"Two-thirds of the world is our playground": Great Britain increases military presence in the oceans
Recently, two Royal Navy patrol ships were sent to patrol the oceans. The British Department of Defense believes that they will act as the "eyes and ears" of London in the vast expanses of the oceans.
As the commander of the ship HMS Spey, Lieutenant Commander (Captain 2nd Rank) Ben Evans, "two-thirds of the world is our playground." Obviously, with these words, the British officer wanted to remind that London has not lost its claims to the role of "queen of the seas".
The ships HMS Spey and HMS Tamar will have to carry out missions in the ocean for five years. They will return to their home port only in 2026. The ships will patrol vast territories from the Bering Sea to the island of Tasmania. It is clear that the main target of the ships' reconnaissance activities will be China: Great Britain, as the closest ally of the United States, is also concerned about the build-up of China's naval power.
HMS Spey and HMS Tamar have a crew of 46, which will be constantly changing to provide a maritime patrol experience for as many Royal Navy officers and sailors as possible. Also, 52 marines will be deployed on the ships to perform the functions of protecting the ships and possibly carrying out special missions. At the same time, the ships will not have a permanent base in the Pacific Ocean: HMS Spey and HMS Tamar will enter the ports of allied countries.
As Evans noted, "the people will know that the Royal Navy is back." Earlier, in the summer of 2021, the largest British warship, the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, arrived in the Pacific Ocean. In addition to the aircraft carrier, the British strike group includes American and Dutch warships. They conducted joint exercises with ships of the South Korean Navy.
The British aircraft carrier also visited the Yokosuka naval base in Japan this week. This visit is further evidence of Britain's military ambitions and its desire to expand cooperation with the West's allies in the Asia-Pacific region - Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore. Yokosuka is also home to USS Ronald Reagan, the only aircraft carrier of the US Navy's 11 aircraft carriers based outside of the United States.
Thus, the Anglo-American fleet in the Pacific Ocean can be viewed as a single force with, among other things, support from those countries in the region that also traditionally oppose China and Russia.
In turn, China is very skeptical about London's attempts to gain a foothold in East Asia. For example, Wu Shitsun, president of the China National Institute for South China Sea Research, described the deployment of a British aircraft carrier as an attempt to bring back the glory days of the British Empire. Hu Xijin, editor of the Chinese state tabloid Global Times, was even harsher in his expressions.
In the eyes of Chinese netizens, the aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth is, from a military point of view, nothing more than a dredger,
- he wrote on Twitter.
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- Twitter / HMS Spey
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