French navy now bigger than British

Now would be a good time for Argentina to grab the Falklands again. ;)
 
aerocontrols said:
Why is that embarrassing?
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Cause they are losing to France?

I'm joking really; I just thought it was an amusing thing to post to antagonize our British readers.

P.S. I'm sure British Navy can kick French Navy's as*.
 
Damnit! How are we going to keep the froggies flithy hands off our massive far-flung overseas empire now?!

What do the French want a navy for anyway? Since being sunk by the RN at Trafalgar, the only thing the French navy has done is to get sunk at Mers-el-Kébir by the er..... the RN!

{they are still a bit sore about that one, cant think why}
 
It ain't the number of boats that count, it's what you crew them with that counts - as the French (and the Spanish) found out at Trafalgar.
 
Anyway i thought we had a couple of carriers on order now. Not as good as the US ones mind, but real carriers at least.
 
Prester John said:
Anyway i thought we had a couple of carriers on order now. Not as good as the US ones mind, but real carriers at least.
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Yes indeed - supposed to be entering service in 2010, but British defence contracting being what it is, more likely 2025.

I seem to vaguely remember someone on the radio rabbitting on about losing some of the older destroyers, too. But it was early in the morning.

Lots of new toys planned, in fact.
 
Prester John said:
Anyway i thought we had a couple of carriers on order now. Not as good as the US ones mind, but real carriers at least.
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I seem to vaguely remember someone on the radio rabbitting on about losing some of the older destroyers, too. But it was early in the morning.
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Yes indeed. The original order was for three but because Labour hates the UK, the order is going to be cut to one. The carriers are a French design as Labour would hate to have anything designed AND built by UK hands- they did there best to try and get it built by the French too but The Sun stirred up a sh!t storm about that one.

The old type42 destroyers first came into service in the 1970s IIRC and its high time they were replaced by the new type 45. Of course, Labour could possibly allow the order to go through without being cut in half. God forbid! if we actually had decent armed forces we might actually be able to fight for our own interests instead of GW Bush's interests. Couldnt have that now could we....

/rant.
 
Jon_in_london said:
The carriers are a French design as Labour would hate to have anything designed AND built by UK hands- they did there best to try and get it built by the French too but The Sun stirred up a sh!t storm about that one.
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I'd love to see more shipbuilding done in Britain again - in fact, my family was once involved in shipbuilding itself (one of my great-great-uncles owned a ropeworks in Sunderland).

However, I do have to concede that given the current state of the industry after it was destroyed by Thatcher, the shipbuilders do not always help themselves.

For example, when Swan Hunter had just won the contracts for the new carriers, the first thing the workforce did was go out on strike for more pay - even though the yard has been faced with closure pretty much constantly for the last 20 years. Really sad.
 
For example, when Swan Hunter had just won the contracts for the new carriers, the first thing the workforce did was go out on strike for more pay - even though the yard has been faced with closure pretty much constantly for the last 20 years. Really sad. [/B]
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Pretty much the norm for British industry over the past 30 years.

Ain't Unions good?
 
charley_bigtime said:


Pretty much the norm for British industry over the past 30 years.

Ain't Unions good?
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Thatcher bashing is fine- I never like the old sow. But to blame her for the closure of the shipyards...... hmmm...

Perhaps the fact that the Japanese could build the same ship in half the time and for less money had something to do with it.

Unions can have a legitimate function. Unfortunately for the most part they function illegitimately.
 
Jon_in_london said:


Thatcher bashing is fine- I never like the old sow. But to blame her for the closure of the shipyards...... hmmm...

Perhaps the fact that the Japanese could build the same ship in half the time and for less money had something to do with it.
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Perhaps - but it does follow the pattern of the destruction of Britain's heavy industry under her control.
 
Darn...

And I just got all excited about the RN after watching "Master and Commander."
;)
 
I would just like to point out that there is no cannibalism in the Royal Navy.
 
I wasn't aware that we were either at war with, or in an arms race with the French (any more so than usual anyway).

The requirement for a large navy is driven by the need to be able to project force over a long distance. Given that airpower seems to be the way to achieve that these days and that most scuffles would appear to be at our front door globally speaking you could argue that the preservation of a large navy is purely a matter of national prestige.

Is this a good multi-billion £ investment if it's just a matter of maintaining a country's ego ?

Spend the money on planes and missiles instead - or perhaps maybe welfare, education and the Health Service.

Or maybe reduce my taxes
 
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