December 10, 2008

UK withdraws warship from Falklands

It could be a bad sign for the people of the Falkland Islands because for the first time since the conflict the warship, pirates are withdrawing which protects the region, to patrol the waters off Somalia because of the increased attacks.

HMS Northumberland was only dispatched to the islands earlier this month, but because of the naval cutbacks, the availability of ships for missions is limited.

This is a good time to bring up that the last time the government withdrew the resident warship from the Falklands was in 1982, shortly after the Argentinean navy invaded the islands and remained there for almost three months.

However there will be an auxiliary vessel The Largs Bay replacing the warship, but this will be manned by civilians and in the event of another invasion threat, this ship would not be able to defend the islands or the people.

Source [UPI]