Dismal State of Britain’s Military
Britain’s failure to deploy the Royal Navy to defend its sovereign bases on Cyprus – attacked by Hezbollah drones on 1 March – has raised alarming questions over the readiness of Britain’s military to project force overseas.
On Tuesday, the Type 45 Destroyer HMS Dragon was seen moored in Gibraltar, some 2,200 miles away from its intended destination after it left Portsmouth last week. It is scheduled to arrive in Cyprus next Monday, some three weeks after the strike by Hezbollah on the RAF base on the southern tip of the island.
There is now no British presence in the Persian Gulf region for the first time in 50 years, and its Cyprus bases are unprotected.
Three of six Type 45 destroyers are in deep maintenance and only three are deemed “operational”. Of seven frigates, only three are operational and neither of the two aircraft carriers is at sea.
The submarines fare little better. So, how’s our staunch ally’s Army doing these days? Morale good?
Friendly Fire: British Army to Punish Soldiers Writing Satirical Songs as Morale Plunges
Oliver JJ Lane
British Army soldiers have been reprimanded for lampooning the low morale among troops amid warnings from the top brass that they would likely be wiped out if a major war broke out.
Today, the navy comprises just 13 principal surface combatants, namely six Type 45 destroyers and seven Type 23 frigates. In addition, there are ten submarines, 26 patrol and coastal vessels, and two aircraft carriers.
A British Army Major was “summoned for a telling off” after it was revealed that he created a satirical song reflecting on the official position of senior officers that, should a big war come, they in the “first echelon” would have to be quickly replaced with new recruits if the country had a hope of winning the conflict.
The song, which quickly spread among the personal mobile devices of serving soldiers, expressed in its chorus and final verse:
…we keep on getting told that wars are won by the second and third echelon, but fuck that because we’re in the first one.
But don’t worry about it… because we’re all dying in the first wave.
Don’t think about the tactics or question the plan, there’s no kit but the [NATO Allied Rapid Reaction Corps] all over it so bring back the glory days and earn the parade of our coffins…
The line speaks both to a recent remarkable speech by General Sir Patrick Sanders about the inevitability of the “first echelon” of the British Army being expected to suffer badly should a major war come, and the institutional memory of when exactly the same fate befell soldiers in the First and Second World Wars.
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The report states that the Army Major who created the song and has now been “summoned for a telling off”, pending formal punishment, did so while attending the Intermediate Command and Staff Course for newly-promoted Majors at Shrivenham Defence Academy. The course is described by the Army as “a 26-week residential, comprehensive and generalist mandatory career course” for newly promoted Majors, training them for their mid-careers through to Lieutenant-Colonel.The Daily Telegraph reports, shockingly, that the whole class on the residential course were threatened with being failed unless the person responsible for the song came forward and confessed. After the man responsible did, other songs were created by unidentified further soldiers, including a sardonic apology that stated:
Last week I wrote a little song. Pushed send and then it went wrong, my intentions were good, no clue it would spiral…
…I didn’t mean to offend about the lack of kit, or the fact that we might be a little bit shit… if one little song, one little homage can cause such irreversible damage then perhaps problems lie a little deeper than a bored student with inadequate teachers.
… sorry for saying we don’t have enough artillery, and not enough kit on land, air, and sea. So when it’s my turn to charge the enemy, I’ll take the bullets through the chest gleefully.
A spokesman for the Army reportedly said: “Content of this kind falls short of the standards we expect of our people, particularly those undergoing professional military education.”
Wonder how well the RAF is faring after screening out “useless white pilots” as Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston was insisting on a goal of 40% female recruits and 20% from ethnic minorities.
Britain- not so great anymore.
Category: NATO
There is a gentleman named Mark Feldman on youtube who does military history related videos. He is quite the scholar and very well researched. The other day he did one about the condition of the Brit Navy. His analysis is very damning. The one carrier that is seaworthy is incapable of projecting power because there are insufficient other ships to provide even a hint of security. AS he stated, should something like the Falkland invasion happen today, there is virtually nothing the Brit Navy could do about it. Pretty sad that the nation that always had one of if not the best Navys in the world now falls behind several third world countries.
Feldman’s video is worth the watch.
The UK Navy was THE barely contested world power from Trafalgar until WWII (1805-1945). Even from 1648-1984 the nation held sway over much of the world. Now they are a museum of what once was.
It always seemed fascinating to me that a tiny island nation could leverage superior technology, strategy, training and organizational skills to conquer one quarter of the world. Those days are long gone by. In the modern era no nation really has those extreme advantages any more.
The sun set decades ago on the British Empire.
Other than Pakistan, Britain has become another Islamic country that possesses nuclear weapons. That’s probably a bigger concern than the state of its military.
Britain is starting to feel the pains of what it asked for.