Lord West of Spithead – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord West of Spithead on 2016-04-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 23 March (HL7168), whether they will now state whether there will be more or fewer Royal Navy ships in commission by 2025 than the 57 currently.

Earl Howe

On current planning assumptions there will be at least the same number of warships in service with the Royal Navy in 2025 as at present. However, the aggregate tonnage of the Royal Navy will have increased greatly due to the introduction of the aircraft carriers HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH and HMS PRINCE OF WALES. Due to the withdrawal from service of HMS GLEANER, an unarmed inshore survey vessel, the Royal Navy will have one fewer non-combat vessel that it does today.