U.K. Budget Cuts: Sinking the Royal Navy, Part II

Editor's note: This article is the second in a two-part series. Part I focused on the impact of budget cuts on the British navy. Part II focuses on the implications for U.S. national security policy.

As part of government-wide cuts meant to rein in decades of deficit spending, in October the U.K. Ministry of Defense announced an initial 8 percent reduction in its roughly $63 billion annual budget. The Royal Navy will suffer the deepest cuts, with around one-quarter of the fleet -- as measured by tonnage -- to be decommissioned and future purchases of ships and planes delayed and reduced. ...