‘We’re Going to Need a Bigger Navy’: UK Parliament Report Sounds Alarm on Reduced Fleet

Dec. 14 (UPI) — British lawmakers delivered a report on Tuesday calling for more funding to increase the size and upgrade the capabilities of the Royal Navy.

The House of Commons Committee report is entitled “We’re going to need a bigger Navy.”

It highlighted several issues with the country’s oldest branch of armed services, calling the coming decade “challenging.”

From a record low number of surface ships and too few submarines, to a lack of replacement weapons, the report warns increased spending is needed to ensure the fighting force can maintain its current capabilities.

It says government policy calls for the navy to take an increased role on the global stage, something that will eventually prove impossible with the current aging fleet, “failing to deter our increasingly emboldened adversaries.”

“The next 10 years will prove a test for our naval fleet. The U.K. is faced with an increasingly hostile and unpredictable international environment but the Government is still reducing funding, retiring capability and asking the Navy to rely on increasingly elderly vessels for the next five years until new ships come in,” Defense Committee Chairman Tobias Ellwood told the Evening Standard.

The report says the navy’s Type 23 frigates and Trafalgar class submarines should have been replaced years ago, as it becomes more challenging and expensive to maintain the aging vessels.

Currently funded replacement vessels already under construction would only serve to maintain, but not increase the size of the fleet.

Three naval ships are due to be retired before their replacements are available for service.

Beyond size, the report also took issue with the fleet’s capabilities.

“When ships do get to sea they act like porcupines — well defended herbivores with limited offensive capabilities. This is a result of decisions by successive governments to limit budgets and prioritize defensive capabilities,” reads the report.

This comes after the government’s latest Spending Review “tightened the Navy’s budget for operations and maintenance still further,” according to the report.

The Royal Navy currently has 75 operational commissioned ships including submarines.