This government is doing exactly what the government did before the second world started so that we had to borrow ships from America and other armaments. If we have any more conflicts it will cause mayhem.

We need our Navy and ships so we need to make the government to build our forces up not to keep cutting them back. They could use the money thats going to increase their pay for the armed forces.

Malcolm Scrugham, Great Yarmouth, United Kingdom

I fail to understand the sense that drives the labour government! They insist on backing our allies accross the pond in their search for new enemies yet willfully refuse to respect what they call upon to do so. Ultimately the Labour Government over the last two terms has used the armed forces more than we have seen for a long time stretching them to breaking point yet have not increased the funding to match it.

I am product of Labours 'wonderful' education system being in the sixth form now so have witnessed first hand the damage they can do. This governments ethos seems to be that if there is a problem: throw money at it! And if that problem doesn't go away... throw yet more money at it. This they have done with the NHS and the education system but we have yet to see the fruits of Labour! So while the armed forces act in their profesional manner and pride getting on with what its government calls on it to do, nothing will change. The Navy needs to call time!

Michael Lewis, Chatham, England

This government is hell bent on destroying our armed forces which they regard as too expensive. The minister who heads the armed forces is a part timer at a time when we are fighting TWO WARS. This tells us all clearly where this governments priorities lie; wasting billions on the failed NHS and Education Department.

A change at the top is the only answer and a return to some good old fashioned common sense government.

D Case, Newquay,

I welcome Admiral Sir Bands' comments. If the UK government insists on commiting British forces around the globe the Senior Service must have the platforms available to carry out the tasks assigned to it. The recent cuts to the surface and sub-surface fleets, not to mention manpower levels is bordering on criminal negligence. The government and the MOD need to take note. Small numbers of increasingly sophisticated warships are essential for battle fleets but a warship and its Royal Navy personel cannot be in two places at once. If anything the navy needs more, not less, platforms (ships). I just hope those in government start listening the advice of such officers.

Jon West, London,

Until the Navy stands up to the Defence Minister and bluntly says "We can no longer carry out all the commitments the Government has given us, reduce them or increase the budget," then I'm afraid the Government will continue to walk all over the armed forces.

Stephen, St. Ives, England

Sorry, very hard to take anything 'sir' john says about anything, given his absurd posturings over the Iranian capture of the ipod sailors, smoking on the ocean waves and backing the Iranian regime.
Senior service?! Take your inflatables on holiday Admiral Band

Cheryl, Witney, UK

Perhaps Sir Jonathon Band should take our part-time Minister of Defence and Prime Minister down to BRNC Dartmouth, stand him with his back to the mast and ask him to read very carefully what is inscribed on the facade of the main college building.

It's been more than a donkeys age since I last looked at it but I believe, if memory serves me correctly it reads something in the order of:

"It is on the strength of the Navy that the wealth, proserity and security of our nation depends"

That is as true today as when the college was opened in 1905.

Not a single penny spent by the UK on its Navy can be considered as wasted, because without an ocean capable, deep water Navy the rest of our armed forces are useless when it comes to projection of power in defence or protection of ourselves and our interests.

Bill, Stavanger, Norway

We are leaving ourselves wide-open. Why can't this Defence Secretary have the guts to stand up and be counted and fight his corner. The reason is he's too busy feathering his nest. All across the armed service penny pinching is putting mens lives at stake. On another point, why on earth are we asking the Americans to help out with their patrol boats...Allies they maybe and we're grateful for that, but the Royal Navy needs to stand on its own two feet.

kirk, Rotherham, UK

The reduction in the Navy's strength, with the end of Empire in the 1960s, matches the reduction in this country's world commitments. Only now, in the early 21st century, with our politicians believing that hanging on to America's shirt tails is the equivalent of world power and influence, have they started to commit our forces far beyond their capabilities.

Neil, Gloucestershire, England

I would liken the Governments rumoured defence cuts (reductions in ship numbers and tornado bomber squadrons) as equivalent to treason. Is the government really acting in the best interests of the country ? I think not. They are mortgaging the armed forces to pay for current operations. This continued 'salami slicing' is a significant risk to the country and needs to be stopped now. As one of the major ecomomies and trading nations of the world, we ought and should invest more heavily in our armed forces. These are very uncertain times and we need to take proper precautions to protect our people wherever they are, and our way of life.

David Bryan, Leeds, North Yorkshire