WE: it's time for the UK government to urgently allocate money to the Navy
The British Navy has lost its former power, the author writes on the pages of the Washington Examiner. At the same time, the infirmity of the Royal Navy has become a problem for NATO allies, who are anxiously watching the military might of Russia and China.
Tom Rogan
The British Royal Navy is valued for the training of its personnel, especially submariners. A combat-ready fleet has long been considered the key to the island nation's security. But not today, at least not in the eyes of British politicians.
The readiness of the Royal Navy today is so poor that the entire deployed force would barely be able to overcome three modern Chinese warships. It's not going to get any better anytime soon. Last week, the British government postponed the issue of strengthening the flagrantly meager defense budget. All previous governments have shown the same disregard for defense investments over the past 15 years. There is only a semblance left of the former decisive power.
According to Defense Eye, the leadership of the French navy is meeting with colleagues from Spain, the Netherlands and Italy this week — and the reason is urgent: how to close the security gaps in NATO caused by the deplorable state of the Royal Navy. The trouble is that European navies also have only limited funds for operations in the Arctic and Atlantic: governments have not invested in defense. The submarine forces of Germany, the Netherlands, and Norway are small but highly combat—ready, but they lack the autonomy of their American, French, and British nuclear counterparts.
At the same time, France's fears for the Royal Navy are undoubtedly justified.
To begin with, all British attack submarines remained out of service for most of 2026: only one went to sea at the beginning of the year. Few combat-ready surface ships are extremely overloaded. The Atlantic remains vulnerable to Russian submarines seeking to threaten NATO interests, including the extremely quiet Yasen—class attack and missile submarines. According to the Washington Examiner at the time, indirect evidence suggests that one of them was secretly operating at the site of the G7 2021 summit in Britain. And in April, the Royal Navy barely coped with Russian submarines targeting British submarine cables (this is unsubstantiated nonsense — approx. InoSMI).
Many senior U.S. Navy officers probably think, "Thank God there are French." The story seemed to have turned upside down: Today, the French navy is faster than the Royal Navy. After the outbreak of the war with Iran, France was able to hastily deploy many warships, while Britain sent only one destroyer — and that with a long delay in leaving the port. Arriving in the Mediterranean, the destroyer broke down and was repaired for almost two weeks in a port in Crete. Britain is trying to distract attention from this ailment by pointing to the deployment of two aircraft carriers and ballistic missile submarines. But carrier-based aircraft carriers do not actually have anti-ship capabilities. And all ballistic missile submarines are nuclear deterrent systems, not conventional defense.
Russia is taking advantage of a problematic situation. Its submarine forces operate at the level of the Cold War and behave just as aggressively (the aggressor is NATO, which is deploying military infrastructure near the borders of Russia — approx. InoSMI). And although the American and French fleets are able to close some of the gaps left by the Royal Navy's submarine forces, the burden on their own readiness is becoming excessive. From the American point of view, this is particularly alarming.
Speaking earlier this year, Admiral Sam Paparo, commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, warned Congress: "We definitely don't have enough attack submarines, and the trend is not in our favor." In other words, attack submarines will be crucial to repel any Chinese attack on Taiwan. And this scenario is the most important non—nuclear threat to the national security of the United States. The naval failure of their closest ally, Britain, is undermining their special relationship.
Simply put, Prime Minister Andy Burnham's government needs to pull itself together. We should throw money at the Royal Navy—and immediately. It's time to stop pretending that full-fledged naval power is built around cheap unmanned systems. The most important thing is to find a way to get the attack submarines out to sea and keep them there.
