Navy aircraft carrier will be sold after three years – and never carry jets

One of the Navy’s new £3 billion aircraft carriers will never carry aircraft and will sail for only three years before being mothballed and possibly sold, ministers will announce on Tuesday. The Government’s Strategic Defence and Security Review will also confirm that Britain will not have an effective “carrier strike” capability – a working aircraft carrier equipped with fighter jets – until 2020.

…and that’s not all:

The Navy’s fleet of warships will drop from 24 to 19 and it will lose 4,000 personnel. Harrier jump-jets will be scrapped next year but no F35 Joint Strike Fighters will be available to replace them until 2020.

Wow…the once great Royal Navy…going down to 19 warships?!

Today is the anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar which established the superiority of the Royal Navy at least through WW-I a century later.

…and now the Brits are saying “If we need carrier support we can always turn to the…FRENCH??!!! Aside from tradition, what’s wrong with this picture?

Nelson, Churchill, and a whole series of other Naval persons of the once great Britain have got to be turning over in their graves about now.

Nelson’s prayer before the battle:

MAY THE GREAT GOD, whom I worship, grant
to my Country and for the benefit of Europe in
general, a great and glorious victory: and
may no misconduct, in any one, tarnish it: and
may humanity after victory be the predominant
feature in the British fleet.

For myself individually, I commit my life to Him
who made me and may His blessing light upon my
endeavours for serving my Country faithfully.

To Him I resign myself and the just cause which is
entrusted to me to Defend.

Amen, Amen, Amen

His death in victory sealed his testimony. (You may notice from the portarait, that he had previously lost his arm in battle.)