The Royal Navy

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 3:55 pm on 28 November 1983.

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Photo of John Stanley John Stanley Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces) 3:55, 28 November 1983

I shall deal with that matter in some detail later.

The Navy's clear ability to discharge those NATO responsibilities bears directly on our whole deterrent posture.

The Soviet Union will be as aware of NATO's dependence on seaborne reinforcement as we are. Any perception by the Soviet Union that NATO was unable to safeguard that reinforcement would only weaken deterrence and perhaps lower the nuclear threshold.

For NATO, the simple geographical fact of the Atlantic ocean makes deterrence on land and deterrence at sea indivisible. As a lynchpin of NATO's deterrence at sea, the Royal Navy must without question be shaped predominantly around its NATO role.

With the Royal Navy's NATO commitments being so extensive, it is, not surprisingly, asked whether the Navy should have an out of area role at all. The NATO area undoubtedly has to come first. But if it has to be predominant, it does not have to be exclusive. Nor should it be.

The offensive capabilities ranged against us are certainly far and away the greatest in Europe. But, mercifully for nearly 40 years now, peace in Europe has been preserved.