This week:
'... something wrong with our bloody ships today ...'
Admiral Beatty's famous comment as he watched another battle-cruiser blow up at Jutland would, in the view of some authoritative critics, not be inappropriate today. For example, on a recent exercise in the North Atlantic, some destroyers had to refuel after only three days at sea - otherwise, without the weight of fuel in their bunkers, they would have become top-heavy and unseaworthy.
For what roles has our Navy been built? And how well is it equipped to fulfil them? Are our ships over-sophisticated and thereby overpriced? Could they effectively fight a limited war?
Jeremy James asks if the Royal Navy still remembers Admiral Fisher's famous dictum that ' he who strains at the gnat of perfection will swallow the camel of unreadiness
Producer PHILIP GEDDES Editor TIM SLESSOR