Threat to Royal Navy as ships 'in jeopardy'

CRITICS SAY FLEET WILL SUF, 7 ERS LOSS OF COMBAT READINESS

- CARL EVE

THE Royal Navy is set to decommission two warships so that it can man new frigates due to a lack of service personnel, sources have told two national newspapers.

The Daily Telegraph reports that the Royal Navy has so few sailors it is set to decommission two warships to staff its new class of frigates.

The report names Type 23 frigate HMS Westminster, which was recently refurbished, and Devonport-based HMS Argyll, as due for decommissioning this year. It says the crews will be redeployed to work across the new fleet of Type 26 frigates as they come into service.

Meanwhile, a report in The Times claims HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark will be put into "long-term reserve" The Royal Navy has not confirmed either of the rumours.

According to both reports, it comes as the UK's Armed Forces experience a significant recruitment crisis, with the Navy having suffered a collapse in the flow of new recruits into the service.

A defence source told The Daily Telegraph: "We will have to take manpower from one area of the Navy in order to put into a new area of the force."

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has ordered eight Type 26 frigates, which will be the Navy's most advanced submarine-hunting warships to date. In June last year, The Herald reported that the new 'worldclass' anti-submarine frigates were being built on the Clyde but would be based in Plymouth. However, HMS Glasgow, the first of the new Type 26s, will not be operational until 2028 at the earliest, followed by HMS Cardiff, expected by the end of the decade.