Navy needs to be shipshape

IN 1950, the Royal Navy was an imposing armada of 388 ships and submarines. By 1980, its strength had shrunk to just 112 vessels, but we still possessed the second most powerful navy in the world. However, after successive budget cuts, the navy of Nelson now goes to sea with two aircraft carriers at operational readiness (and no fighter planes to protect them), six destroyers, 17 frigates and 13 submarines.

President Nicolas Sarkozy can offer friendship to Britain in the knowledge that the French navy, with its carrier-borne supersonic fighters and double the number of destroyers, could probably win the Battle of Trafalgar in any rematch.

Now comes...