If the Royal Navy is not big enough to protect British shipping in the Gulf, what use is it? If Iran can seize a British tanker and pour scorn on our impotence, why should we believe that, post-Brexit, we can once again rule the waves?
These are among the key questions that will find their way into Boris Johnson’s already-bulging in-tray when he takes over on Wednesday as prime minister and, more to the point, as First Lord of the Treasury.
Will he listen to the admirals and commit to a dozen new escort vessels (with launch dates extending over the next decade or more), or will he – having glanced at the figures – resort to bluster and talk in suitably Churchillian tones of the need to fall in behind our American allies?
Those of you who know your history will be aware that it was the Royal Navy that down the centuries frequently decided the course of events. The defeat of the Armada; Nelson’s victories at Trafalgar and the Nile; the Battle of Jutland; the sinking of the Bismarck; the destruction of the Italian navy from the air at Taranto; the triumphant task force that sailed 8,000 miles to dislodge the Argentinians from their occupation of the Falklands.
