A Chay Bowes wrote on x this astonishing expose of British military feebleness
I had seen reports like this but this is the most complete so far. That's why I am posting it [with minor editing for spelling] :
"The British Royal Navy’s massive decline starkly contrasts with the bellicose rhetoric being spewed by idiotic British politicians.
Once a renowned global power, the RN now fields a tiny eight frigates, six destroyers, and nine submarines, but here's whats most shocking, only 40% of this small force is operational due to chronic maintenance, crew and funding shortages.
On top of this embarrassment, three Astute-class submarines are in repair, and its Type 23 frigates, some almost 30 years old, lack critical modern systems now commonplace on Russian or Chinese ships.
Critically, recruitment is completely collapsing, with a 40-60% shortfall in marine engineers and long bureaucratic delays driving whatever candidates that do show an interest away.
Procurement scandals, like the Type 45’s faulty propulsion and the Nimrod cancellation, have left gaps any adversary would easily exploit.
Russia’s navy, despite its own issues, has aggressively prioritized radical scaling and modernization.
The Russian navy is fielding an astounding 27 new submarines with advanced Yasen-M and Borei-A classes carrying KalibrTsirkon missiles.
While Russia’s surface fleet is aging and undergoing needed modernization, its submarines undeniably outmatch the RN’s limited undersea presence.
All of this as loudmouthed Politicians’ like defence secretary John Healey mask the reality that the UK navy is a force unable to sustain any kind of modern battle operations. The UKs 2 problem plagued aircraft carriers are being cannibalised to keep each other afloat.
Currently, the British don't even have a full complement of F35s to fully equip even one of them.
Against Russia, a country he and his Boss Starmer are consistently telling us the UK is about to fight a war against, the RN’s overstretched assets would falter in a day, unable to counter submarine threats or protect any of Britains critical infrastructure.
That's the reality. These are the facts. But when did reality and facts ever stop a deluded politician from trying to start a war of distraction?"