It is such a shame that the good name of the Royal Navy is being tarnished by its inability to be able to send a destroyer to protect Cyprus against drones and missiles. While the full blame has fallen on Sir Keir Starmer I think the Prime Minister has enough on his plate at the moment without having to worry about whether the Royal Navy has a deployable destroyer.
I would say that the top brass of the Navy are not blameless in this whole debacle. I sincerely doubt that the Prime Minister knows the difference between a Type 23 frigate and a Type 45 destroyer but they do and when the Royal Air Force despatched fighter aircraft to the Gulf and Cyprus a month ago the admirals should have taken note and had a type 45 destroyer ready. They didn’t and the Royal Navy was made to look a laughing stock.
The Royal Navy does have a small fleet at the moment, but 13 new frigates are being built or have been ordered. It is not Starmer’s fault that the fleet is too small, successive governments are to blame for spending the money elsewhere. But I do worry about the admirals in charge of the Navy, they appear to have been caught napping. Nelson wouldn’t have turned a blind eye.