC, then GCS, no fewer than three times (1999, 2003 and 2006 since you ask), which has resulted in the aged T23 fleet
3. Concocted a Maritime Industrial Strategy that deliberately as an objective intended to have a single complex warship building yard in the UK, which directly affected build rate of T26
4. Conducted two out of area operations at a scale and duration way outside planning (and therefore budgeting) assumptions, which scavenged budgets across defence
Those four facts are directly responsible for the current state of affairs - to have met the original design life of T23, the FoC T26 should have entered service in around 2009, (so order in 2003-4). For a 25 year life, FoC in 2015 or thereabouts, so order in 2008-9. It is also worth pointing out that the coalition government deferred ordering T26 - although that was largely due to the unfortunate fact that BAES spent all the assessment phase funding doing one design, only for the RN/MoD to change a fundamental aspect of it, thereby forcing a redesign and a slippage and a consequent budget game of chicken that took three years to resolve.
However, back to actual reality. Last time I looked this week there are four T45 at sea or available for sea. There are also six T23 at sea or available for sea. That's ten from seventeen. When Wallace said he wanted more ships available for sea, he meant it - and the Triumvirate took it seriously and made it happen (consequences TBC). What is certain is that the number of ships along the wall in Portsmouth now is significantly fewer than five or six years ago.
Suspect this is the usual "options" pre Command Paper silly season.