– War on the Rocks – In early April, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson nearly died. Suffering from COVID-19, Johnson spent three nights in the intensive care unit before eventually recovering and being discharged. Without the expert and round-the-clock attention of his medical team, the prime minister later admitted, he may not have survived. Johnson’s stint in an intensive care unit raised a sensitive question related to British national security — with the prime minister incapacitated, who was authorized, if required, to launch the country’s nuclear weapons?

– Guardian – Nine Royal Navy ships were involved in a major operation shadowing seven Russian vessels who had lingered in the Channel for several days this month as the coronavirus crisis was beginning to worsen in the UK.

– Guardian – Britain has committed itself to buying a new generation of nuclear warheads to replace Trident, which will be based on US technology.

– Naval News – The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) awarded a procurement contract to Maritime Tactical Systems (MARTAC) of Melbourne, Florida, for the procurement of 5 MANTAS T12 unmanned surface vehicles (USV).

– Guardian – The Royal Navy will accompany ships through the Strait of Hormuz amid soaring tensions in the Middle East, following the US’s fatal drone strike on Iran’s top general.

– USNI Proceedings – To prepare for a fight over the western Pacific’s contested islands, there is no better resource than the 1982 Falklands War.

– War Zone – Nuclear submarines have many parallels to fictional starships, but in this case, these super high-tech vessels are made to dive down, not fly up.

– USNI News – The U.K. Royal Navy intends its largest, most advanced warship ever built to be considered interchangeable with U.S. Navy carriers.

– Breaking Defense – For the first time, a US Marine Corps F-35B squadron will deploy aboard the UKs new aircraft carrier on its maiden voyage in 2021, a milestone hailed as “unprecedented” — even among close allies.

– USNI Proceedings – The Royal Navy’s experience responding to mines in World War II offers lessons for today.

– RUSI – Rumours abound that the Royal Navy is to gut its globally respected Operational Sea Training organisation in order to reallocate cash across defence. It is not simply the UK’s martial reputation that would be at stake; the evidence states that operational sea training is a crucial asset on which the Royal Navy should not skimp.

– BBC – The UK’s newest aircraft carrier, HMS Prince of Wales, has set sail from the Firth of Forth.

– Defense News – Britain has chosen a Danish design to equip the Royal Navy with a new fleet of general-purpose frigates in a deal with Babcock International.

– USNI News – The Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers and F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters are spearheading a revival of British sea power unparalleled since the end of the Second World War.

– BBC – A second Royal Navy warship has arrived in the Gulf to protect British ships amid heightened tensions in the region.

– Defense News – The U.K. has the responsibility to protect its own ships, but doesn’t have the Navy it needs to do it.

– War Zone – The Royal Navy is planning on using these missiles as air-launched weapons against small boats, too, and has tested them in the surface-to-air role.

– BBC – The UK has brought forward plans to send a second warship to the Gulf amid rising tensions with Iran.

– BBC – Iranian boats tried to impede a British oil tanker near the Gulf – before being driven off by a Royal Navy ship.

– War Zone – Last week, Iran said it could seize a British ship in retaliation for U.K. authorities seizing an Iranian tanker in the Mediterranean Sea.

– USNI News – The U.K. and its partners are testing out a first-responder force that could beat NATO to the punch if a crisis were to occur in Northern European waters.

– War Zone – This non-acoustic sensor could supplement the boat’s sonar when hunting for especially quiet enemy submarines.

– Military.com – A Marine Corps F-35B Joint Strike Fighter squadron will make history by deploying aboard the British Royal Navy’s newest aircraft carrier — the first deployment of its kind and one that could serve as a model for the new normal.

– Defense News – When British Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson announced in February that his ministry would create two “littoral strike groups,” some naval experts turned their heads in confusion.