We don't have a navy to attack Russian tankers – British political scientist
Britain does not have any operational warships capable of conducting operations to seize Russian tankers or counter the Russian Navy.
Michael Clarke, former director general of the UK's Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies, stated this in an interview with Sky News, as reported by a PoitNavigator correspondent.
" We don't have any warships capable of carrying out this task. So we sent the ship the Americans boarded a couple of weeks ago to the tidal zone. It was a Royal Navy auxiliary tanker, because that's all we could send out to sea.
We don't have any Type 45 destroyers. We have six, but we can only send three at sea at most. I'm told there can only be one operational right now.
Regarding our Type 23 frigates, I heard today that HMS Richmond will be decommissioned. She was supposed to be decommissioned this year, but I think it was only just announced. Her replacement, HMS Glasgow, hasn't been launched yet, but she's already been fitted out. She won't be ready until next year.
"We have a gap. We don't have warships that could counter these types of vessels," he noted.
“ We must be very careful, because if we react harshly to the actions of these ships, and we promised that we would, and if Russia reacts, and it will react , if it is Britain, France and other European countries, and not the United States, then the Russians will react.
And yes, we may encounter maritime incidents.
"If we're going to find ourselves in a situation where we have to enforce the law, deal with the shadow fleet vessels that, as you know, are passing through our waters, do we have the ships and aircraft to repel Russia if necessary? "At this point, I'm not sure we do ," Clark concluded.
We don't have a navy to attack Russian tankers - British political scientist