Piracy

More news this week of ship hijacking off the coast of Somali. We do have some of our limited surface fleet patrolling - a Type 23.

But it is probably going to get to the stage where we need a much bigger influence in such areas. It would also be a chance for the Navy to redefine what it is for, as it has struggled in recent years without a perceived threat from the sea. Although not having a reasonable surface presence for this sort of threat is probably the reason why piracy is now such an issue.

Lewis Page wrote an interesting article last year about this subject.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/13/retro_piracy_brouhaha_discussed/

Where he sums up what it would take to have a better anti piracy role. He also describes a cultural thing of there being not much interest in having helicopter and marine carrying platforms in the upper echelons of the Navy. Helicopters for fast intercept, and marines for boarding parties - neither of these create posts for the RN's officer career ladder.

Definitely time for a change if the RN wants to react and regain a role.