I thought the purpose of our armed forces was to defend the United Kingdon, pure and simple, which is why I have to question what possible motives we have for maintaining a significant surface fleet.
95% of our trade goes by sea. We cannot feed ourselves for we import more than half of our food.
There are just three sides to the defence of our island nation and it doesn't take a military genius to work them out; just simple common sense and a knowledge of history. Unfortunately, not only are there no military geniuses in the Treasury - who control the budget allocated to the Ministry of Defence - there also seems to be no-one with any common sense. Nor anyone in the MOD with the guts to stand up to the Chancellor.
1. What we need from our Royal Navy is the ability to ensure that our food supplies cannot be seriously disrputed. That requires at the very least, a navy equipped with the best possible anti-submarine capability.
2. What we need from our army is the ability to prevent any foreign soldier setting foot on UK soil. They willl need the active assistance of the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force in achieving this aim.
3. What we need from our Royal Air Force is the ability to prevent any foreign military aircraft entering UK airspace, or releasing a weapon from outside our airspace that can penetrate it.
The three services are interdependent and we no longer need to project military power outside our own direct sphere of interest as outlined above. Those three requirements are the very minimum that must be achieved. Anything less and we are no longer a sovereign nation.
... but perhaps that is what our unanimously pro-EU politicians really want?