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2024-01-25 Britain
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Aircraft carrier fiasco as the UK REFUSES to deploy either of its £3.5bn warships to help tackle Yemen's Houthis: RAF jets are forced to fly 3,000-mile sorties while vessels are anchored in Portsmouth
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[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Former defence ministers and Royal Navy chiefs tonight expressed dismay over the UK's refusal to deploy either of its £3.5billion aircraft carriers to the Red Sea.
They suggested it was absurd for Britain to continue to rely on RAF jets flying 3,000 miles from their base in Cyprus to launch air strikes against Houthi in Yemen.
Meanwhile, the hugely expensive carriers –supposedly built so Britain could rule the waves – have remained anchored in Portsmouth.
The Navy's website describes HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales as 'investments in British security, prosperity and place in the world'. Despite the rhetoric, neither carrier has ventured anywhere near a conflict zone since they entered service.
Yesterday morning, just hours after the UK's latest air strikes to prevent attacks by Houthis on international cargo ships and tankers, the huge Royal Navy vessels were seen idling in tranquil waters off the Solent.
The reason for this, the Mail has been told, is that senior government figures vetoed a Navy recommendation that a carrier should be sent.
The decision apparently horrified senior officers who fear one of the carriers could be vulnerable to future defence cuts.
Speaking to the Mail, former First Sea Lord, Admiral Lord West said: 'I find it absolutely extraordinary we have not sent a carrier. As with either HMS Queen Elizabeth or HMS Prince of Wales in situ we would be able to make a much more significant contribution. Instead, we are reduced to flying thousands of miles to and from Cyprus and to dropping a strictly limited number of warheads at great expense.
The RAF Typhoons from Cyprus refuelled on both legs of yesterday's journey, as they did on the first British air strikes on January 11. On Monday evening they dropped a total of eight guided missiles at two locations near the Yemeni capital Sanaa before returning to RAF Akrotiri.
The US F/A-18 Super Hornets involved in the joint operation took off and landed on the USS Dwight D Eisenhower aircraft carrier.
Its presence has enabled the Americans to launch eight separate air strikes on Houthi targets in the past ten days and to deliver significantly more firepower. 
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Posted by Skidmark 2024-01-25 00:00||
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