Man Alive

'... Something Wrong With Our Bloody Ships Today ...' (1981x2)

Air date: Jan 08, 1981

Admiral Beatty's famous comment as he watched another battle-cruiser blow up at Jutland would, in the view of some authoritative critics, not be inappropriate today. For example, on a recent exercise in the North Atlantic, some destroyers had to refuel after only three days at sea - otherwise, without the weight of fuel in their bunkers, they would have become top-heavy and unseaworthy. For what roles has our Navy been built? And how well is it equipped to fulfil them? Are our ships over-sophisticated and thereby overpriced? Could they effectively fight a limited war? Jeremy James asks if the Royal Navy still remembers Admiral Fisher's famous dictum that ' he who strains at the gnat of perfection will swallow the camel of unreadiness