glad rag,
"Desperately needed build programme" ?
Desperately needed for what?
13 Type 23 frigates, 6 Type 45/42 AD Destroyers and 4 Type 22B Frigates along with 7 SSN, SSBNs, the amphibious fleet and the RFA is still quite a powerful force unmatched anywhere outside the USN
Most of the European navies will have no more than 2 modern AD Destroyers.
Just what battle of the Atlantic scenario do you think we will be fighting?
And how many of those frigates, destroyers, subs and support vessels will be available at any one time? How much redundancy will those numbers give us? Although I'm sure it's all been well thought out - that will be enough vessels to conduct the full range of operations unilaterally should we need to. All we need to do now, is to work out how to get these high tech T45s to clone themselves, so they can be in more than one place at any one time.