1/24/2013 Reduction proposed by British Minister in nuclear armed submarine force.

BRITISH MINISTER PROPOSED REDUCTION IN BRITISH TRIDENT SUBMARINE FORCE. THE ECONOMY MEASURE COULD RESULT IN ELIMINATION OF NUCLEAR ARMED DETERRENT PATROLS.

The concept behind the Trident submarine and missile system was that some submarines capable of launching nuclear missiles from undersea would always be at sea and able to strike back. This was considered a major deterrent against a nuclear first strike during the Cold War.

The following quote is from an article credited to the AFP in Yahoo News  to read the entire article click on the link at the bottom of the quote:

"Britain should reconsider its long-standing belief in continuous at-sea deterrence when replacing its nuclear-armed submarine fleet, a senior minister said in comments published Tuesday.

Chief Secretary of the Treasury Danny Alexander warned defence chiefs in an interview with The Guardian that the perilous state of public finances meant that a "like-for-like" replacement of the country's Trident fleet might be impossible.

"Given all the financial pressures across the whole of the public sector, all the things the government has to do and wants to pay for, and all the pressures in different areas, I just think the idea that somehow, out of thin air, we can carve a multibillion pocket to pay for this, that is not financially realistic," he said.

Continuous at-sea deterrence is the running of at least one nuclear-armed submarine that is submerged and undetected at any given time.

But the system has faced criticism from disarmament campaigners who question its use in a post-Cold War world.

Alexander, who is in charge of the Cabinet Office-led Trident Alternatives Review, said Britain's naval strategy was outdated and needed to be reassessed."

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/british-minister-urges-rethink-over-nuclear-sub-fleet-221848297.html#l2l9NgI

EDITOR'S NOTE:  Secretary Alexander is a treasury official. His proposal to consider not doing a full replacement of the Trident fleet when the time comes is reflective of the budget demands of the British government which is funding other priorities. Our own government faces similar choices. But while we fund other priorities ahead of defense the Chinese are building the world's largest navy and improving its quality constantly. In addition the Chinese Navy is behaving in an ever more aggressive mode and some of their military personnel are unofficially hinting at not following a no first use nuclear policy. Russia is starting to rebuild their navy and resuming strategic patrols.  In the face of the growing arsenals of thug states the english speaking peoples are are disarming ?