The Royal Navy’s entire available fleet of hunter-killer submarines is stuck in port unable to sail – leaving Britain at risk from Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
In a fresh humiliation for Britain’s Armed Forces, all five of its Astute class submarines are currently laid up awaiting maintenance and other repair work.
Military experts have also warned that the Navy’s lack of available nuclear-powered attack submarines – which carry up to 38 Spearfish torpedoes and a battery of Tomahawk missiles – leaves the UK’s sub-sea internet and power cables dangerously vulnerable to sabotage by the Kremlin.
The subs also play a critical role in protecting the larger Vanguard submarines, which carry the Trident ballistic missiles that make up the UK’s nuclear deterrent.
The extraordinary revelations come just a day after the Mail told how one of Britain’s flagship £3.5billion aircraft carriers had broken down again and was forced into port in Norway for repairs.
And on Friday the head of the UK’s military warned that the threats faced by Britain are greater than at any time since the Cold War.
In stark comments, Sir Richard Knighton, Chief of the Defence Staff, said Russia has been ‘probing, challenging, testing our defences’ and is ‘raising the stakes and risks crossing a line’.
He told the BBC: ‘I’m very clear that this is the most dangerous time I have known in my working life. The risks and threats to this country are greater than I have known since the Cold War.’
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