Call me a traitor but I for one am glad we didn't hold a fleet review this year.
In 1953 the review was 197 RN warships - most of which were reserve fleet ships towed into position without a proper crew, towed back and scrapped !
1977 a similar situation occurred with 112 ships.
The RN today has around 129 ships plus tugs etc. So yes if we recalled every ship we had we could put on a decent (say 100 ship) review. BUT WHY WOULD WE WANT TO?????
I can think of 101 better uses for our ships than watching them line up and cheer ship - you know boring things like taking part in the war on terror or disaster relief. The RN could have held a decent fleet review but sensibly in my opinion chose not to. Thank god for that I say!!
On a completely unrelated note - I was vv impressed by the RAF parachute team that were jumping over RMCS / JSCSC last night - great show, flyby by the C130 was even better
