Sir, The Sirius Star was taken by pirates in the Indian Ocean (report, Nov 18) on the same day as a gas carrier docked in the Medway from Qatar with a load of liquefied gas sufficient for four million British homes for one week. As North Sea resources decline, these ships are a vivid reminder that our already fragile economic survival depends upon a long and vulnerable floating “pipeline”.

In the 40 years since the Invincible-class aircraft carriers were conceived we have seen a transition away from Cold War certainty towards an enduring reality that security depends upon retaining a balanced mix of deployable, flexible, well-trained Armed Forces. We have not foreseen the precise nature of the risks, from the Falklands to the Balkans; from the Gulf and Afghanistan to the seas east of Africa, but we have managed — so far — to maintain just enough insurance to deal with eventualities as they arise.

Now spending only 2.5 per cent of GDP on the premium, we are stretching the cover and may discover too late that it will not extend sufficiently. The evidence is that long-term security is in jeopardy unless an appropriate mix of forces is sustained, including sea-borne airpower. Amid current preoccupations with the economy it is inconvenient to be reminded of these responsibilities, but there is a need to refocus defence spending to cut out programmes such as Eurofighter that originated in Cold War thinking and cannot meet the tests for mobility, deployability and effectiveness against the unexpected that experience warns us to plan for.

Rear-Admiral Roy Clare

Commanding Officer, HMS Invincible, 1996-97, Tollesbury, Essex

Sir, The international community should stop wringing its hands every time there is an incident of piracy and propose a UN resolution to the problem, and the media should be demanding solutions from our politicans.

Every maritime nation’s naval history is littered with examples where convoys have been used to protect merchant shipping. Ashore, it is common practice to move goods and aid through areas under UN protection with an armed escort. The recent hijacking of a supertanker, miles from shore, highlights again how impossible it is to patrol millions of square miles of ocean. A convoy brings ships together into manageable, protectable groups. The establishment of a UN international exclusion zone, supported by effective rules of engagement, around a convoy, with jurisdiction within national and international waters, would ensure the convoy commander has the necessary freedom to act. The insurance benefits would make convoys instantly attractive to owners and the media publicity would make it attractive to the naval commanders of otherwise invisible fleets.

It is time to extend UN solutions from shore to sea by combating an age-old problem with an age-old solution; the maritime convoy.

David Templeman

Hinton Ampner, Hants

Sir, In the 9th century the main trade route of the Persian Gulf was plagued by the activities of Joasmi pirates based in Ras El Kaimah. In 1819 the East India Company mounted an operation in which my great-grandfather, as an officer in the company’s navy, took part, to attack and seize the pirate base.

Is there a lesson to be learnt from this with regard to the current piracy off the Horn of Africa?

J. B. Wilson

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