Outrage over Navy 'cuts'

Plans to mothball nearly half of the Royal Navy's fleet have caused uproar among its senior officers.

The leaked proposals emerged from an internal review of military spending being carried out by each of the armed services to cut expenditure as part of this year's comprehensive spending review.

It is proposed that two destroyers on the order books will now not be bought, while six destroyers and frigates will be added to the current 13 warships already 'mothballed'.

This move, intended to achieve cuts of £250m in the defence budget, almost halves the fleet of 44.

'Mothballing' entails putting ships in a state of reduced readiness - 18 months away from active service - and it is likely they will eventually be sold or scrapped.

Recently retired first sea lord Admiral Sir Alan West said: "This is just outrageous.

"The squeeze on money is very damaging to the Navy while people are focusing on the Army."

The Telegraph newspaper reported on Friday a serving senior officer as saying: "This means we are no better than a coastal defence or a fleet of dug-out canoes."

It also reported that the Navy was expected to lose one of its three carriers, Invincible, and that one of three major ports was under threat of closure - with Portsmouth the most vulnerable.

But a spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said: "We currently have no plans to cut ship numbers.

"We routinely review whether resources are allocated where our frontline forces need them most.

"No decisions have been taken in this case."

He described reports of Portsmouth closing as "complete speculation".