{"id":2456,"date":"2024-11-18T01:53:02","date_gmt":"2024-11-17T23:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/?p=2456"},"modified":"2024-12-02T00:03:41","modified_gmt":"2024-12-01T22:03:41","slug":"navy-too-small-to-act-for-britain-in-arctic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/2024\/11\/18\/navy-too-small-to-act-for-britain-in-arctic\/","title":{"rendered":"Navy ‘too small’ to act for Britain in Arctic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Growing threats in the Arctic from Russia and China only highlight the Royal Navy’s lack of surface vessels and submarines, experts warn.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"the
the Royal Navy’s icebreaker HMS Protector (Image: PA)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

THE Royal Navy is too small to adequately protect Britain\u2019s interests in the Arctic, experts warned last night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both China and Russia<\/a> are planning to make full use of melting ice caps to increase their presence in the region and use new shipping routes to North America and even Europe.<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor some time now, Russia<\/a> has adopted a strong legal strategy to gain control of the Arctic to fulfil economic and military ambitions, including strengthening its ballistic missile submarines, which are mostly based near the Kola Peninsula, next to the Finnish border,\u2019 said regional expert Maria Monge-Navarro Otero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is preparing itself for a hypothetical war with Nato while pursuing an ambition to exploit natural resources and raw materials in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBritain which has observer status in the Arctic Council, needs to adjust its foreign policy and focus more on the High North,\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the Royal Navy has just 13 operational frigates and only three attack submarines – HMS Anson, HMS Astute and the older Trafalgar-class HMS Triumph – currently at sea to face growing challenges around British and global waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current defence review is placing more reliance on allies until our heavily-delayed Type 26 frigates are ready in 2028.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the UK’s only Icebreaker HMS Protector, which is vital to exert soft power in the region, spends more time in port than in the Arctic, naval experts say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around 16 percent of the world\u2019s untapped oil and 30 percent of the world\u2019s undiscovered gas lie buried beneath the Arctic ocean floor. Access to these minerals would considerably boost the economies of both Russia<\/a> and China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China\u2019s ability to use the Northern Sea Route to shave thousands of miles for its container ships is also key, with a voyage from Dalian, in China to Rotterdam in the Netherlands taking 15 days less through the NSR than the Suez Canal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is important given that around 90 per cent of China’s products are exported using sea routes, and accounts for Beijing’s ambition to establish a \u2018Polar Silk Road\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"ZAPADNAYA
Russia’s Zapadnaya Litsa Naval Base, on the Kola Peninsula, 75 miles from Murmansk (Image: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Arctic
Arctic Ocean melts into Atlantic Ocean due to global warming (Image: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The eight Arctic states \u2013 Canada, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, the US and Russia<\/a> \u2013 have long collaborated on scientific research through the Arctic Council, a non-military body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Russia<\/a> has ceased to cooperate since its invasion of Ukraine<\/a> and Arctic Council meetings have ceased.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we need is a permanent presence in the region, ” said maritime expert Commander Tom Sharpe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“In an ideal world that means a P8 Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft flying from RAF Kinloss and a frigate and a nuclear powered attack submarine permanently assigned, to the region.”But we’re nowhere close to that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added: “Even an icebreaker would allow us to carry out important research and exert soft power – this is where the UK could and should excel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut HMS Protector is so over-crewed now that it is always alongside. \u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Growing threats in the Arctic from Russia and China only highlight the Royal Navy’s lack of surface vessels and submarines, experts warn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2457,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-security"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2456"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2456\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2460,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2456\/revisions\/2460"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}