Britain’s failed submarine launch of a nuclear missile set against its proxy war with Russia
In my latest interview on India’s premier English language global broadcaster, WION, we discussed the degradation of the British navy as revealed by the official announcement of a test submarine missile launch carried out off the Florida coast in January. The first stage of their Trident missile failed to ignite and it fell back into the sea just seconds after launch to the great embarrassment of the U.K. Minister of Defense and others in attendance. This flop came on top of other recent bad news for the British navy, including the withdrawal of one aircraft carrier from participation in the latest NATO war games due to a broken propeller shaft and the delayed departure of its replacement aircraft carrier due to unnamed mechanical problems.
Clearly the British navy is on the same downward path that has led to the loss of empire and the sharp reduction of British ground forces over the past several years.
However, as I pointed out in this interview, these problems of underfunding and poor maintenance are not the only serious challenges the Navy is facing. A new threat has just arisen in connection with the determination of the Houthis in Yemen to fight back against the U.S. and U.K. naval presence in the Red Sea and the recent air and missile attacks on Yemen of these two nations. From the early days of the Houthi actions, when their drones and missiles were intercepted by U.S. air defense installations on board their fleet in the Red Sea, we see that the Houthis have in the past week become far more effective: a Qatari oil tanker was set aflame, compelling the crew to abandon ship, and a British owned commercial vessel is said to have been sunk. Moreover we are told that the Houthis are now in possession of submarine and surface drones capable of sinking ships. It is an open question where this new capability has come from. In the interview I venture the guess that the Russians are helping, in the spirit that two sides can play at the game of proxy wars.
See UK Trident missile fail: New embarrassment for the Royal Navy | WION FIneprint