Five Royal Navy Ships To Be Scrapped

Five Royal Navy ships will be scrapped ahead of schedule to help save £500 million, the U.K. Government has announced.

The Type 23 frigate HMS Northumberland, the amphibious assault ships HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark, and two tankers, RFA Wave Knight and RFA Wave Ruler will be taken out of service early as part of a package of cost-cutting measures which also includes axing old Chinook and Puma helicopters and Watchkeeper drones.

Eventually the decommissioned naval vessels are set to be replaced by a new Type 26 frigate and multi-role support ships, but this will not happen for several years.

The Government has pledged that the money saved will be ploughed back into defence; full details are expected as part of the ongoing Strategic Defence Review (SDR), the results of which are expected next spring.

The U.K. Defence Secretary John Healey revealed the move in a statement to the House of Commons yesterday (Wednesday). As per Hansard, he said: "With full backing from our service chiefs, I can confirm that six outdated military capabilities will be taken out of service.

"These decisions are set to save the MOD £150 million over the next two years and up to £500 million over five years — savings that will be retained in full in defence. They include decisions to decommission HMS Northumberland, a frigate with structural damage that makes her simply uneconomical to repair; 46 Watchkeeper mark 1s, which are 14-year-old Army drones that technology has overtaken; and HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark, landing ships effectively retired by previous Ministers but superficially kept on the books, at a cost of £9 million a year.

"They also include decisions to decommission 14 Chinooks, some more than 35 years old, which will be accelerated out of service; two Wave-class tankers, neither of which has been to sea for years; and 17 Puma helicopters, some of which have more than 50 years of flying. Their service will not be extended. I recognise that they will mean a lot to many who have sailed and flown in them during their deployments around the world.

"They have provided valuable capability over the years, but their work is done, and we must now look to the future. All current personnel will be redeployed or retrained; no one will be made redundant. As the First Sea Lord said about the retirements, 'The threat is changing so we must have the self-confidence to make the changes required.'

"Of course, we should be in no doubt that the future of our Royal Marines and its elite force will be reinforced in the SDR."