Cuts Force Royal Navy to Drop Somalia Piracy Patrol – the media (The Guardian) reported under the above headline that the four frigates scrapped in SDSR 2010 have left the Royal Navy unable to commit full time to the Prime Minister’s foreign policy priority.     The report states that UK has had to scale back its commitment to counter piracy because the Royal Navy longer has enough warships to dedicate one to Somalia all year round, whilst the US, France, Italy, Denmark and other nations still send frigates to protect the international trade.    The UK can apparently only deploy two frigates for contingency operations East of the Suez as they have to cover a massive area of ocean stretching from the Gulf to the Falklands.    The stores support ship RFA FORT VICTORIA has been supporting the NATO lead sixteen (16) strong counter piracy fleet off Somalia since last year, though it is unclear whether the vessel will continue to do so beyond the summer.    The MoD confirmed that none of its frigates were now solely deployed on piracy duties, though it said one could be used for "focused surges" and that "The Government remains fully committed to helping restore stability in Somalia, and the Royal Navy's activity to deter and disrupt pirates is only a part of the UK's comprehensive approach."

Meanwhile the four Type 22 Frigates, withdrawn following SDSR 2010, remain laid up in Fareham Creek, being available for sale, but there are seemingly no takers.   Of the ten (10) earlier Type 22 Frigates built, three (3) remain active in Brazilian Navy (with a fourth laid up), while Chile and Romania have one (1) and two (2) active respectively, a further Type 22 was sold for scrap, and two (2) expended as targets.