Defense and the National Interest – William Lind compares todays Royal Navy to Hornblower’s.
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Daily Telegraph – The first graphic accounts of the tears, humiliation and mental torture of the 15 freed Royal Navy hostages emerged yesterday.
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Washington Post – British sailors and marines who were held captive by Iran for nearly two weeks said Friday they were seized in Iraqi waters, held in solitary confinement and subjected to intense psychological pressure, including fear at one point that they were about to be executed.

BBC – Released sailors tell of ordeal.
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BBC – The 15 Royal Navy crew held captive by Iran are preparing to fly home after being freed by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a “gift” to the UK.

Daily Telegraph – Questions the Navy chiefs must now answer.
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Daily Telegraph – Royal Navy intelligence gathering has been criticised as being “poor” for allowing 15 personnel to fall into the hands of the Iranians.
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The Times – The fate of the 15 British marines and sailors held in Tehran may depend on the outcome of a power struggle between two of Iranís top generals.

Meanwhile Niall Ferguson puts the crisis in perspective for the UK:

Daily Telegraph – Iran targeted the Security Council’s weakest link: us.
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BBC – US officials have ruled out a deal to exchange 15 Royal Navy personnel captured in the Gulf for five Iranians seized by American forces in Iraq.

Meanwhile, let David Ignatius put this crisis in context for you???

Washington Post – 15 Britons In a Sea Of Intrigue.
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BBC – Iranian state television has broadcast an interview with captured British sailor Faye Turney and footage of the 14 servicemen seized with her.
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BBC – The UK government is attempting to “discreetly” talk to the Iranians to secure the release of 15 Royal Navy personnel.
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BBC – The 15 Royal Navy personnel who were seized on Friday are being held at an Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps base in Tehran.
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Daily Telegraph – Britain’s most senior naval officer in the Gulf has likened the West’s tense stand-off with Iran as being akin to “the height of the Cold War”.
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Daily Telegraph – The First Sea Lord yesterday made veiled threats that he would resign from his post if the Government failed to deliver a Fleet that would be “serious player” on the High Seas.
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Daily Telegraph – A new book claims that a French trawler was dragged down by a Royal Navy submarine during “war games” off the Cornish coast in 2004.
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Daily Telegraph – Fears are growing among Royal Navy chiefs that the Ministry of Defence’s delay in signing a contract for two major aircraft carriers could signal the project’s demise.
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Daily Telegraph – Promotion for Royal Navy officers is to be frozen for five years in a cost-cutting measure that has caused fury in the Fleet.

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Daily Telegraph – Royal Navy commanders were in uproar after it was revealed that almost half of the Fleet’s 44 warships are to be mothballed as part of a cost-cutting measure.

Daily Telegraph – Cuts are a severe blow to officers’ ambitions
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The Times – Half of the Royal Navy is to be ìmothballedî as it bears the brunt of cuts imposed after a series of expensive procurement projects and the hidden costs of the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
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BBC – Work on designing a new generation of nuclear submarines to maintain Britainís independent deterrent will get under way next spring

The Times – Blair keeps the £20bn nuclear option for threats yet to emerge

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The Times – New Trident submarines might not be built in Britain, the governmentís long-awaited white paper on replacing the countryís nuclear deterrent will say tomorrow.
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The Times – The government will signal within the next two to three weeks that it wants to continue with the submarine-based Trident missile system as the UKís nuclear deterrent.
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The Scotsman – The Royal Navy has warned merchant ships in the Gulf to be on their guard after an al-Qaeda threat to target oil terminals in the area.
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Daily Telegraph – The UN is considering a naval blockade of North Korea, the Royal Navy is too weak to contribute.

Daily Telegraph – Navy taskforce will be forced to rely on France and America
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The Scotsman – More on HMS Ark Royal’s refit.
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BBC – A series of futuristic-looking, remote-controlled water vehicles could be added to the Royal Navy’s arsenal.
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The Times – The Royal Navyís biggest warship, HMS Ark Royal, heads out into the North Sea for trials after a £25 million refit to transform her into the serviceís only combined troop and aircraft carrier.
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