rduarte!
Over the past couple of pages you have provided me with much amusement! You have all the hallmarks of a rather agitated & bitter Frenchman with lots and lots of energy to put into bantering us Brits (not always the best of banter but keep it up none-the-less!!).
Regarding the quote above, I am interested to learn why it is that you think this to be the case. I am assuming that as the number of French warships has recently (narrowly) surpassed the number of British, that you believe your above statement to be reality.
Well, let me throw a few points into the mix. The RN has been active in the Middle East for the past 16 years - including 2 shooting wars. A few years before that we took a battle to the very far reaches of the Atlantic and won (granted there were losses but those lessons have been learnt and, well, it was a WAR - sustaining losses is part and parcel unfortunately). Since then we have landed and sustained forces in Sierra Leone and participated in the Kosovo conflict. What have you guys been up to apart from building aircraft carriers that are too short?!
The point I am trying to make is, considering the operational experience and the quality of training the RN gives its people, does the number of platforms in your navy being slightly higher than ours really make you stronger?? I mean significantly stronger??
That is definitely open to debate! The RN is the second largest navy in the world in terms of tonnage I think you will find.
But its our people that make the RN (and the Brit armed forces as a whole) the strong and capable force it is - it was our people that beat you at Trafalgar and it will be our people that beat you again and again
But as we are allies (
) and as the chances of us ever actually going to war are miniscule - why are you bringing all this to a thread that should really be focused on the aircraft carriers that we are going to sell you?!
Sense1