The Royal Navy will soon retire its anti-ship missiles, leaving the force with only guns to engage other warships. Although replacements for the missiles are available, there are no plans to replace them for up to a decade. It's just part of a long, sad decline of the "Senior Service."

The Royal Navy's American-made Harpoon missiles are set to expire in 2018. Designed to sink enemy ships, Harpoon missiles have a range of 80 miles and a 488-lb. high explosive warhead. Harpoon is a combat-proven missile, having been used against Iranian and Libyan naval forces in the 1980s.

Replacement missiles are not hard to find. There are newer versions of the infamous French Exocet missile, as well as the Harpoon missile itself. Norway's Naval Strike Missile , an entirely new design, is under evaluation for equipping the U.S. Navy's Littoral Combat Ships.

The problem is money. Unnamed naval sources told the Telegraph there was no funding to replace Harpoon and it could take "up to a decade" for money to become available. That might be due to the construction of the Royal Navy's two new HMS Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers , and the development of the new HMS Dreadnought ballistic missile submarines .

In the meantime, the Royal Navy's frigates and destroyers will be stuck with bombarding enemy ships with their 4.5-inch deck guns . Those guns have a maximum range of just 17 miles. In the event of a face-off with a Russian Neustrashimmy-class frigate , a ship like the Royal Navy's brand-new Daring class destroyer will be at a 51-mile disadvantage. To hurt the much smaller Neustrashimmy, the Daring would have to sail to within 17 miles, well within the range of the Russian frigate's eight deadly Kh-35 anti-ship missiles. The Daring would likely have to fend off all eight missiles before it even had a chance to shoot back.

It gets worse. Any potential adversary with anti-ship missiles will be actively seeking to make sure a Royal Navy ship can't get within gun range, and 51 miles is plenty of time and distance to keep it that way. Unless the enemy ship was considerably slower than the Daring, it would find it easy to stay one step ahead of the British.

Wildcat helicopter. Getty Images.

In the meantime, the Royal Navy plans to field the Sea Venom missile within the next two years. Sea Venom is an anti-ship missile the RN will equip its Wildcat helicopters with, starting in 2018. While an advanced missile, Sea Venom is meant for tackling smaller boats. A Russian frigate or larger will shrug off the Sea Venom's puny 60-lb. warhead—that is, if the helicopter carrying it isn't shot down first.

Until the anti-ship missile issue is fixed, one of the finest navies in the world will be at a critical disadvantage. Against any competent navy in a ship vs. ship fight, the Royal Navy is in for a humiliating defeat.

Source: The Telegraph

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