Originally Posted by
Bing
For decades the RN has planned on 3 escorts to support a task line, i.e. one on patrol, one in refit, one in workup. Which would be 6 from 18. So congratulations, you've just described the RN's tasking cycle. You could probably get a job with the Telegraph...
At least 1 of the T45 is acting as a training ship before going into refit so it's actually helping relieve the manpower issues. But you don't need to know that for the Telegraph job.
So 3 per task line, 6 available. So we're saying the RN can manage 2 task lines at anyone time? That's nothing to shout about for an island nation with global ambitions and a former leader in maritime power projection, and very little operational depth. I say that not as RAF taking potshots, more in despair - we need a credible navy as much as we need credible air and land forces. And this really doesn't come across as being particularly credible.