GB News: British sailors forced to use German ship on crucial NATO mission in 'national embarrassment'

'Britannia most definitely does not rule the waves,' one furious Tory MP said, GB News quotes.

British sailors will be forced to use German ships on a key NATO mission in what has been branded a "national embarrassment".

The UK is unable to meet its commitments in the Atlantic Ocean and Baltic Sea due to having no warships available.

The Royal Navy is set to lead the Standing NATO Maritime Group One, a permanent naval immediate reaction force operating in the Baltic Sea and North Atlantic Ocean.

But it will do so using a German vessel - though one carrying British personnel.

"As the UK deploys HMS Dragon to the eastern Mediterranean, German frigate Sachsen will take over from HMS Dragon as NATO maritime task group flagship - an expression of the close German-British partnership," the German embassy in London confirmed.

The Type 45 destroyer HMS Dragon was deployed to the eastern Mediterranean and arrived to the coasts of Cyprus.

This left the UK with just one other Type 45 in service, the HMS Duncan - with the HMS Daring only just returning from eight years of maintenance work and is undergoing sea trials.

A senior Labour MP said the UK's inability to deploy a ship for the NATO mission highlighted worries about "lack of mass and capabilities" in Britain's defence.

Conservative MP and veteran Ben Obese-Jecty said he had repeatedly raised the issue of missing Britain's NATO commitments.

"It is a national embarrassment that the Royal Navy has run out of ships... Britannia most definitely does not rule the waves," he told The i Paper.

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