Farage brands Britain's lack of warships 'embarrassing' admitting 'it belittles our nation' after UK borrows German frigate

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The row erupted after John Healey appeared unable to say how many Royal Navy ships were currently available for operations.

After a long pause in which he appeared to search for the correct figure, Mr Healey eventually said the number was 17 — a claim experts say is inaccurate.

LBC has contacted the Ministry of Defence for the exact figure, but one naval expert said on Thursday morning that the UK had “two Type 45 destroyers available and probably three Type 23 frigates”.

It comes after the Defence Secretary acknowledged Britain had to “borrow” a German frigate following the deployment of HMS Dragon to the Middle East.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said: "This is embarrassing, it belittles our nation on the world stage

"A navy run down by the conservatives and now virtually inoperable."

Read More: 'Minister where are our warships?' Defence secretary admits he doesn't know - as Britain forced to borrow German frigate

Read More: Germany ‘bailing us out’ with Nato flagship after HMS Dragon sent to Cyprus

Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge also attacked the Government, saying: “At a time of war in Europe and the Middle East, it is truly extraordinary that the Secretary of State for Defence doesn’t seem to know how many ships the Royal Navy has.”

He added: “This is a complete shambles and it is not good enough to blame the past. Labour have got to take responsibility.”

Former defence minister Tobias Ellwood told LBC News' Steve Holden: "It's been a bad day for [John Healey], but has exposed again just how underwhelming our forces are, [in their ability] to contain and respond to a very fast-changing world."

John Healey found himself tongue-tied on Thursday, admitting he's 'not happy' with the current situation - as he admitted Royal Navy personnel will now be forced to serve aboard the German-flagged 'loan' vessel.

Speaking with Nick following Healey's comments, Defence analyst Francis Tusa told LBC he was "flabbergasted" by the response.

“I was flabbergasted, absolutely flabbergasted. I'm sorry, you don't need to have to be able to recite in reverse order the names of every ship, but quite frankly being able to say we have X available, if you can't do that, that is shocking.

"We don't have 17 frigates and destroyers,” the defence expert insisted.

“Ships have to go into maintenance. So do aircraft, so do tanks. But we've got a perfect storm of a very old class of frigate, type 23. They are falling off a cliff with maintenance problems.

"So, if you were to add up all of the ships we could generate over time, it might be 11, but at the moment you have two type 45 destroyers available and probably three type 23 frigates.”

It comes as a defence source told LBC that John Healey had actually meant that the UK had a total of 17 destroyers, frigates, and aircraft carriers when Labour entered government.

A Conservative Party spokesman added: “This shocking gaffe is a perfect demonstration of the Labour government’s approach to our military.

"They promised us a Defence Investment Plan last Autumn, it’s now almost April. Contracts are being cancelled, the military have been left in limbo. You can’t trust Labour with the armed forces.”

In response to Healey's remarks, Nigel Farage said the lack of warships " belittles our nation on the world stage" as he branded the borrowing of a German vessel "embarrassing".

Revealing the plans, the Defence Secretary admitted the UK has been forced to borrow a warship from Germany after HMS Dragon was deployed to assist in the Middle East.

"The Germans have stepped in to supply their warship, while I can deploy Dragon to reinforce defences in the Middle East," he told Nick Ferrari at Breakfast.

"But that group, that ship will still be commanded by a Royal Navy commodore. It will still have his battle team on board... It’ll be a German flagship vessel,” he added.

It comes after Britain was forced to send its Type 45 destroyer HMS Dragon to the eastern Mediterranean earlier this month amid the ongoing Iranian conflict.

It comes as the Defence Secretary insisted Britain is 'turning up the pressure on Putin', after commandos were granted permission to board Russia's shadow fleet tankers travelling through UK waters.

Revenue from the sale of oil and liquified natural gas (LNG) has long funded Putin's war machine in Ukraine, with Sir Keir having now formally approved plans allowing the UK to start seizing Putin's vessels in UK waters.

The PM revealed the plans as he travelled to Helsinki, Finland, for a summit with national leaders from the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), a

The JEF, a military coalition of 10 northern European countries led by the UK, aims to defend against Russian incursions.

It also includes Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.

“I'm not happy with the situation we have with British warships. And that's because it takes six years to build a warship, I tell you," Mr Healey told LBC.

"You know, the past 14 years of previous governments, they cut the number of frigates and destroyers by a quarter. They cut the number of mine hunting ships by a half.

"They cut the defence budget by £12 billion in the first five years. We're starting to fix these problems. We can't do that overnight.

"But the fact that we're spending £300 million more on British shipbuilding this year is a sign that we're beginning to turn things around.”

Moscow's shadow fleet is reported to be made up of more than a thousand ageing tankers.

They illicitly ship oil and other goods out of Russia by flying the flags of other countries, with the aim of evading sanctions imposed by the West since the invasion of Ukraine began.

JEF countries Finland, Sweden and Estonia have recently intercepted suspected shadow tankers travelling through the Baltic.

Closing off British waters to the shadow fleet is aimed at forcing the Russian vessels into taking longer, more costly sea routes, or risk being intercepted by the UK.

Sir Keir said: "We are living in an increasingly volatile and dangerous world, facing threats from different fronts across the world every day.

"As Prime Minister, my first duty is to keep this country safe and protect British interests here and abroad.

"(Russian President Vladimir) Putin is rubbing his hands at the war in the Middle East because he thinks higher oil prices will let him line his pockets.

"That's why we're going after his shadow fleet even harder, not just keeping Britain safe but starving Putin's war machine of the dirty profits that fund his barbaric campaign in Ukraine.

"He and his cronies should be in no doubt, we will always defend our sovereignty and stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes."

British forces have already been involved in tracking shadow fleet vessels for several years, and have supported operations by other countries to seize the ships.

In January, the UK assisted in the seizure of the oil tanker Marinera by the US.

Previously known as the Bella-1, the Russian-flagged vessel was captured by American forces aided by RAF aircraft and the British supply ship RFA Tideforce in the Atlantic.

Later that same month, Royal Navy patrol boat HMS Dagger helped the French seize another sanctioned ship, the Grinch, in the western Mediterranean, shadowing the vessel through the Strait of Gibraltar.

Last week, the French intercepted the Deyna oil tanker in the Mediterranean, supported by the UK.

Libyan authorities have meanwhile towed a suspected shadow fleet oil tanker found drifting in the Mediterranean which was believed to have been hit in a drone strike.

The tanker, carrying liquefied natural gas, was towed to avoid a spill in the Mediterranean.

At the JEF summit, the Prime Minister and other leaders are expected to discuss shared security in the so-called High North and the war in Ukraine.

A Conservative Party spokesperson said: "Any effort to keep sanctioned ships out of our waters is important.

"But Labour's failure to back our armed forces with the resources they need shows he is in denial about the scale of the threats our country faces.

"Keir Starmer would rather fund a bailout for benefits street than fund our military. Only the Conservatives have a plan to get the welfare bill under control and increase defence spending, keeping the British people safe."